PGHIMC - Pittsburgh Independent Media Center

Police Homophobia and Sexism at Anti-war Picket
by pog Monday, Dec. 04, 2006 at 2:00 AM
pog@mutualaid.org

Pittsburgh Police taunt protesters with homophobic and sexist remarks at Nov. 28th counter-recruitment picket.

homophobiccop1big.jpg, image/jpeg, 320x240

On Nov. 28th Pittsburgh Organizing Group held its 43rd picket at a military recruiting station. Activists arrived at the station to find that yet again the police have increased their level of harassment and intimidation. In order to prevent cars from seeing us they parked a large police van in front of the station, blocking that lane of Forbes for 2 hours. They had 4 cops in uniform and 2 plainclothes cops. During the course of the picket this rose to 8 cops outside and a total of 5 police cars along Forbes. At one point 13 cops were observing the 20 people in attendance. Not content with wasting Pittsburghers' money on simple act of intimidation the plainclothes cops engaged in disturbing and completely unprofessional displays of homophobia, sexism, and violence.

The plainclothes officer, who is pictured above, called numerous people "gay", "fags", and used other gay-bashing comments like claiming people were "boyfriends". He also referred to a passerby, who had stated her support to us, as a "fat pig". He told a member of pog to go "shave her legs" and commented derogatorily on the level of attractiveness of various activists present.

He also pushed an activist into the side of the police van while nothing else was occurring and hit the video camera of an indymedia reporter attempting to film him. It's worth reminding people the hitting of a camera was supposedly the entire pretext for the massive police violence on August 20 last year. Another cop hit the arm of an activist, and yet another pushed an activist into a doorway. As more police arrived Sgt. Winkler (the highest ranking officer on scene during the Aug 20 police violence) showed up to do his usual job "supervising" the scene. Numerous officers made comments and gestures that indicated they wished for violence and wanted to fight people, saying thing like "do something"while getting in peoples faces and shaking their pepper spray to intimidate.

About two-thirds of the way through the picket we decided to go inside the station to ask recruiters about their new "Army Strong" marketing campaign. Entering a facility open to the public, paid for by the public to ask questions should at the worst result in a request to leave- refusal of which is trespassing. Since this was not an act of civil disobedience or direct action, people did leave when asked, and were still threatened with violence while walking away, such as "I'm going to kick your ass".

In conclusion, this kind of behavior from public servants is completely unwarranted, unprofessional, and raises serious questions about the police departments training and day to day conduct. If the act of protesting institutions the police support--most officers went out of their way to tell us they support the military and the war--results in this response then it is no surprise that much worse violence and repression is inflicted on those outside the public eye. Imagine what someone talking back to an officer in Garfield, or someone looking too "gay", might have to contend with. We believe police violence is a systemic problem that will only be fully addressed through community self-organization and massive social change. We believe in the right of activists to self-defense, we believe in direct action, and we believe in the necessity of confrontation at certain times. We also believe that when people choose to stay within the bounds of the law (even laws we sometimes must break) they must be free from police abuse, lest the rights of all be eroded. We also believe that the machismo and general violence of police culture breeds homophobia and sexism, and that it must be opposed when it manifests.

Even in our current system it is worth trying to set limits on how much abuse and violence the police are able to use. People calling politicians will not completely solve the problem but it will at the least make clear they are being watched and that other people besides the 20 of us outside the station do care about these issues.
Thank you for your support.

POG is hoping that people will call the mayor's office and city council and express to them that homophobia, sexism, and violence from the police against anti-war activists or anyone else for that matter is not acceptable and that you would like the police officers (specifically the plainclothes officer who refused to identify himself) to be investigated.

Please call:

Mayors Luke Ravenstal's Office - when calling the mayor, insist that you want this complaint to go to the mayor and ask not to be redirected elsewhere (as in, don't let him pass the buck to some other office): 412-255-2626

City Council:
Bill Peduto, 412-255-2133. Twanda Carlise, 412-255-2137. Doug Shields, 412-255-8965. Tonya Payne, 412-255-2134. James Motznik, 412-255-2131. Len Bodack, 412-255-2140. Darlene Harris, 412-255-2135. Daniel Deasy, 412-255-8963. Jeffrey Koch, 412-255-2130.

Pittsburgh Organizing Group
pog@mutualaid.org