POLICE ABUSE OF GAYS, etc., report by Amnesty International

Amnesty International USA
surveys police abuse of gays

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http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAMR511502005

Amnesty International [official web-site]


AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
PRESS RELEASE

AI Index: AMR 51/150/2005 (Public)
News Service No: 252
22 September 2005

Embargo Date: 22 September 2005 - 04:00 GMT


"USA: Police mistreatment and abuse widespread in lesbian, gay,
bisexual and transgender communities nationwide"

New Amnesty International Study Finds LGBT People of Color and Youth
Most Likely to Suffer; Calls on Police to Improve Training and
Accountability


"The police are not here to serve; they are here to get served ...
every night I'm taken into an alley and given the choice between
having sex or going to jail." -- Amnesty International interview with
a Native American transgender woman, Los Angeles


(New York) -- In the most comprehensive report of its kind to
date, Amnesty International (AI) reveals that police mistreatment and
abuse of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people are
widespread nationwide and go largely unchecked due to under-reporting
and unclear, under-enforced or non-existent policies and procedures.

"Across the country, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people
endure the injustices of discrimination, entrapment and verbal abuse
as well as brutal beatings and sexual assault at the hands of those
responsible for protecting them - the police," said Dr. William
F. Schulz, Executive Director of Amnesty International USA
(AIUSA). "Some, including transgender individuals, people of color
and the young suffer disproportionately, especially when poverty
leaves them vulnerable to homelessness and exploitation and less
likely to draw public outcry or official scrutiny. It is a sorry
state of affairs when the police misuse their power to inflict
suffering rather than prevent it."

In its 150-plus page report, "Stonewalled: Police abuse and
misconduct against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in
the United States," AI focuses on four cities - Chicago, Los
Angeles, New York and San Antonio - surveys the 50 largest police
departments in the country, as well as Washington, D.C., about LGBT
policies and practices, and includes information from several hundred
interviews and testimonies. AI's findings strongly indicate that
there is a heightened pattern of misconduct and abuse of transgender
individuals and all LGBT people of color, young people, immigrants,
the homeless and sex workers by police. At times, the mere perception
that someone is gay or lesbian provokes physical or verbal attacks.

The mistreatment and abuse documented in the report includes targeted
and discriminatory enforcement of statutes against LGBT people,
including so-called "quality of life" and morals regulations;
profiling, particularly of transgender women as sex workers; verbal
abuse; inappropriate pat-down and strip searches; failure to protect
LGBT people in holding cells; inappropriate response or failure to
respond to hate crimes or domestic abuse calls; sexual harassment and
abuse, including rape; and physical abuse that at times amounts to
torture and ill-treatment.

Several examples include:

... Young gay men and advocates in Chicago told AIUSA of a police
officer who, according to one man, will "remove his badge, gun and
belt and then beat you unless you give him a blow-job, after which
he'll just leave you there."

... Police officers accused a Latina transgender woman in San Antonio
of stealing. One officer reportedly said, "People like you make the
world a bad place." Three police officers and two detectives
allegedly surrounded her while one officer searched her, exposing her
pubic hair, buttocks and one of her breasts. She said, "I didn't ask
to be searched by a female officer. I've tried that before - they
don't care, to them we're all men." She was not charged with any
crime. Officers refused to give her their badge numbers. She said, "I
know to be respectful to police officers but I'm tired of the way
they are treating us."

... Police officers allegedly beat, hog-tied and dragged Kelly
McAllister, a white transgender woman, across hot pavement upon her
arrest in Sacramento, CA. She was placed in a Sacramento County Main
Jail cell with a male inmate who struck, choked, bit and raped her.
That inmate received a mere three-month sentence. No officer has been
disciplined for the incidents surrounding Kelly's incarceration.

... Two lesbians of color reported that two men in Brooklyn, NY,
followed, harassed and threatened them, saying, "I'm going to kill
you, bitch. You're not a man. ... I'm gonna put you in your place."
The verbal abuse escalated to physical abuse; the two women called
911. When police were told this was a homophobic crime, the officers
reportedly left without further investigating the incident or taking
a complaint, telling the ambulance attendants responding to the
women's call to leave. One woman reportedly was bleeding from the
head due to a blow from one of the men. Her companion stated, "It was
ridiculous. There she was running down the street, bleeding and
chasing after the ambulance."

... A Native American transgender woman reported that two Los Angeles
police officers handcuffed her and took her to an alley-way. One
officer reportedly hit her across the face, saying "you f---ing
whore, you f---ing faggot," then threw her down on the back of the
patrol car, ripped off her miniskirt and her underwear and raped her,
holding her down and grabbing her hair. The second officer is also
alleged to have raped her. According to the woman, they threw her on
the ground and said, "That's what you deserve," and left her there.

While it is impossible to obtain accurate statistics, the AI study
showed that transgender people, particularly women and the young,
suffer disproportionately. A large percentage of transgender people
reportedly are unemployed or underemployed, leaving the population
more vulnerable to homelessness or situations that leave them exposed
to police scrutiny and abuse. Meanwhile, 72 percent of police
departments responding to AI's survey said they had no specific
policy regarding interaction with transgender people.

AI welcomed the initiative taken by several police departments to
improve their practices. The West Hollywood Station of the Los
Angeles Sheriff's Department has a Gay and Lesbian Conference
Committee that is open to the public and allows police to stay in
touch with community concerns. The City of West Hollywood also
established a Transgender Task Force that addresses policing issues.
In Washington, D.C., the Gay and Lesbian Liaison Unit (GLLU) is
staffed by four full-time officers and ten volunteers, and the head
of the unit, Sgt. Brett Parson, reports directly to the police chief.
GLLU is also involved with training efforts within the police
department.

However, the AI report demonstrates that despite initiatives such as
these, police departments nationwide need to do more to protect LGBT
people - something that was reflected in responses to the AI
survey of police policies and practices with regard to LGBT people.
Of the 29 departments that responded to the survey, only 31 percent
instruct their officers on how to strip search a transgender
individual; two thirds (66%) of police departments reported providing
training on hate crimes against LGBT individuals; and while most
departments provide training regarding sexual assault (86%), about
half (52%) do not include LGBT-specific issues.

"Police officers are hired to protect and serve all of their
communities, not only the ones they deem worthy," said Michael
Heflin, Director of Amnesty International USA's OUTfront program,
which focuses on LGBT human rights. "Every human being, without
exception, has the right to live free from discrimination and abuse,
yet LGBT people nationwide are afraid to report hate crimes or other
abuses to the police, who at times prove themselves to be the
criminals. If we can't count on law enforcement to set an example,
hate crimes and discrimination will continue to flourish in a land
that otherwise has made relative headway in the fight for LGBT
rights."

Under international law, everyone, regardless of sexual orientation
or gender identity or expression, is guaranteed the fullest enjoyment
of his or her civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights.
The United States is party to the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights, the principal international treaty that lays out
fundamental rights such as freedom from arbitrary arrest and
detention and torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, as well
as the Convention Against Torture and the Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.


For further information, please contact:
Wende Gozan at +1 212 633 4247
or Ben Somberg at +1 212 633 4268


Read Amnesty International's full report, "Stonewalled: police abuse
and misconduct against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people
in the United States" ...
http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAMR511222005


Public Document
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