More details about alleged anti-LGBT abuse at the Philadelphia Police Department were released last month in a deposition by openly gay police officer N. Melville Jones.
Jones is suing the city in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court, alleging pervasive anti-LGBT workplace bias.
In his sworn deposition, Jones testified about physical and verbal abuse that allegedly created a hostile workplace environment for LGBT employees. For example, he said, supervisors in the 24th District spread rumors that he had sex in the men’s locker room.
On one occasion, a sergeant allegedly asked Jones upon his return from the locker room, “Oh, was it good for you, Melville? Did they pay you?”
Because of the alleged harassment, Jones stopped using the men’s locker room to change clothing.
“Even when it’s raining or snowing, I get dressed outside of my car,” Jones testified.
Jones said lesbian officers also have been targeted for abuse, with top brass referring to them as “crazy lesbians” and “carpet munchers.”
Non-LGBT officers in the 24th District would refuse to assist a lesbian officer when she responded to dangerous assignments, he said.
“She wouldn’t get backup,” Jones said, even when she requested assistance over police radio.
Another lesbian officer was physically assaulted by a lieutenant, Jones said.
“He slammed her into a desk, and he physically tried to fight me in the hallway.”
He said the lesbian officer reported that incident to the city’s Human Relations Commission.
Overt racism allegedly permeates the police force, with slurs such as “nigger,” “spic,” “wetback” and “monkey” routinely uttered, he testified. A lieutenant allegedly stated: “I don’t know why you black people are always late,” according to Jones, who is African-American.
The same lieutenant asked Jones if he cooks breakfast for a gay coworker, implying they must be domestic partners, Jones said.
Sexism, too, is an issue within the police force, according to Jones, who said he saw a sergeant grab his crotch and shake his penis in front of a female officer.
A gay male officer was treated callously after missing work to care for a terminally ill aunt, he added. “I wish she’d hurry up and die,” a supervisor allegedly said of the man’s aunt.
And a transman officer was disparaged after undergoing a double mastectomy, Jones added.
“This is just a waste of two perfectly good breasts,” a corporal allegedly said. “Oh, I just can’t understand any of this.”
Jones said he’s friendly with several LGBT colleagues. But the friendships were derided by a lieutenant, who allegedly said: “Oh, these gays are always with their little cliques.”
Jones said the lieutenant also conveyed to him that LGBTs are “always whining and crying.”
A police captain was allegedly sexually attracted to Jones and pursued him in a manner that outed Jones.
“Once he started pursuing me, he really pushed me to the forefront, where everybody is looking like, ‘He’s gay,’” Jones said. “[The captain] might as well have hung a sign around me.”
Jones added: “He had a thing for me. He just wanted me around him. He was pursuing me. It was just too much attention on me. He was doing things to try to get me to be closer to him. When that didn’t work, it was just like I spurned him and he became angry and started doing more things to me.”
The captain’s alleged pursuit of Jones was so blatant that coworkers asked if the captain ejaculated on Jones or vice versa.
Jones filed antibias complaints with the city’s Human Relations Commission, and last year he filed suit in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court.
When asked why he didn’t report the alleged abuse suffered by his LGBT colleagues, Jones replied: “It’s their personal things to report.”
Jones also said LGBT antibias complaints aren’t taken seriously by the department.
“You report instances and they go nowhere,” he testified.
Jones is still a police officer, but he’s been transferred out of the 24th District, according to court records.
A non-jury trial is scheduled for early next year, but the city has requested that the case be dismissed. Jones is seeking in excess of $50,000 in damages, according to court records.
