Gay L.A. Officers Pulling Back the Curtains on Secret Society : Police: As more come out of the closet, they are greeted with hostility and praise. Actions coincide with a period of activism.

When a small number of Los Angeles police officers convene at an LAPD recruiting booth this weekend during a gay pride festival in West Hollywood, they will be pulling back the curtains on a secret society within Southern California law enforcement.

One by one and step by step, Los Angeles’ homosexual lawmen and law women are publicly disclosing their private lifestyles. In doing so, they have stirred controversy among colleagues, incited some hostility from elements of the public, and won praise from gay activists.

Training officer John Smith of the Foothill Division insists that the department’s primary purpose is to recruit good law enforcement candidates.

“There’s no overt political statement here,” Smith said. “Tomorrow we will be held to the highest standards of the LAPD and we will perform as such.”

Nevertheless, Smith, the third active-duty member of the LAPD in recent days to publicly acknowledge a homosexual lifestyle, was striking a blow for the gay rights movement and pioneering a new and somewhat nervous era in relations between law enforcement and Los Angeles’ gay community.

Smith said he plans to join Officer Sue Herold and police reservist Paul Butler, both members of the Hollywood Division, as well as a few more discreet gay officers at the recruitment booth during this weekend’s gay pride celebration. Many of the gay officers, Smith said, are members of a heretofore secretive organization of Los Angeles-area gay law enforcers called Pride Behind the Badge, a group that claims 150 officers from the LAPD, Sheriff’s Department, Highway Patrol and various local police agencies.

To gay activists, the recruitment effort and the gay law enforcement group represent a historic breakthrough in the gay rights movement within Southern California--one that New York, San Francisco and some other major cities experienced a decade ago. Gay law enforcers in San Diego recently organized a similar group.

Gay activists contend that Los Angeles law enforcement agencies are behind the times because of what they say are anti-gay attitudes and policies of such brass as Police Chief Daryl F. Gates and Assistant Chief Robert L. Vernon. Gates has long resisted pressure to direct recruitment efforts toward the gay community. Vernon, a fundamentalist Christian and deacon in his church, has sermonized against homosexuality.

Now, gay activists say, years of pressure from inside and outside the police force are paying off.

The actions of Herold, Butler and Smith coincide with a period of heightened activism within the gay community at large and deep controversy concerning the Police Department. Gay activists have pressed charges of discrimination, harassment and brutality in testimony before the Christopher Commission, which is conducting a review in the aftermath of the widely publicized police beating of Rodney G. King.

The LAPD recruitment effort--initiated by the gay officers and the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Police Advisory Task Force--represents a departure from longstanding department practices. Gay activists and gay officers in effect outmaneuvered the department’s policy. Gates, who on Wednesday voiced disapproval of the officers’ plans to wear uniforms during the off-duty recruitment at the festival, grudgingly reversed himself the next day.

Gates, while complimenting the gay officers for their initiative, emphasized that he considers this weekend’s recruitment effort a one-time event and not an alteration of department policy concerning gay recruitment. Gates maintains that sexual orientation is as irrelevant to the hiring of police candidates as their religion.

For Smith and other officers who have come out, there is no turning back. There are expectations that many other gay officers will soon be telling colleagues a secret they have been keeping for years. Their stance, they say, is both pro-gay rights and pro-law enforcement.

After years of largely closeted behavior, gay officers in Los Angeles said they were able to identify each other only after former Sgt. Mitch Grobeson filed an unresolved 1988 lawsuit shortly after his resignation from the force, claiming that he was harassed off the department by officers who correctly suspected he was homosexual.

Grobeson, now a member of the San Francisco Police Department, said before he came out of the closet, it was common for gay officers on the Los Angeles force to know of no others or perhaps know of one friend. He said he was besieged by calls from about 60 Los Angeles area lawmen who are gay, forming a loose-knit network. News of the informal group spread by word of mouth. Smith said founding members only recently decided to acquire a phone number and a post office box and incorporate as a nonprofit fraternal organization.

According to its draft charter, Pride Behind the Badge’s goals include improving working conditions for gay and lesbian officers, instilling “the principles of justice and equality within law enforcement,” fostering good relations between the gay community and law enforcement, and motivating “members to a higher degree of professionalism.”

Grobeson said he plans to join the weekend recruitment drive to show his support for the gay officers’ “bravery, integrity and dedication to improving the LAPD.”

“We are inviting all gay and lesbian officers with the codicil that they may have to endure harassment and possibly lose their careers,” Grobeson said.

Grobeson said that based on his own experiences, gay officers who are coming forward could be facing great personal risk. In his lawsuit, Grobeson claims that fellow officers who suspected he was homosexual not only harassed him but failed to provide backup support when he was in life-threatening situations in the field.

Hostile reaction from the public is another concern for gay officers. A recent flyer distributed outside Parker Center likened the recruitment drive to “Demon Services.” In a recent news conference, Sue Herold participated via speaker phone because she did not want her image appearing on TV news broadcasts or in newspapers, saying she feared negative reaction from the community.

Smith said that he was heartened by the reaction that his commander had when he informed him that he was planning to participate in the recruitment effort. Capt. Paul Jefferson, he said, “absolutely” supported his efforts.

Jefferson corroborated Smith’s story. He said that on Thursday, after having spoken with Smith, he talked about the gay recruiting effort in a roll call and reminded officers to conduct themselves in a professional manner. Even comments about gays meant as innocent jokes could be hurtful, Jefferson told his officers.

“We know this has been a hot issue for a number of years, but I just emphasized that it (sexual orientation) has no bearing on being a police officer in the city of L.A.,” Jefferson said. “We’re going to judge them as we judge other police officers and I’m not going to tolerate anything to the contrary.”