Almost immediately following Judge Walker’s decision about Prop 8 being both a violation of the 14th Amendment’s guarantee of due process and equal protection, critics and religious zealots went on the attack. They accused the Judge of making law and being an “activist judge.” Fox News, of course, was at the lead of the pack. Here’s attorney Ted Olson’s response.
On Wednesday, August 4, 2010, I once again sat waiting for a text message with the decision of a Court about marriage equality. Just as I was so elated in May of 2008 as I sat on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court building and read the news about the California Supreme Court’s decision about marriage, I once again felt the same sense of elation and equality after hearing of Judge Walker’s ruling Proposition 8. It didn’t surprise or amaze me, but it did restore my faith in the power of the 14th Amendment.
So the question now is whether or not Judge Walker will issue a stay on his own decision pending the appeal to the 9th Circuit Court that has already been filed. Given what the good Judge wrote in his decision, “Plaintiffs have demonstrated by overwhelming evidence that Proposition 8 violates their due process and equal protection rights and that they will continue to suffer these constitutional violations until state officials cease enforcement of Proposition 8,” I don’t see how he could issue a stay.
No matter what he decides, I am truly grateful for the heard work and detail he put into writing this decision. He did a thorough job of evaluating all of the facts presented from both sides.
I’d like to congratulate Riverside Sheriff’s Captain Raymond Gregory and Randolph Chief William Pace on their appointments this month to the police of Chief of Police. Both of these law enforcement professionals are also openly gay and have clearly demonstrated that they can be “out” and successful on the job. Captain Gregory will be assigned as the Chief of Police for a number of small cities in Riverside County that contract with the Sheriff’s Department for police services. These cities are located north east of Palm Springs. Chief Pace is a 20-year veteran of the department and worked his way up to become the department’s tenth police chief.
Chief Pace (seen on the left) was sworn in on June 28, 2010 with his partner of six years. How great it is that a city and its police department can set the example for others to follow. This is the kind of role modeling that law enforcement so desperately needs. Chief Gregory (seen on the right) has also been with his department for twenty years. He said, he hopes his advancement will encourage others to feel comfortable about their sexuality at the workplace. “Hopefully people are able to be who they are.”
I applaud both of these men for their courage in, first coming out, and then on their hard work to become leaders in their departments. Their example should serve as evidence to those closeted officers that you can live your life as you were made to be and still be successful in law enforcement.
The smell of the BBQ starting, the sound of firecrackers popping, and the display of the American flag signal the start of the July 4th holiday weekend. I spent some time this morning with a cup of hot coffee appreciating the core values and principles upon which this country was founded and why we forged our independence from England in the first place. We wanted a number of freedoms including having a government that was independent of any religious organization or mandate. After winning independence from England, we created a Constitution that establishes liberty, equality, and justice for all. In fact, the value of religious freedom was so important, the authors of our Constitution re-stated the right to religious freedom in the First Amendment to the Constitution. This Amendment along with the founding documents clearly establish a separation between church and state. People have the right to believe or not believe whatever they want and the operation of the government must be kept free from the dictates of any church.
The Declaration of Independence was really the start of the civil rights movement in this country and we have been grappling with civil rights issues from that day forward. We’ve grappled with race and gender and now today, we are fighting over gender identity and sexual orientation. Organized religions have been deeply involved in every step of the civil rights movement, sometimes not being on the same side of one part of the movement as the other. While struggles over race were specific to single group of people based on race, gender identity and sexual orientation transcends all races, all people, and both traditional genders. Despite what some world leaders might say, gay people exist throughout the human race, on every continent and in every country. It is a naturally occurring aspect of the human species.
The Constitution of the United States says clearly that all people are created equally and entitled to equal protection under the law. It also establishes a clear separation of church and state. Religious freedom is, and must be, a two way street meaning that people must be allowed to believe what they want while at the same time be governed independently of any one religion’s values or beliefs. We are not a Christian country; we are not a country defined by any religious affiliation or allegiance. We cannot be and have a fundamental freedom to practice any religion or none at all.
Last night I watched “8: The Mormon Proposition”. This documentary told the story of how the Mormon Church constructed and funded the campaign to pass Proposition 8 in California which changed the California State Constitution to define a marriage between a man and a woman the only type of marriage to be legally recognized by the State. This was the first time a vote of a slim majority of people changed a state’s constitution to actually take away a liberty from a specific group of people that they once enjoyed (albeit for a very short period of time – June 17, 2008 through November 4, 2008). This documentary describes how the Mormon Church created a coalition with the Catholic Church to create “smoke screen” of sorts to hide their direct involvement. I found it completely disturbing. The level of hatred by the Mormom Church of gay people is amazing to me and defies any Christian values and principles I’m familiar with. This is a faith that guided by leaders who tell their people that “it’s better to be dead than to be gay.” This is an organization that stands by parents to disown their gay children and one that has a track record of having one of the highest suicide rates among gay youth than any other religion in this country. Hatred is a Mormon value and I see little difference between the kind of evil practiced here and that found in satanism. What took place with the Mormon Church and Catholic Church in the campaign for proposition 8 is criminal, unethical, and immoral.
On this July 4th holiday, I urge you to think about the meaning behind this weekend’s celebration and, like those lead us to freedom and independence from England, to find the courage to stand up for liberty, equality, and justice for all. Don’t sit back and wait for someone else to do the hard work for you. Find some way to contribute to this generation’s civil rights movement and do your part to honor those who fought before you.
Today we officially launched a new project designed to an educational tool as well as a fund raising project for our Out To Project Scholarship Program. We are putting together a “coffee table” style picture book with images of LGBT law enforcement personnel on the job. This book will be the first of its kind in the nation. Our goal is to make visible some of the thousands of law enforcement professionals who happen to be gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, or transgender. These amazing people are out there and on the job performing as well or better than their straight colleagues. We want to present images that combat the negative stereotypes and that show we have more in common on the job than difference. 100% of the proceeds earned from the sale of this book will go to our scholarship program.
We invite anyone working in law enforcement or recently retired, sworn or civilian, to participate. You can send one to four images of yourself on the job in color or black and white. You may also include one image of you off duty doing what you most enjoy. Be sure the images are all high resolution, high quality images in JPEG format and that they are no more than 3MB in size. You can write up to one paragraph with information about who you are, your length of service, or anything you want to say about the pictures. You can also remain anonymous in the book if you wish. As you consider images to send, be sure they are suitable for persons under 18 or your own mother to see.
You can send images anytime through October 31. The book will be ready for sale by December 1 of this year in time for the holiday season. This is unique opportunity to get involved in a very special one-of-a-kind project that will directly benefit the LGBT law enforcement community. CLICK HERE to learn more.
It’s Pride weekend here in the San Francisco Bay Area and in other major cities around the country including Chicago and New York. It’s an exciting time with many fun events, parades, and festivals. It’s cause for celebration, parties, and flying rainbow flags everywhere. The President, Speaker of the House, and many other supportive politicians at the state and local level signed proclamations, posted personal messages of congratulations on YouTube, and waved at cheering crowds in parades from Market Street to Greenwich Village. For those of us under 60, it’s pretty easy to look beyond the origins of our Pride celebrations and to forget that our cause for celebrating started with a violent confrontation with police. In fact, it was one of many violent confrontations with police that happened in cities all over the country. The cause of the conflict? The very basic desire to be “out” at a bar as gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, or transgender. It’s easy to get wrapped up complaining about all of the rights we still don’t have today while forgetting about the changes have come about because of the personal courage those who came before demonstrated by standing up for the basic right to be “out” in public. The reality is that despite what we still need to accomplish, we have much to be proud of and much to celebrate thanks to those pioneers who gave us the reason to march in a Pride parade.
In law enforcement, we seem to be lagging behind the rest of society in our acceptance of LGBT co-workers. In fact, the homophobia in law enforcement resembles the kinds of childish bullying found in many high schools around the country. This homophobia is keeping a vast majority of LGBT law enforcement officers from being “out” on the job. But again, let’s not forget how far we have come as evidenced by the 14th LGBT Conference for Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Professionals taking place this weekend in Chicago, hosted by the Chicago Gay Officers’ Action League. No, there is no typo there… it is the fourteenth! annual conference. There are LGBT law enforcement associations how on both coasts and sprinkled around the country in places you might least expect them to be including Iowa and Alabama. More and more, law enforcement professionals, who happen to be LGBT, are coming out and in doing so are changing the hearts and minds of their colleagues. This too is cause for much celebration.
This coming Wednesday, I have the distinct honor of being the keynote speaker the first multi-agency pride celebration of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, DEA, GSA, and FBI in San Francisco. This even won’t take place off site in some hidden location, but rather in Courtroom 5 of the Phillip Burton Federal Building. 300 people are expected to attend. The fact that this many employees will be coming together and openly celebrating pride in who they are is evidence and reason to be proud.
You know, you don’t have to wait until June each year to celebrate Pride. Celebrate the unique person you are every day. But this weekend as you are marching and partying, take an extra moment to remember all of those people who helped you get here today including those in your life who you know as well as those pioneers you may not have ever met.
This month, we awarded our first Out To Protect Scholarship to Julianne Zuniga who just graduated from the Police Academy at Napa Valley College. The job market in California is tough, but Julianne decided to put herself through the academy on her own dime anyway. She is a proud member of the gay community and was an outstanding role model for her class.
It’s time now to fund raise for our next set of scholarships and we need your help. The Out To Protect Scholarship Program is funded entirely by private donations. No amount is too small to make a difference. Out to Protect Incorporated is a 501(c)(3) tax exempt organization, which means that every dollar you donate is fully tax deductible.
The Board of Directors is committed to making sure that 90% or more of ever donated dollar goes to one of our scholarships. This means that every dollar you donate will go to help a future law enforcement officer. Our goal this summer is to raise $10,000 by September 1 in order to fund the next 10 scholarship awards.
Please help us build this “first of its kind” scholarshp fund in the United States. It’s so easy to make a donation online using just about any credit card. You do not need to have a PayPal account to make an online donation. We welcome donations for professional organizations and checks are always accepted. Please click here for details about where to mail a donation.
You can follow us on Facebook for regular updates about our program.
Thank You
Greg Miraglia, President
Out To Protect Incorporated
The Board of Directors of the Out To Protect Scholarship Program are pleased to announce their first award of a national scholarship to Julianne Zuniga of Vallejo, California. She was selected to receive a $500.00 scholarship after a nationwide search for qualified applicants currently enrolled in a basic law enforcement training program who met the following qualifications:
Identify as gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, transgender, or a straight ally and be “out” to your family, friends, and peers at the academy or law enforcement agency.
Be a recognized role model by your peers and supervisors.
Demonstrate use of the Law Enforcement Code of Ethics as a guide for decision making.
Demonstrate being able to graduate from your law enforcement training program.
Ms. Zuniga graduated from the Basic Police Academy at Napa Valley College yesterday. She quickly established herself as a role model for other students in her class and was selected by her peers 
and the academy staff to be a permanent squad leader. She has a solid track record of making ethical decisions and conducting herself in a consistently professional and disciplined manner. “I have achieved many goals in the police academy. I never thought it would be this tough to go through training, both physically and mentally and I am proud to say that I have made it. I plan to continue being an effective role model as a lesbian by never letting go of my morals and ethics. I will continue to be an effective leader in the agency that I work in and always set my standards high for others to follow. I will stay true to myself and always do what is right. I will never hide who I truly am and I will stand proud” Zuniga said. “I’m so proud to present this ‘first of its kind’ scholarship to such a fine young woman” said Greg Miraglia, founder and President of Out to Protect Incorporated.
Out To Protect Incorporated was founded in March of 2009 by Greg Miraglia, author of “Coming Out From Behind The Badge,” a book for and about LGBT law enforcement professionals who have come out on the job. Miraglia said, “The most effective way to eliminate homophobia in law enforcement is for outstanding role models like Julianne Zuniga to demonstrate that members of the LGBT community can work effectively as law enforcement professionals.
May is National Law Enforcement Month and the time each year when we pay tribute to those peace officers who gave their lives to protect and serve our community. This year we honored a special group of law enforcement officers who not only lay their lives on the line for us, but who also happen to be lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, or transgender. Often, these officers remain silent on the job because of the pervasive homophobia that still exists within the law enforcement profession. They not only risk their lives on the street, but sacrifice happiness in their personal life to avoid being rejected by the profession. The good news is that things are changing and more officers are now “out on the job” than ever before.
As a tribute to this special group in law enforcement, we produced a one-hour special radio show called, “Outbeat Radio Comes Out From Behind The Badge.” The showed aired on KRCB Radio on Sunday, May 30, 2010. KRCB Radio 91.1 FM is a public radio station located in the North Bay Area of California. Outbeat Radio is a weekly program that features four different programs each month. Author and show producer, Greg Miraglia, is a regular host on “Outbeat Now!,” a public affairs and current events show on Outbeat Radio.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Congress may vote as early as Thursday, May 28, to repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. They need to hear from you, so take a moment to call your local representatives and let them know you believe in the 14th Amendment and in the equality it guarantees. Relieve the members of our military from the pressure of having to serve in silence.