police sgt. john brock thinks queer people are more violent than their heterosexual counterparts. in fact, he said “they’re very violent” and “when they get mad, they get really mad”. i bring up brock’s comments about the queer community not just because they are unsettling and unfair stereotypes but because they are part of the reason given for why an atlanta gay bar was raided in 2009.

the eagle was raided in september of 2009 by a vice squad that was known as the red dog unit. this unit, founded in the 1980s to deal with drug crime, was notorious for illegal searches and aggressive tactics. partly due to the unlawful nature of the eagle raid and the lawsuit the city faced as a result, red dog was disbanded in february. but just because the unit was no more did not mean that the investigation of the raid and the involved officers ended. the final report, of what has aptly been viewed by the queer community as an antiquated, stonewall-esque bust, was finally released just days ago.

going through every minor detail of the raid is not really of interest to me. the synopsis of the what happened in september goes like this: dressed in black fatigues, cops busted into the bar; kicked down doors; handcuffed patrons and made them lay face-down on the floor; illegally searched and falsely imprisoned people from the bar; and yelled anti-gay slurs.

in the 349 page report, there are certainly highlights. the comments about violence don’t stop with brock, the raid leader, but are complimented by a statement made by a participating officer who said he felt for a “man [to] have sex with another man” was “very violent”. these comments were made to investigators after the raid. but during the affair, cops asked patrons to admit to being in the military so they could “call your sergeant and tell him where you’re at” (this is before the repeal of don’t ask, don’t tell). cops also revealed that their cultural insensitivity went beyond the targeted minority of the moment saying within ear-shot of patrons “this is more fun than raiding n***ers with crack”.

the red dog unit was bad news, and for the people they beat, imprisoned, and humiliated for nearly thirty years this statement is most certainly not past tense. however, the problem of policing, particularly that of the queer community, is a pervasive and expanding issue. the percentage of queer identified people behind bars is disproportionately high and the number of transgender people who come forward with reports of police brutality is staggering. as angela davis put it so well, “the prison functions ideologically as an abstract site into which undesirables are deposited, relieving us of the responsibility of thinking about the real issues afflicting those communities…”

in this story, queer people are written off as violent. there are important questions to be asked of this situation. how is the media supporting this labeling of queer people as anti-social and aggressive? is the general public buying into this stereotype or is it just an idea that is taking hold with law enforcement? will this label further domesticate the queer community, making folks cower and keep quiet in hopes of not being lumped in with “the angry ones”? or will queer people learn that being mad, really mad is valuable when there is an injustice to be angry about?

[artwork by qteam collective entitled queers don’t make friends with the state]