By Ramy Eletreby

LAPD and LGBT Community Spar over Lewd Conduct Arrests

Anger over a recent spate of lewd conduct arrests in the area bordered by West Hollywood and the city of Los Angeles turned the Jan. 19 LAPD Community Forum at the Hollywood Community Center into a sparring match. As Assistant Chief Jim McDonnell explained that crime had gone down in Los Angeles, he was interrupted by West Hollywood Hate Crimes Coordinator Rich Ryan who demanded that the discussion focus on the stings in West Hollywood.

From October to December, the LAPD used undercover plainclothes officers for a sting operation near Circus Books and the Gold Coast bar and south along La Jolla and Waring into L.A. City Councilmember Jack Weiss' district.

Outraged gays noted that people who had been arrested repeated the same story of being enticed by a "hot" guy who lured them into an alley where he leaned against a wall then looked down at his belt buckle, signaling for the gay man to make a move. However, once the gay man reached for or touched the other man's belt, he was arrested. That, said Ryan, is entrapment aimed at the "heart of our very existence." Additionally, suggested Stonewall Democratic Club's Pam Cooke, it is "selective enforcement" because the LAPD does not use the same tactic to arrest heterosexuals engaged in lewd conduct above Sunset Boulevard.

"We do not lure anybody," said Lt. Manny Romeral, the LAPD officer in charge of the vice sting operation. Rather, the plainclothes officer, who keeps his hands in his pockets, is usually approached by a lone male who then, without provocation or conversation, "exposes his penis and begins to masturbate." Romeral and Hollywood Capt. Ronald Sanchez seemed startled when some in the audience laughed, challenging the veracity of the claim. "Some of you don't want to believe it, but it happens," Romeral said.

Sanchez and Romeral insisted that the vice operation was a response to complaints -- 15 individual letters in one month -- from neighbors angry about men engaging in sex in their yards. Using plainclothes officers, they said, was a "last resort." Ryan pointed out, however, that arrests also occurred during Gay Pride, dates Romeral professed not to know.

Bob Claster, one of the complaining neighbors, said lewd conduct goes on all the time and that six people exposed themselves to his son as he walked home from the bus. But, Claster said, this was about the behavior alone. "We're not a bunch of gay bashers."

West Hollywood City Councilmember Jeff Prang noted that the issue isn't lewd conduct, which, everybody agrees, "is wrong." The argument is over the LAPD's policies. "I believe more could have been done before we got to this point," he said. "You see how viscerally the community feels about this tactic."

The tenor in the room changed, however, when Bienestar's Bamby Salcedo asked how long it had been since either Sanchez or Romeral received LGBT sensitivity training, a requirement in the police academy but not necessarily throughout the ranks of community-based policing. Romeral couldn't remember and Sanchez said it has been years. Then Sanchez's smirk momentarily disappeared as he recalled a conversation with openly gay and Jewish L.A. Police Commissioner Shelley Freeman, who lost family members in the Holocaust, and admitted that he might have done things differently had he been aware of the LGBT history.

Freeman acknowledged the point as she acted like a tight-rope walking translator, comparing her reaction to the plainclothes tactic as if someone derided the Holocaust while also defending and praising her LAPD colleagues who appeared to be "listening" and trying to understand the gay community's heightened sensitivity. Freeman promised to take up the lewd conduct issue with her fellow commissioners. -- Karen Ocamb

Boy Scouts Fights Berkeley

On Jan. 10, the California Supreme Court heard arguments from the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) and the city of Berkeley regarding a lawsuit originally filed in 1998 by the Sea Scouts, a BSA program, alleging discrimination against the city. Berkeley threatened to withdraw government subsidies to the Sea Scouts unless they agreed to admit homosexuals and atheists into their organization, which their policy prohibits. The subsidies included free berthing privileges for the scouts' ships in the city marina, free use of school facilities, and payroll deduction contributions from government employees. A 1997 city policy offered free berthing only to nonprofits with non-discrimination membership policies.

The lower and state appellate courts sided with the city. The scouts' lawsuit is supported by the Pacific Legal Foundation and the American Civil Rights Union's Scouting Legal Defense Fund. "Berkeley has disregarded the constitutional principle that government cannot retaliate against citizens for associating with an organization simply because government does not like that organization," said Pacific Legal Foundation Attorney Harold Johnson. The city is supported by the American Civil Liberties Union, the City of San Francisco, the Anti-Defamation League, and state Attorney General Bill Lockyer.

Prominent Lesbians Run for Long Beach City Council

Stephanie Loftin and Gerrie Schipske, two prominent Long Beach lesbians, will be on the April 11 ballot for the City Council in the Third and Fifth Districts, respectively.

Loftin, an attorney, has run Long Beach Law, Inc., PLC, for 16 years with her partner Reba Birmingham. She has contributed countless hours to the community, teaching battered women how to legally protect themselves and their children. In 1997, the California State Bar named her pro bono lawyer of the year. She was also honored with the Outstanding Woman Award by Long Beach Lambda Democratic Club in 1998, and received their President's Award in 2000.

Schipske, a nurse practitioner, attorney, and university teacher, was elected to the Long Beach Community College Board of Trustees in 1992, and has run against Steve Kuykendall for state Assembly and Steve Horn and Dana Rohrabacher for Congress since that time. Schipske and her partner of 25 years, Flo Pickett, have raised three children who attended Long Beach public schools and Long Beach City College. She has served for over 15 years on Long Beach City committees, commissions and boards, including the Board of Health and Human Services, the Joint Powers Authority for the CSU Headquarters, and the Queensway Bay Committee. March 27, 2006, is the last day voters can register to vote and participate in this election. -- Denise Penn

Medicare Plan Glitches

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and state legislators have authorized spending up to $150 million in emergency funds to cover prescription drugs for California seniors, the poor, and disabled -- including those with HIV/AIDS -- who have been denied medication under the Medicare Part D plan that went into effect on Jan. 1. Advocates for patients say they have received reports of claim rejections, over-charging, and pharmacies unaware of the plan, among other problems with the new federal program, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Locally, the outlook may be brighter. "Fortunately, our pharmacy staff are very well trained on Medicare Part D," Jim Key, chief public affairs officer for the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center, told IN," so our patients and other pharmacy clients have had little difficulty with the new plan. Those who are in need of immediate assistance can call the Center's Jeffrey Goodman Pharmacy at (323) 993-7496." Additionally, the Center has been offering ongoing free benefits counseling workshops for those who need assistance understanding the program. Call (323) 993-7597 for more information.

AIDS Healthcare Foundation operates four pharmacies in the L.A.-area (visit www.aidshealth.org for more information) and AIDS Project Los Angeles has a Medicare Part D Hotline at (213) 201-1365. The federal hotline is (800) MEDICARE. -- Karen Ocamb

AHF Blasts L.A. County for Stalling Bathhouse Regulations

On Jan. 10, the L.A. County Department of Health Services finally issued health regulations on the county's 11 bathhouses and commercial sex venues (CSVs) after being chastised by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) for their years-long delay. The new regulations require all L.A.-area bathhouses and CSVs to pay an annual permit fee of $1,088 and allow a mandatory four inspections annually by the county health department. Also, all venues must provide voluntary on-site testing and counseling for HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases as well as condoms, lubricant, and HIV and STD prevention literature. Large signs are to be posted at entrances prohibiting unprotected sex while inside and anyone clearly under the influence of alcohol and illegal drugs must be denied admission.

"All of the things we've been pushing for -- prevention messages, condom availability, testing services -- will finally be here," said Karen Mall, AHF director of prevention and planning. "This is a good step to protect public health. The whole idea is to reduce the amount of infections happening in these establishments. It's really ludicrous that restaurants are regulated more than these establishments."

The new regulations will likely take effect in February or March.