Homophobic Police Graffiti Also Anti-Woman?

Chris Henderson over at upstart blog Just A Couple Questions posted a question for me and some other local news outlets yesterday: Why did media reports about the homophobic graffiti written on a D.C. police officer’s locker overlook a second victim in the case—the “female police sergeant” referenced in the graffitti?

Henderson rightly points out that the “lewd references to sexual acts by [openly gay police officer Matt] Mahl and a female police sergeant who is also assigned to the Third District substation” indicate that Mahl was not the only victim of the hate-based slurs. Police sources identified the male officer in the graffiti to the Blade as Matt Mahl, but didn’t identify the female mentioned in the case, or describe how the graffiti implicated her. Henderson is also right that it would be interesting to note how D.C. police have discussed the case—are they, too, focusing solely on the homophobic epithets, or considering the misogynist ones as well? I’ll update if and when I hear back from MPD.

Tags: D.C. police, graffiti, homophobia, Matt Mahl, misogyny