please also leave comments at www.outandaboutnewspaper.com/article.php and homophobiaintennessee.blogspot.com/

This letter is in regards to an incident that happened to me, The letter following it was one that was written by my best friend and was also involved, I am not hoping for much here in San Francisco, but rather hoping to garner media attention on a national level, I want to fight this, but having limited monetary resources I don’t have much hop without out some press attention, or pro bono legal assistance. I hope that some reader somewhere will find this story compelling enough to help me out in my fight against what appears to be a good ole’ boy network of homophobic sheriff’s and the Maury county DA. Fighting this purely from a legal standpoint will be a tough fight, but I am up for it, What I need is enough voices to stand behind me in my fight, granted this is a minor incident, but I am willing to standup where many would say just let it go, Homophobia is the same no matter what the degree of the outcome is. Please help me in my fight to unveil this unjust rural department in Tennessee, and bring some justice to another corner of the homophobic American landscape

On March 24th I was arrested for what essentially was a trumped up charge after myself and two gay friends were asked to leave a Columbia Tennessee establishment, We were standing quietly in a corner of the bar talking amongst ourselves bothering no one, after we had been there a short time a few deputy's from the Maury county Sherriff's dept showed up and not long after one of them demanded that we leave. When asked why we needed to leave his response was that we were intoxicated, We were not, especially myself, One of my friend had about 2/3rds of a drink the other had about 1/2 and I had not yet had one, Meanwhile going right past this officer is a girl that is so drunk she can't even walk being carried by her friends, people stumbling, screaming yelling, and very obviously drunk. I realized instantly what was going on, we were being singled out because we were gay, The officer had stood next to us long enough to listen to our conversation and from that easily could ascertain that we were a group of gay men, not to mention we were rather well dressed compared to the general customer base and kind of stuck out visually as well, I called this officer on his homophobia, and asked if he had ever heard of the ACLU, I was a little upset about being singled out, I then walked to the car and waited for the others, One of my Friends, Matthew was rounding up his sister who had suggested going there in the first place and if any of us were intoxicated is was probably her but not likely. Before they could get to the car I was in handcuff's and was being arrested for public intox, I was angry and in a state of shock, I couldn't believe they would take this homophobia to this level, I was taken without a sobriety test to the Maury County jail where once again no alcohol level test was conducted, I was simply placed in a cell without telephone access or toilet facilities and held for four hours until my friends were allowed to bail me out, I was told at the jail that everything was done and that there was no need to go to court. I was not issued a citation or summons to appear in court, One of the jailers made the comment "I can tell why you are here" Not sure if this was in reference to the fact that yes I am on the effeminate side or to falsely back up the arresting officers claims of public intoxication.

To me this is outrageous, and just as clear and unjust a hate based case of anti-gay discrimination as any other, Being from Northern Colorado originally and having been acquainted with numerous friends of Matthew Shepard I was literally fearful in that jail, I am now having nightmares and am afraid to be in groups of people, this has left a scar on me that you can't see but I can certainly feel,

Sincerely,

Brian W
San Francisco CA


Hello Guys and Gals:

I'm writing this letter to everyone I know, to remind you all that...RACISM and PREJUDICE...still exist in our COUNTRY...let me tell you a story
AS most of you know, I now live in a small town in the south, and have since September 2006.
As we all know, the south is still, very much behind the times as far as being Liberal, and open minded to anything else other than white, Church going people.
If you are Gay, Black, Hispanic, yes, and even Middle Eastern, you are MORE, than less likely, to be shunned and made feel UNWELCOMED into the Community, and for the most part,... treated like a outsider !!

I never really realized , how rampant it really is. Here is my story.........

Last night Saturday night March 24th, 2007, against my better judgment, I went to a local establishment with two of my other friends, and my sister, called the "SPORTS PAGE", located at..... 300 EAST JAMES CAMPBELL BLVD. COLUMBIA TENNESSEE, 38401...apprehensive about going in... I went in anyway, my sister had been there on many occasions, and assured us that the people who also went there, were a nice group. As soon as we walked in together, heads were starting to turn and looking our way. They stared us down, and I felt very uncomfortable from the get go. But my sister assured us all was fine, and she left us to socialize, we found a nice quiet corner of the establishment, to chat, and talk... away from the center of the bar.
As we ordered our drinks, John, Brian and myself, Brian was to be our DESIGNATED DRIVER...for the night. So Brian drank coke. We were there about 1 and a 1/2 hours.. then it all started.
About 10 Police Officers came into the Sports Page, some went to one side of the bar and stood watching us, two..... a male, and Black female officer stood, one on one side of our table, and the other on the other side of our table. They stood next to us roughly 20 or 30 minutes, my friends Brian, John and I continued to talk and socialize, as my sister, still out among the patrons was socializing herself, we three men were quiet, not loud, and not offensive Chatting among ourselves. for the 1 and 1/2 hours we had been there. We were causing no trouble, but we "WERE GAY !!"
The two officers stood by our table and listened to us chat, and I do believe they were called to have us removed from the Sports Page, and was trying to find any excuse to remove us from the establishment. The Bartender, and hostess had already shunned us.
After the 20 to 30 minutes the male officer...a "Good Ole Southern Boy" leaned over the middle of our table and said..." You Three Need to Leave" Shocked, and wondering why, we asked him why, he stated ..."Your Publicly Intoxicated"

Ok wait hold on a minute.....what's wrong with this picture....three men, quiet, minding their own business, in a BAR...having a few drinks, isn't that what you do when you go to a BAR ! !
Meanwhile other people , running around loud and defiantly intoxicated, were allowed the free run of the bar, and not one word from, NOT ONE... Police officer..... was said to any drunken patrons in that bar but us three men, who were not intoxicated. "BUT WE ARE GAY" and I know now, that don't go down in Columbia, Tennessee. AS I'm sure all other GAY men have felt this same treatment in more cities through the south.

When the officer asked us to leave and having already asked why, we of course stared to gather our things and get my sister so we could leave as he had asked us to do with NO RESISTENCE WHAT SO EVER. Brian our D. D. went get my sister and we planed to get a bite to eat at one of the local Waffle Houses.
As we began to walk out the door, only within a few minutes of being asked to leave, Brian going out first, turned and asked the officer again, why we had to leave and at that question , the officer slapped the cuffs on my friend and told him he was under arrest, my friend Brian was surrounded by 6 officers....6... we all went into shock at what was going on in front of our eyes, we all knew he was being arrested for being ""GAY".
You see my dear friend Brian, and with no offense to him, was the most obvious, and we feel DEEPLY, that he was singled out because of it!!
Brian lives in San Francisco, and was here on a visit, so needless to say , he is not used to this kind of treatment, nor am I, having always lived in Liberal Cities.
One thing they failed to do was a "SOBRIETY TEST"! ! Yes...he did not receive one, so is anyone wondering WHY, why could anyone who drinks coke and is a D>D be charged with intoxication, without that sobriety test its the officers call, and in this case they made a real bad call in using that excuse...It's BOGUS, and they DID NOT READ HIM HIS "MiRANDA RIGHTS"
As Brian was being put in the police car and we were standing there in shock and bewilderment, Brian spoke to the officer in a normal tone of voice and told him..."I know why this is happening, it's because I'm GAY?"
There was no call for what happened there that night. Except it was all about being GAY. Brian was arrested for using his freedom of speech, he told the officer that this was the actions of Homophobic people !!
That sobriety test would have proved he wasn't drunk. But I guess that is not the case in Columbia, the Police say you are, then off to jail you go, weather it's a proven fact or not.....Where is there justice in that kind of system.
Being openly Gay, against the Law ???? Does that constitute being arrested ??
Does that anger any of you....Does it, I was hurt for my friend, he is a Gentle Man, in every since of the word !! Although some of the officers that were there asked us why our friend was being arrested, they hadn't seen him do anything....UH HELLO, anybody home, again, what's wrong with this picture. So they said , "We didn't see him do anything, but not one of them asked the arresting officer what he had done, or ever stepped in to stop it. I just guess it's standard practice in Tennessee, to arrest anyone that is "GAY" and God forbid that you speak your mind or even ask why.!
By all rights the establishment could have refused to serve us if we were intoxicated, but since the hostess and bartender had already shunned us, I think it was kinda hard for any of us to be considered intoxicated. One more time....It's all about being ..........GAY! We did what we were told. And our sexual orientation should not have been the reason. I was raised to believe there are laws to protect us from such arrests.. And taught respect for the police force. I actually thought when I saw them come in, that we would be safe with them there, little did I know then, it was us, they were coming for!
Now I will began my long journey, and battle, I will be a activist on this matter. I now understand racial profiling to a "T" And it is sad it took something like this to get me involved, to start to take charge in the Country in which we live in.

I think it's time America woke up and, realized that as a Gay Culture, we contribute more to this country than most people realize, and it's time that people all over this vast Country know it too! We as a community are not second class citizens, and stop hate, bigotry and racial issues of the like. To everyone receiving this please make sure you copy it, scan it e-mail do whatever to get it to as many people as you can, think of this as happing to you for being white, black, straight or any other difference you may have, do it for your own sake not just mine and my friend. I have become very complacent living in places in the past, that were always liberal and thought this kind of thing no longer existed, I was dead wrong it does exist. How can we call this the land of the free and home of the brave if we aren't really free to go where we want and can't say what we feel for fear of repercussions.

I will be now devoting a lot of time to this issue, I will become more involved in activism to make the way for future generations to not have to deal with this or lessen it as much as possible. It is the principle of the matter. Many people have paved the way for us to be as free as we are today with events such as stonewall, but we are still hated, we may never make the country free of prejudice but we can make so we don't fear for our freedom, from even the police. Now we have things like parades and marches, we can go into gay establishments and not worry that we will be arrested for just being gay... or can we. Go online and read (I have) how many people have been arrested for being gay how many times the police had come into our establishments and targeted us because they think we are easy targets. Let me tell you, I am not an easy target and will not stand for this, I will stand of for my rights as an American, as a gay man, and for my community. All people in this country should have the same rights regardless of there sexual orientation, beliefs, race or religion.

Please again send this to as many people as you can, I am to.

Mathew
Columbia, TN