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It’s OK, Mom. You Don’t Need To Understand Public Cruising.
Despite proof that the so-called “sex sting” operations carried out via local police departments across the country are rooted in homophobia and the targeting of gay men, and are illegal, Momzette writer and self-proclaimed “rational conservative” Deirdre Reilly seems to think it’s all the fault of those nasty gays for being so “lewd.”
In her op-ed Lewd Behavior Gets Pass by LGBT Crowd she writes:
…law enforcement has employed stings in areas known to be frequented by gay men in order to target lewd conduct, indecent exposure, and sex in public places. These activities, unfortunately, often happen in restrooms of family-friendly areas such as parks, seaside areas, and wooded hiking and camping areas. Not so fast — say some who see bias everywhere. These stings may be discriminatory against LGBT individuals. Just call it the ‘they can’t help it, they’re LGBT’ defense.
OK well, we’ll just stop right there.
The gay men (and it is primarily gay men, not “LGBT people”) who claim they’ve been unfairly targeted all tell similar stories about being baited into behavior by undercover cops. These weren’t men who were just “caught in the act,” they were led into it by cops.
The proper word for that is entrapment…
Related: Long Beach Police Accused Of Illegally Targeting Gay Man In Bathroom Sex Sting
OK, so Reilly speak to some actual gay people as well:
“Nobody is going to defend lewd conduct, but there is a qualitative difference between sexual predators and people who engage in boorish behavior,” Los Angeles County Assessor Jeffrey Prang told the Los Angeles Times. “Criminalizing them isn’t really justice. You just want them to stop.” Prang is gay, and has worked as a special assistant in the sheriff’s department on the LGBT advisory council.
But ultimately she devolves into shrill, pointless “hetero families are the real victims” babble.
She mentions Long Beach case where a gay man was coerced into behavior and the practice was later found to be discriminatory, then works herself into a lather about “families’ rights”:
Yet this begs the question: How is this a question of discrimination, and not of catching and punishing illegal behavior? And where are families’ rights in all this? They’re undoubtedly the majority of the people who use these recreational public spaces.
Dear Mrs. Reilly: The vast majority of LGBT people are not into public sex, and realize that those who engage in such and are caught are, in fact, criminals.
BUT illegally targeting these men is as illegal as their behavior.
That cannot be ignored, certainly in the name of “families’ rights.”
Related: Judge Rules Long Beach Police Illegally Targeted Gay Men In Sex Sting Operations
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