Comments on: Lawsuits accuse Chicago cop of gay harassment, false arrests

By: Not All GLBTs Identify As Queer

Not All GLBTs Identify As Queer — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 12:00:24 +0000

It’s good they that are protective of the GLBT community.

By: Ed Gould

Ed Gould — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 20:34:45 +0000

Frankly I am surprised that something like this is going on in the Chicago PD. Although I do know a few out policemen they are generally treated as less than normal policemen. Various incidents have taken place in the past that amount to harassment (nothing physical). Its more of a games being played on gay policemen in the locker room.
I do know one watch commander that is gay (He may have retired by now I do not know). He was extremely supportive of other gay policemen. I would hesitate to say that homophobia is rampant in the CPD but there is an unspoken rule that to be gay is wrong. I also know one policeman that is in the lets say administrative side and he is deeply closeted. I also know that one policemen went to the extreme of marrying a woman so he wouldn’t be found out.
Its going to take years of effort by gay policemen to get rid of the homophobia that seems to pervade the CPD.
There are out CPD personnel that do march in the yearly pride parade they are a great example of being out in the CPD.

By: drewski

drewski — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 17:28:24 +0000

He’s currently facing seven lawsuits, and was congratulated by MADD for 313 DIU arrests in an 18-month period. So does anybody know how many of his cases will be reviewed? The wording of the article seems to suggest that four of the 313 cases have already been tossed. You have to wonder just how many people and how much time it’ll take to review every DUI case. Then how many other arrests did he make which have already come back to be questionable? Makes me wonder where his supervision was.

By: Bruce

Bruce — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 11:45:13 +0000

I had an experience withthe Chicago Police many years ago. They falsified charges and were verbally abusive!

I paid the fine and was eventually released from the Cook County jail.

They had NO idea that I was gay, yet I was treated poorly and unfairly; this may just be a big part of how this Police Dept. is!

By: Corey

Corey — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 07:34:15 +0000

I agree with DeAnimator, there are many nice police officers out there who are, or at least pretend to be tolerant toward our community and would help us out in a time of need. However this Fiorito guy deserves to be put in federal prison for what he’s done. You can’t just go around falsely arresting folks for this or that and using anti-gay slurs is NEVER appropriate for an officer to use.

By: DeAnimator

DeAnimator — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 22:10:14 +0000

Even though Chicago has a pretty dirty police force, there are a lot of great cops out there who ARE tolerant and protective of the queer community. Thanks especially to the Chicago cop a few years ago who got out of his car to chase off and arrest Wrigleyville a**holes who were probably going to beat the crap out of me. Unfortunately, all cops are not great civil servants and that’s a shame.