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Loading ...Gay group sues Tennessee police department
10.01.2008 3:00pm EDT
(Johnson City, Tennessee) A federal lawsuit was filed in Tennessee on Wednesday over the release of photos of a Johnson City man and 39 other males who were arrested in a public sex sting operation.
The suit was filed by Lambda Legal on behalf of Kenneth Giles. It names Johnson City, the Johnson City Police Department and its police chief.“In America, the police do not get to add an extra punishment to people they don’t like,” said Greg Nevins, Supervising Senior Staff Attorney in Lambda Legal’s Southern Regional Office based in Atlanta.
“They also do not get to ignore the principle of innocent until proven guilty. The JCPD went out of its way to humiliate Mr. Giles and caused irreparable damage.”
On October 1, 2007, the JCPD issued a press release, personally approved by the police chief, that included photos that were taken at the scene where 40 men, including Giles, were arrested in a public sex sting.
The local news ran the story prominently along with the pictures and addresses of the men involved.
Lambda Legal reviewed the police department’s press releases for over a period of a year and found that out of approximately 600 other releases, none pertaining to arrests was accompanied by photos or personally approved by the chief.
Of the 40 arrested, one man has committed suicide, and several others have lost their jobs, including Kenneth Giles, who was fired from his job as a nurse at the VA hospital.
“I don’t understand how the police department can release photos of one group and not any others,” said Kenneth Giles in a statement on Wednesday.
“I lost my livelihood because my arrest was treated differently.”
Lambda Legal argues that the JCPD violated federal equal protection law by singling out these men for harsher treatment by making their images available to the media. Lambda said in a statement that the actions of the JCPD are the latest in a long history of the police going beyond legitimate law enforcement measures to take extraordinary action designed to target gay men for humiliation and harassment.
Because of race prejudice in the past, many newspapers have editorial guidelines to only show the picture of a suspect when they are still at large. Since none of these men were convicted of crime, let alone sentenced by a judge to this punishment, both the police force, which should uphold the laws and constitution, and the media outlets, which should promote knowledge rather than suspicion, should be liable.
Public acts of sex should not happen straight or gay, period. Having said this, the police had no right to treat them any different than a straight person. It is innocent until proved guilty and not the other way around. It is one of the reasons I am getting disgusted with living here in the Tennessee Valley.
What a terrible story! What kind of news station/paper would print the addresses of these people who were arrested? That’s a clear violation of privacy laws isn’t it?
Unbelievable.
Giles and the other men should also sue the media that released their names and addresses.
People shouldn’t be accused of there actions and put on a forum for all to judge. Who said huamn being where to always have sex surround by 4 walls. I”ve seen straight and gay people have sex in the park, river, canyon in there cars. They do it hopefully when no ones around watching. You know that the police put more emphasis on the gay population because they are hated by the religious right and the Pope who brings hatred. Even when we try to be good we are still demoralized. I’am catholic but I’am for the right of all people to live there life with dignity, the persuit of happiness, life and liberty.So help us God.
I used to live here and actually grew up here. Yes, it is the buckle of the Bible Belt, but I found most people very tolerant and decent evn after they knew I was gay. Don’t judge the town by the actions of the idiots that are in the Police Department, but ESPECIALLY don’t judge them by the fact that the media in the area choose to publish this information. The TV and newspapers in the area are notorious for promoting anti-gay bible bashers in their pages and on screen. If this had happened to me, I’d sue the bigots who run the papers and TV stations first and and the police second.
I feel sick just thinking about this. If these allegations prove true it is an affront to justice.
“The most unfortunate part is the man that chose to end his life as a result.”
Thanks Trace, I was wondering if someone was going to mention it.
It’s this same homophobic attitude that drives gay youth to suicide as well, and yet there seems to be little concern shown by any of the so called “family values” camp.
I’d fire their asses if I could.
Many police departments, even in major cities, unfairly target gay men for trumped up public sex charges when they let straight people walk away for engaging in the same behavior. It is wrong, reprehensible and discriminatory.
Lambda Legal recently filed suit in LA against the LAPD for such discriminatory tactics: see: http://www.lambdalegal.org/news/pr/la-city-attorneys-office.html – 20k See the following selected quotes below from this article:
“We believe these files will show that police officers purposely entice gay men and selectively enforce lewd conduct laws against us. While non-gays engaging in public sexual activity are told to ‘take it home,’ gay men are taken to jail –- often for doing far less,” said Staff Attorney Myron Dean Quon from Lambda’s Western Regional Office in Los Angeles.
He added, “Most often, lewd conduct arrests are made by police officers who aggressively pursue and make explicit advances to gay men who are in the wrong place at the wrong time. This kind of discriminatory treatment is illegal.”
Lambda Supervising Attorney Jon W. Davidson said, “The LAPD’s targeting of gay men, and the constant stonewalling of attempts to shed light on this injustice, only serves further to erode the public’s confidence in the city’s police officers.”
So Shawn, before you throw stones at others, be sure to make sure your glass house is safe. If the police ever unfairly target you for misbehavior, would you want your fellow gay brothers to judge you the way you are judging them.
I’m sorry Shawn, I didn’t know that you were either the Judge hearing the cases or that you sat on the jury?
The basis of our legal system is innocent until proven guilty. This was a matter in which a penalty was given before any verdict were rendered.
Unfortunately, it will not be the individual officers that pay the price of this injustice. It will be the city that will have to foot the bill. What that translates to is that it is the tax payers that will have to pay the price of a corrupt police force. I certainly hope that the police chief has to pay with his job.
The most unfortunate part is the man that chose to end his life as a result.
“… The JCPD went out of its way to humiliate Mr. Giles and caused irreparable damage. … out of approximately 600 other releases, none pertaining to arrests was accompanied by photos or personally approved by the chief.”
Assuming the story to be true, I also agree that these people were singled out and were being punished BEFORE a court hearing and a trial. I believe they were innocent until proven guilty; that is the hallmark of American justice.
These backwoods sheriffs and police are always trying to make in-roads with their religious neighbor bigots in order to keep their jobs; most sheriffs and police chiefs are elected or appointed by an elected official in the small towns. So they perform these ILLEGAL activities and make unfounded raids to keep their power and jobs (which = $$$$). They do not care about their victims. They want to be in the local news to appear to be doing their job, even when it is an unwarranted activity.
Unfortunately, most law enforcement officers only see the world though their “crime-colored” glasses, and treat everyone the poorly and with contempt, whether the victim is innocent or guilty. It is not the job of a law officer (or law enforcement department) to decide guilt; that duty falls only under the jurisdiction of the court. The law enforcement officer can only make claims and presents evidence. Otherwise, we have a single prejudicial and unethical group claiming to do both.
And until the evidence is truly presented, in a fair and clear method, in the courts, as it happens, and the ACCUSED (but not yet found guilty) perpetrators are judged by a JURY OF THEIR PEERS, how can anyone, including the police, even attempt to decide what these men were doing.
Maybe they were simply having a “religious” meeting in the woods, as many pagan religions do.
And even if they were having sex, was it on public or private property, and was it a private club, where they pay dues, and are shielded from the illegal law enforcement (keep the government out of my bedroom, even if it has no roof, please), or was this simply a homophobic (or otherwise bigoted) raid, like happened multiple times to the crowd at the Stonewall Bar in New York City (I have been there, BTW).
So, perhaps we need to ensure that the police do not ever again poison the water and prejudice the field of potential jurors.
Also, moving the trial to another venue could also cost the taxpayers millions of dollars in a case involving so many defendants.
With these thoughts (amongst others) in mind, I think that this specific police department and all of its employees need to be fired and this case MUST BE dismissed. Let the victims receive a large and decisive financial victory, and cause the law enforcement agencies understand their specific duties and begin to act with appropriateness and decency.
Well said Max!
I agree that these guys shouldn’t be engaging in sex in public places. But that isn’t what this lawsuit is about. These men weren’t given equal treatment by the police. Like the article stated, out of some 600 other press releases by the police none of them included names, addresses and photos. Besides being singled out, these men are innocent until they go to court and the judge/jury rules against them or dismisses the case due to lack of evidence or the police handling it wrong.
Shawn your comments make no sense and are exactly why Lambda Legal should sue. We may not agree with what the accused have done but they are still entitled to, indeed have a right to not be put up for public ridicule before they have even been found guilty. No other group or individual in Johnson City have their pictures and addresses in the paper nor should these. This is discrimination and homophobia plain and simple. No one, gay or straight deserves to be treated this way. Do we need a better “public” face, perhaps we do in some places but tell me Shawn, what do you do in your community to show a “better picture”? Do I even need to ask the question; “besides, who’s version of a better face do we use?” Yours, mine the Chief of Police who approved of this, maybe we ask Jerry Falwell what he thinks while we are at it.
Im sorry, Im sure to get a number of people who disagree with me, but I for one am glad to have these people put up for public ridicule. Shame on them. We as a comunity should not condone the actions of these people as a good thing. What they did is absolutly reprehensible. They are the ones out there in the public making the rest of our comunity look bad. They are the ones the public looks at and see’s more often than the rest of us. We should be outraged at their behavior. The public needs to see the other side of our comunity more, not these people.
This is a SOUTHERN, “GOOD OLE BOY” network of the biggest biggots….the POLICE! PLEASE! The facts don’t matter in this case and nothing will happen to any individual cop nor the department….sad too!
I hope that the policemen get sued till they have to file for bankruptcy.