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Home > Our Priorities > LGBT Human Rights > Los Angeles Profile 		spacer
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Stonewalled – Still Demanding Respect!
AI's Campaign to End Police Brutality Against Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender People in the U.S.


Los Angeles Profile

Over the past 30 years Los Angeles has made significant strides in protecting the basic human rights of its lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) residents. This includes the adoption of anti-discrimination legislation that protects LGBT people from discrimination in basic areas of life such as employment and housing. There have also been improvements in police relations with the local LGBT community. Yet despite this progress, Amnesty International's research shows a continuing serious pattern of police abuse and misconduct against LGBT people in Los Angeles. This includes gender-based violence, sometimes amounting to torture or other ill-treatment, taking the form of sexual, physical and verbal abuse in encounters with law enforcement officials including during arrest, searches and detention. Furthermore, police fail to respond or respond inappropriately to domestic violence incidents and crimes targeted at LGBT individuals. There continues to be profiling and discriminatory enforcement of certain laws and ordinances, including legislation prohibiting "lewd conduct", against LGBT people.

Recent Developments

Following the launch of Stonewalled in the USA in September 2005, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) told Amnesty International that they had developed a new brochure for officers on how to interact with transgender individuals. However, the transgender activist and author of the brochure claim that the LAPD has yet to distribute the brochure to their officers. Local LGBT activists have reported to Amnesty International that the LAPD continues to target gay men for undercover "lewd conduct" enforcement operations in the Hollywood neighbourhood of Los Angeles.
A civil suit has been filed against the LAPD for allegedly failing to implement a 1993 settlement agreement (Grobeson v. the City of Los Angeles), which includes the expansion of LGBT training for police officers and the establishment of a "Sexual Orientation Discrimination Complaint Procedure."

TAKE ACTION!

Write to the authorities. In all your letters, please include the following key messages:
  • LGBT people in the USA continue to suffer serious police abuses, in some cases amounting to torture or other ill-treatment.
  • Within the LGBT community, transgender people, members of ethnic or racial minorities, young people and immigrants bear the brunt of police abuse. The climate of prejudice which LGBT people face in the USA means that many of these abuses continue to go unpunished.
  • Despite some positive initiatives by law enforcement agencies and the justice system, much more needs to be done to protect LGBT people from police abuse and misconduct.

In addition, the following points should be included in letters to the Los Angeles Police Department and City Mayor:

To William Bratton, Chief of Police of Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD)
Urge him to:
  • Review current policies and procedures on police interactions with transgender individuals, addressing the relevant concerns raised in Amnesty International's report.
  • Undertake comprehensive training with all LAPD staff on working with the transgender community.
  • Review policing operations to ensure that they are not targeted in a discriminatory fashion against LGBT people.
To Antonio R. Villaraigosa, Mayor of Los Angeles:
  • As the highest elected official in the City of Los Angeles, please do all within your power to ensure that Los Angeles Police Department respect the human rights of all city residents including Los Angeles' lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender residents.
  • Take steps to ensure that all cases of alleged police abuse are investigated and that perpetrators of such abuses are brought to justice.
  • Ensure that the Police Department and other city departments and agencies review the recommendations made in Amnesty International's report and make all necessary changes in policies and practices.
  • Inform him that discriminatory targeted law enforcement based on sexual orientation and gender identity or expression violates international human rights law and standards on policing.

ADDRESSES

Chief of Police William Bratton
Los Angeles Police Department
Parker Center
150 North Los Angeles Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012
USA
F: (213) 847-0676
Email: lapdonline@earthlink.net
Salutation: Dear Chief Bratton

Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa
City Hall
200 N Spring St,
Los Angeles, CA 90012
USA
F: (213) 978-0750
Email : mayor@lacity.org
Salutation : Dear Mayor Villaraigosa



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