LGBT POV

Twenty-five year old Mitrice Richardson – a lesbian who has been missing since September of last year – may be in Las Vegas, law enforcement officials said Thursday.

Law enforcement officials from Los Angeles and Nevada held a news conference Thursday in Las Vegas asking for the public’s help in finding Mitrice Richardson – and pleading with the young woman to please come forward.  Richardson has been missing since she was released from a Malibu police station where she was taken after she exhibited bizarre behavior and failed to pay her restaurant bill.  Her car had been impounded and she left the station without her cell phone or wallet.

That was last September and both the LAPD and the LA Sheriff’s Department have been looking for her ever since. Please click inside for more information about Mitrice and the independent investigation into how law enforcement has handled her case.

LA County Sheriff’s spokesperson Steve Whitmore told me that the news conference has already generated several new leads. He says police have already checked out over 70 leads, in addition to the two that brought them to Las Vegas.

Anyone with information about Mitrice Richardson should contact law enforcement or call (877) LAPD-24-7, or (702) 750-433.

Here’s a Las Vegas news report in advance of the news conference:

I was unable to attend the press conference regarding the arrest of Jesus Catalan (pictured), suspect in the murder of transgender Paulina Ibarra last year. However, Lt. Wes Buhrmester, the detective from the LAPD’s Rampart Division, provided the update below. Please click inside if you are interested in a personal comment on why I think this arrest has broader implications.

Here’s Buhrmester’s update on the arrest of Jesus Catalan:

“At the press conference, we divulged a few more details.  On July 3, 2010, Jesus Catalan was involved in a dispute at a motel in Tijuana, Mexico.  The landlord called the police and they responded.  Catalan was involved in a dispute with them also, and was taken into custody.  Because he was not a Mexican citizen, but an American, and had no ID, he was transported to the border crossing and handed over to authorities there.

The U. S. Border Patrol did a fingerprint check of Catalan, and that revealed the outstanding murder warrant in Los Angeles.  He was booked in San Diego pending his being transported here.  That was done, and he now has a preliminary hearing date, as you wrote, of July 19, 2010.

It was gratifying and humbling that we could cause Catalan to be brought to justice.  I was going to write, “to bring him to justice,” however credit where credit is due, it was the Tijuana police who set his arrest into motion.  In any event, the support and interaction with the LGBT community in Los Angeles was most satisfying, and we on the Department and especially at Rampart do not intend for the associations and friendships to end with Catalan’s trial.  We and the community intend to keep the dialogue going.  As part of that dialogue, I always post my e-mail and phone number if anyone has comments or questions. (25214@lapd.lacity.org and 213-484-3400) If it’s criticism, I will hear that especially.  Community exchanges are what help us, like any company or organization, to improve.

Jesus Catalan, wanted in the August 28, 2009 murder of Paulina Ibarra, (pictured) a 24 year old transgender woman who lived in East Hollywood, is in custody. LAPD Lt. Wes Buhrmester, who has been working the case from the beginning, says there will be news conference at 4:00 p.m. at Rampart Station, 1401 W. 6th St. to discuss the details of the arrest. Buhrmester,  some LAPD command staff and possibly some community members will speak.  Additionally, members of Paulina Ibarra’s family will be in attendance.

Working with the transgender community, Buhrmester was able to issue a description of Catalan and warn that he was considered armed and dangerous.  He also got the case profiled on the Fox TV show “America’s Most Wanted” last December.

Buhrmester said Catalan was in Mexico “when he ran afoul of the authorities down there.  He is not a Mexican citizen, being born in Puerto Rico, so they transported him to the border and turned him over to the U. S. Border Patrol.  A fingerprint check revealed he was wanted in Los Angeles on the murder warrant.” As of press time, Buhrmester had no date for arraignment.

UPDATE: Buhrmester says Catalan has been arraigned. A preliminary hearing has been set for July 19, 2010, 8:30 a.m. at the Criminal Courts Building, 210 W. Temple St., LA, Division 32.

Last Friday, I posted a “lost” video of DOD Fed Globe and GetEQUAL protesters outside the April 19 fundraiser for Sen. Barbara Boxer in Los Angeles during which GetEQUAL demonstrators disrupted President Obama’s remarks.

The outside protesters complained on the video of being separated from the other demonstrators by the LAPD on the scene, despite the fact that Obama arrived and left by helicopter. I asked the LAPD about that. Please click inside for the full response from Lieutenant John Romero, the Officer-in-Charge of LAPD’s Media Relations Section. Please note that he is correct that the video does not show “cordial” conversations between the LAPD and the protesters, which are alluded to on the tape. Additionally, he apologizes for the misunderstanding.

A group called DOD Fed Global just posted a video of protests outside the fundraiser for US Sen. Barbara Boxer on Monday (April 19), the one at which President Obama was heckled by GetEQUAL activists inside the room. This is raw footage by an amateur videographer, but voices can clearly be heard over a megaphone asking the LAPD why they had been separated and moved a block and a half away from the other demonstrators there protesting the war(s) and other issues. “Is it because there are gay people back here?” one person asks. Another says, “We were here first!” Several complained of having been “lied to” by the LAPD.

“We are veterans. We have served our country honorable. We can’t even get a decent place to stand,” said a woman who identified herself as the executive director of DOD Fed Global, complaining that the “tea baggers” and the “birthers” were allowed to protest directly across from the fundraiser. “We are offended. We should be offended. This is wrong. This is not supposed to happen in our America. This is not fair.”

Towards the end of the video, someone says there has been a “misunderstanding” and that the gays are free to join the other protesters. someone notes that took an hour for them to recognize the misunderstanding.

I called Media Relations at the LAPD and asked for comment. I was told to submit a formal request for comment with specific questions. Here’s what I asked:

Here’s what I need to know:

1. Who made the decision to separate the demonstrators there to protest Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell from the rest of the protesters outside the event – antiwar protesters, etc?

2. Why was that decision made? Was there a greater perceived threat from the gay protesters than the antiwar protesters and if so, based on what evidence?

3. Was the decision made in conjunction with the White House or the Secret Service?

4. Did it cost the city more to have extra officers guarding the 15 segregated DADT demonstrators?

5. Should the LGBT community start expecting to be separated or isolated at future protests and if so, why?

I’ll post the answers when I get them.

The Los Angeles Police Department is cracking down on lewd conduct in Elysian Park, Griffith Park and Sycamore Grove, which openly gay LAPD Vice Sgt. Lisa Phillips tells LGBT POV has gotten “out of control.”

At a news conference Monday, the LAPD showed a videotape shot during an undercover sting of condoms strewn along the trails and the arrest of three men they say were engaged in sex. “Gay, straight, bi or whatever sexual orientation they are is not our concern. Our concern is to stop this activity or at least an attempt to abate it,” said Phillips, who is Sergeant in Charge of Northeast Division Vice.

The LAPD said that over 90 arrests – including doctors and lawyers on their lunch break – have been made in the Northeast Division in a 12-month period and that “many participants have been arrested frequently for the same activity and claim to be married and heterosexual.” They also say a number of those arrested were engaging in unsafe sex, causing concern about the spread of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases.

Additionally, some of the men have been assaulted and robbed by gang members during their sexual encounters, which AIDS activist Richard Zaldivar, President of The Wall Las Memorias Project, said made them vulnerable because these men may not report the assault out of “fear or embarrassment.”

Photo: LAPD

Here’s the report from ABC Channel 7 News:

Not only did the LA Police Commission finally sever ties between the LAPD and the antigay Boy Scouts of America after almost two decades of contention, but LGBTs are stepping up to help make the transition from the BSA-Learning for Life Explorer Program to the new LAPD Cadets, according to openly gay LA Police Commissioner Rob Saltzman, Associate Dean at USC Gould School of Law. Click inside for the story and reaction from Roger Coggan, Jon Davidson and Rev. Troy Perry.

Charlie Beck was sworn in as the new Chief of the LAPD. Click inside to read the press release from LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, as well as an email from Beck on how he wants to hear from you.

Julia Rosen from the Courage Campaign is in Maine and gave me details about where to watch for the returns, as well as updated information. MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow has a camera at the Portland party – with an interview with No on 1 campaign manager at 6:15, our time. Click inside for details – as well as links for watching results for Washington state.

Also – I also covered the LA Police Commission hearing today – they formally voted to sever ties to the Boy Scouts/Learning for Life Explorer Program. More inside.

Openly gay LA Police Commissioner Rob Saltzman looks like the distinguished USC legal academic he is. But on Tuesday, he emerged as a kind of Rachel Maddow-style Geek Superhero, catching the Boy Scouts of America-linked Learning for Life attorney in his attempt to flimflam the commission. After a decade of complaints from the LGBT community, the Police Commission finally agreed to sever ties between the LAPD and the BSA-Learning for Life Explorers Program. In two weeks, the LAPD must come back with a detailed plan for its own youth program. Click inside for details – and red flag warnings.

Tomorrow morning, the Los Angeles Police Commission will once again hold a public hearing concerning the connection between the LAPD’s Explorers Program and the Boy Scouts of America, which proudly and legally discriminates against LGBT people. A new opinion by LA City Attorney Carmen Trutanich calls for the LAPD to sever ties to the Boy Scouts – but that’s not as easy as it may sound. For at least 8 years since the LA City Council first ordered the LAPD to sever ties, the LA Police Commission has dodged the issue. I argue here that by failing to sever ties, the Police Commission is complicit with the Boys Scouts’ bigotry and is continuing to fail LGBT youth. Click inside for my argument.