Pepin Tuma, a 33-year-old gay man, was discussing the recent arrest of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates with a few friends as they walked to Cobalt on July 26. At some point in the pre-bar jaunt, the Washington Blade reports, Tuma loudly condemned the alleged bigotry in the case in a sing-song voice: “I hate the police!” he declared. “I hate the police!”

A D.C. police officer, Tuma says, responded with some hate-speech of his own—and a swift arrest. Second District Officer J. Culp, Tuma says, “charged 40-50 feet” toward him, “pushed him against a transformer box,” arrested him, then told him to “shut up, faggot.”

Read More “Gay Man Arrested For Mocking Police Bigotry” »

GLOV (Gays and Lesbians Opposing Violence) is holding an open community forum on Tuesday, June 2, with D.C. police chief Cathy Lanier.

The deets:

Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Foundry United Methodist Church
5:00 – 6:00 pm Community discussion on public safety and anti-GLBT crime
6:00 – 7:00 pm DC Chief of Police Cathy Lanier joins the discussion

According to the press release, “Chief Lanier is expected to discuss the status of MPD’s efforts to combat crimes in general and hate crimes in particular, as well as discuss her plan to staff the Gay and Lesbian Liaison Unit of the MPD.”

Today, Mayor Adrian Fenty took a break from his pre-inaugural planning blitz to meet with the co-chairs of GLOV (Gays and Lesbians Opposing Violence), Chris Farris and Todd Metrokin about what GLOV says is a crises-point in hate-bias related crimes against the gay community. Fenty and GLOV were joined by Police Chief Cathy Lanier and MPD Gay and Lesbian Liason Unit Sergeant Brett Parson. Farris and Metrokin had been petitioning for a meeting with the mayor for months, tapping allies in the D.C. Council, making calls to the Mayor’s office, and organizing an extended letter-writing campaign. They finally got their audience today GLOV’s report of the meeting is after the jump.

Read More “GLBT Activists Meet With Fenty on Hate Crimes” »

Last month, the leaders of local anti-hate crime initiative Gays and Lesbians Opposed to Violence (GLOV) called out Adrian Fenty for snubbing their request for a meeting about what they’ve characterized as acts of violence against D.C.’s gay community. This week, GLOV co-chair Chris Farris announced, and Metro Weekly reported, that Fenty will, in fact, meet with the group. D.C. police chief Cathy Lanier will also be in attendance at the meeting, scheduled for January 16. D.C. brass will meet with Farris and fellow GLOV co-chair Todd Metrokin.

The locker of openly gay D.C. police officer Matt Mahl was vandalized earlier this month, Lou Chibbaro Jr. reports for the Washington Blade. On Oct. 26, the Third District officer returned to his storage locker to find it covered in homophobic epithets. Writes Chibbaro:

When contacted, Mahl released a brief statement confirming that the incident occurred but declined to provide additional details.

“I’m a police officer assigned to the Third District substation,” he said. “I was the target of a hate bias incident. It was reported to MPD and they are conducting an investigation to the best that they know how.”

Police sources familiar with the incident said the graffiti referred to Mahl as a “fag” and made lewd references to sexual acts by Mahl and a female police sergeant who is also assigned to the Third District substation.

Spokesperson Traci Hughes said Police Chief Cathy Lanier called the act “cowardly,” “disrespectful,” and “reprehensible.”