Gay cops accuse NSW Police of homophobic discrimination after being targeted in a drug probe

FOUR policemen have accused their superiors of homophobic discrimination after they were targeted in a drug probe.

Christian McDonald has left the police force after alleged homophobic discrimination.

THE queer-friendly Sydney suburb of Newtown has been rocked by a homophobic police scandal.

Four openly gay policemen have accused their superiors at the Newtown LAC of harassment and offensive slurs, culminating in a drug investigation they claim was orchestrated as part of a bigoted campaign against them.

The Anti-Discrimination Board of NSW is examining why Shane Housego, Christian McDonald, Chris Sheehy and Steven Rapisarda were made to take supposedly random drug tests, while their colleagues allegedly were not.

The men, three of whom are still employed at Newtown LAC, say the drug sting came after years of putting up with derogatory comments from superiors.

After a six-month probe found no evidence of drug use or misconduct by any of the men — all of whom say that they do not take illicit substances — NSW Police’s Professional Standards Command refused to hand over details of why it was launched in the first place. The men are now seeking access to the investigation files at the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

HOMOPHOBIC SLURS

Christian McDonald began working at the station in 2009 and had recently been promoted to the rank of Senior Constable when he quit amid the controversy.

Mr McDonald detailed some of the alleged harassment in a statement lodged with NCAT, describing how a superior dubbed him a “pansy” while swaying his hands in an offensive gesture. Then, after being made to do his superior’s work and extra duties with multicultural communities, he reported being told that “they are just like the gays. You will do it.”

When he requested annual leave for his first wedding anniversary with the man he married in the United Kingdom, he was allegedly told same sex marriage was “not okay with me. It disgusts me and it will never be okay.”

When he returned to work after being injured when he fell and hit his head on a pavement on his way to the station, a manager allegedly said to him: “You should be used to having your head down, a*** up in the concrete.”

And when he put his hand up for duties at the Splendour in the Grass musical festival, Mr McDonald said, the retort came: “Splendour in your ass.”

NO EXPLANATION

Lawyer Nicholas Stewart has requested that the matter be brought to the attention of Commissioner Andrew Scipione, who earlier this year described the force’s relationship with the LGBTI community as “healthy, positive and progressive”.

It is alleged that the investigation included phone tapping and surveillance of gay bars, which he described as “the improper use of public resources to systematically target our clients because of their sexual orientation”.

Mr Stewart, from local firm Dowson Turco, said the refusal to hand over the investigation file left the men with no insight into how the drug tests came about, “other than to suspect NSW Police Newtown LAC instigated the testing because certain members of the hierarchy dislike homosexuals and wanted our clients gone”.

FRACTURED RELATIONS

The dispute comes as Newtown, in Sydney’s inner west, grapples with a serious of vicious, homophobic assaults that has coincided with an increased influx of revellers after the lockout laws took effect in the CBD and Kings Cross.

In April, Isaac Keating was brutally bashed after leaving a party in the suburb wearing a dress and make-up. It followed the alleged targeting of local drag queen Aaron Manahanby by Newtown police in a heavy-handed investigation of a social media incident, which a magistrate threw out of court in February.

Sydney’s gay community and NSW Police have a chequered history, with wounds only beginning to heal after the force apologised for the “78er” arrests and bashings ahead of this year’s Mardi Gras parade in March. Protesters were viciously assaulted by police at the first march in 1978, with many outed in the media.

The failure of police to bring to justice the perpetrators of 30 unsolved homophobic hate crimes in the 1980s, when gay men were bashed and thrown to their deaths from Bondi cliffs, is the focus of a documentary that aired last week on SBS.

It has been alleged that at least one of the attacks was carried out by a police officer.

‘RELUCTANT WHISTLEBLOWERS’

Mr Stewart said his clients were “really good police officers” who had decided to stand up to their superiors in the hopes of bringing about change.

“Ultimately they want to stay in the police force,” he told news.com.au. “They just want to be free from harassment and intimidation and be able to participate as police officers.”

He emphasised that the action was “not a war on the force, but particular members of the hierarchy who still think it’s okay to be homophobic”.

While they had been reluctant to take on the whistleblower role, he said, the men “couldn’t see any prospect for change unless they did that”.

NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH

Supporters of the four policemen took to the Newtown LAC Facebook page to protest their treatment, writing: “To say that I was disgusted and disappointed with the behaviour of these senior officers and/or managers would be an understatement”.

“The NSW Police Force has a horrendous history with the GLBTI Community, and the entrenched discrimination in the force is alive and well,” Dallas McCarthy wrote, adding that the men “need to be supported and congratulated for their actions”.

Bradley Cox agreed, suggesting that “maybe the neighbourhood should be watching you guys, your senior staff are a joke”.

“After reading the article in the local paper about police cracking down on hate crime in Newtown, it was interesting to read that the biggest perpetrators of such foul actions are your own officers,” he said.

POLICE RESPONSE

A spokesman for NSW Police said in a statement that the force was now “more diverse and accepting than at any other time in its history” and “reflects the community it serves”.

“This matter is currently subject to legal proceedings which makes it inappropriate to comment,” the statement said.

“The Force has a zero tolerance for homophobia and any action which could be deemed a breach of the Anti-Discrimination Act.

“All officers regardless of their sexual orientation have appropriate avenues for reporting any type of inappropriate behaviour in the workplace.

“The NSW Police Force places great importance on workplace equity and has a range of policies to ensure it provides an inclusive and supportive environment for LGBTI employees.”

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Originally published as Gay cops accuse NSW Police of homophobic discrimination after being targeted in a drug probe