The Palm Springs Police Department’s Warm Sands public sex sting was perfectly reasonable, a judge ruled after more than a week’s worth of testimony. The ruling means the 19 men who claimed unlawful discrimination by the cops — for specifically targeting gay men after just three complaints, while ignoring reports of breeders having sex in public — won’t have charges against them dismissed. “These 19 men were not being arrested for being gay, they were arrested for having sex in a public place,” ruled Indio’s Superior Court Judge David B. Downing. And what about the cops using derogatory language toward gays? It didn’t matter because it happened in the field, apparently. If police chief David Dominguez called gays “filthy motherfuckers” and “cocksuckers” back at the station? “I would have dismissed this case in June,” he says. So Dominguez lost his job for this? Man, that’s gotta be harsh.
ForeverGay
Expected. You are not going to recieve justice from heterosexuals. As we have seen from history heterosexuals are dedicated to unequality. The men in this case should appeal and see what happens.
Right Wingers Are Socioptahs (John From England)
Didn’t these guys vote for that republican wife of Sonny Bono? Where were all the rich gays who live in palm springs huh?
The sooner people realise gays are just against each other as heteros a clearer strategy can be distinguished towards fighting homophobia.
scott ny'er
well, it was illegal, what they were doing. And while gays were targeted, it’s still an illegal situation.
Joe Clark
“Darndest” isn’t a word. (“Most darnd”?)
Franky
I’m not entirely sure what they were expecting to happen. Yes the cop used derogatory words, but the fact is they were still having sex in public which is a crime…
kayla
Ummm….just don’t have sex in public….Is it really that hard?
DR
This is what happens when you break the law. Simple answer, stop doing it.
DavyJones
@ForeverGay: What is you idea of justice? These guys should be let off because they are gay. The straights should just also face the same punishment…
ForeverGay
@DavyJones: These gay men were charged with felonies and put on sex offender lists. It means they most likely will lose their jobs and will have a very difficult time finding a good one in the future because of the criminal record. You can’t vote if you are a felon. You can’t recieve many state and federal benefits if you are a felon which you will need if you can’t find a job. Heterosexuals are not being set up in sex stings and they are not being charged with felonies and put on sex offender lists. This sex sting was designed to criminalize homosexuality and to outcast gay men from society. Get that through your skull, idiot!
The haterosexual judge is a jerk. The heterosexual police denied they said any derogatory remarks about gay men until the recording came out. Recorders are not set up in police offices so if they did say derogatory remarks about gay men in the office they would deny it with no evidence to the contrary.
kayla
@ForeverGay: I’m sorry to burst your bubble, but the vast majority of heterosexual females having sex outdoors are prostitutes, and they are always getting pulled in by the cops… How do you know the judge was a heterosexual? How do you know that all the cops are heterosexuals?
Furthermore, if as you believe gay men are especially targeted for arrests, isn’t that even a better reason to find a room somewhere….? How come lesbians aren’t being busted in these stings…? Is it because they choose to have sex indoors and not outdoors….? Just maybe….
justiceontherocks
@kayla: And to further add to your point, which is 100% correct, the most famous person to lose a job in a sex sting is the very hetero former Gov. Spitzer.
FYI – felons in California can vote unless they are incarcerated or on parole. None of these guys will ever be either.
DeGuyz in Mississippi
Sex in public is against the law but the penalties are way more severe. years, even decades in some states for us. For every gay couple caught there are several hetero couples that are overlooked. I hate to say it but I see it driving down the freeway. Worse than rabbits!
ForeverGay
@kayla: Heterosexual police are not setting up sex stings to catch Joe and Jane Hetero. Prostitution is a different category involving money, pimps, sexual abuse and control. The heterosexual police rarely come down on prostitutes anyway. They rarely get charged with felonies involving sex and they are not placed on sex offender lists. The situation with these gay men is very different.
christopher di spirito
Police in the USA are a protected class. They can ignore the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights and even rape and murder innocent citizens. Getting a conviction against one of them is next to impossible. I truly detest the police.
jason
I certainly don’t agree with man-to-man sex in public parks but the same should be said about man-to-woman sex. What about all those hetero’s who are having it off in cars in public areas? I’d like to see the police arrest them too.
jason
Man-to-man situations tend to be very primeval in line with the power of male sexuality in general. A man’s sexuality is a very powerful thing. Combine it with another man’s sexuality and it is nuclear-energized.
This is why some men will have sex with total strangers they meet in a park or truck stop. There’s no morality involved. All that they care about is their orgasms. It’s a case of orgasms or bust.
In heterosexual culture, the less sexualized woman cannot satisfy the highly sexualized male. This is why men must pay women to agree to sex, hence the highly revered prostitute.
Joey O'H
Really! Don’t have sex in public! It is illegal. Simple. Frankie say relax, don’t do it!
kayla
The idea that public sex among heterosexual couples, not involving a prostitute, is as common as public sex among gay men, is a myth… Women in general, are not that into having sex in public places, it’s just not the way, most self-respecting women behave. I know you would like to think that there are tons of heterosexual couples screwing in public, but it is not the case….sorry!
DR
@ForeverGay:
First of all, the men were *not* charged with felonies, but misdemeanor sex acts, with the offer to have those charges reduced even further depending on the nature of the arrest (open lewdness for most, disturbing the peace for others).
Secondly, felonies and misdemeanors do not cost you the right to vote in California.
Thirdly, they have not been placed on any sex offender lists since they haven’t been convicted of anything.
Finally, if you want to avoid this situation, STOP GOING TO THE LOCAL PARK FOR PUBLIC SEX. It’s gross and against the law!
kayla
@DeGuyz in Mississippi: Decades in prison….? Really….? Please back up these outrageous statements with some cold, hard facts.
thematics
People having sex in cars (parked cars, that is!) is one thing. People having sex in parks is quite another.
Get a room!
ewe
He is a county judge right? County judges are more corrupt and self serving of their inner circle than small time municipal judges. I am not one bit surprised. I think this should be heard at the appellate level.
ewe
How many female sting operations coincide with the cute male officers they use as bait to arrest gay men? One big fat ZERO right?
ewe
@kayla: Wrong. I see young straight couples screwing often. On beaches and even on a park picnic table underneath a flagpole that was in the middle of a relatives town at 3am. You are wrong. I noticed you through in your biased ” self respecting” part to make your point more credible. You speak for all straight behavior i take it? Don’t think for one second it went unnoticed Anita Bryant.
ewe
This ruling is not really JUST about the 19 men. It also is containing the potential fall out if discrimination is proven and that is why it must proceed on appeal. One does not even get a semblance of intelligence until all judges are objective. That just does not ever happen at the municipal and county levels.
Shannon1981
@Kayla, while it is nice to have a regular straight ally here, your holier than thou, heterosexual superiority often shines brighter than the morning sun, and it is tiresome. Straight people most certainly DO do shit like this. They should be arrested too. Nobody should be having sex in public, period. It is against the law. But gay men were targeted here. The hetero judge is overlooking the homophobic slurs made by the cops and probably brushing under the rug that straights were engaging in the same kind of behavior. All we are asking for is they get the same punishment.
kayla
@Shannon1981: Of course anyone who is having sex in public should be arrested…But let’s be real, people who have sex outside are usually meeting some stranger for a one-off…I’m sorry, if the truth offends, but women, both gay and straight, are not into having sex with strangers outside, hence the reason lesbians don’t get arrested in these stings either….I’m sure that there are heterosexual men who would love to go to a park and hook up with random women, but the ladies simply aren’t into it. Prostitutes generally satisfy the straight man’s desires in this way, and they do get arrested, just like gay men.
Shannon1981
@kayla: I’ve seen straight people do things like this with my own eyes. Girls getting fingered in the parking lots of college bars, guys getting blown- it happens. But I’d bet if those were GAY bars, the cops would be all over it. Not at a straight bar though.
And for the record, no, I am not into doing stuff like this, and I frown upon those who do. The point is, these kinds of arrests happen due to the disgust with gay men coming from straight judges and cops.The comments that surfaced in the recording are proof of that. I agree that this sort of behavior happens much less often with women, but it does happen, and they aren’t all prostitutes either. Make no mistake this REEKS of discrimination.
kayla
@Shannon1981: How do you know anything is being “brushed” under the rug….? I just don’t understand why it’s so hard to face reality that because heterosexual men require female partners, they are limited in their sexual actions….Yes, they may very well want to have sex with whomever, whenever, but women just don’t (generally) behave that way…What woman in her right mind, is gonna go walking through a park or bathroom stalls, looking for some strange man to have sex with?? Considering that women are more likely to be raped, sexually assaulted and even murdered by men, it wouldn’t be a very smart move…….
kayla
@Shannon1981: If you saw men getting blown in the parking lot, you should’ve called the cops. Where the heck do you live anyway…? I really must live a very sheltered life…….Never, have I seen anyone being blown in the Parking Lot of any bar….
Soupy
You must. I’ve seen women blowing men in bars, bathrooms, cars, and alleys. Even in the dead of winter. You need to get out more.
Shannon1981
@kayla: Your statements are showing that you HAVE had a very sheltered life. Soupy is right. This stuff happens all the time. and I live in SC, though I have lived in 3 different states in the last 10 years- CA(briefly), SC, and NY. I’ve seen this stuff in all 3.
As far as the “brushed under the rug” comment- it happens all the time, due to prejudice.IDK about this case, but odds are I am right. The cops don’t care that straight people do this stuff, but they sure as hell care that gays do, and it stems from homophobic prejudice.
And Kayla IDK what kind of bar scene you’re into…but you haven’t seen the real deal, I assure you.
kayla
“You need to get out…” I don’t think getting out is my problem…I was born in the W.I. I’ve spent time in the U.K…visited France, Spain and Portugal, Greece, Cyprus and Turkey…Lived in Seattle and now attending college in MA. So I would say I’ve gotten out quite a bit…I just don’t hang around bars where people get blown…I guess…
Soupy
Not to worry. When you reach legal age, you will.
kayla
@Soupy: I turned 21 on Nov. 26th of last year. I AM of legal age…..
Shannon1981
@kayla: That explains a lot. You haven’t had the time to really sink your teeth in, and some of your delicate sensibilities would probably keep you away from such places anyway.
ewe
@kayla: Kayla, most people, myself included, are not condoning public sex. We are saying that there is specific targeting of gay men that does not occur toward straight men. One would need to employ women to target straight men but there is a difference between gay men cruising around and your example using prostitutes. Prostitution involves the exchanging of money and that is illegal. No one is exchanging money here. The scenario is that there are tax paid undercover police officers sitting in wait for gay men, rubbing their crotches etc. until they entrap an interested party. I often go outside and if i am interested in a consensual affair i have been known to hook up. That conversation leads to going somewhere private for me but the time it takes to make those arrangements does not even occur because these homophobic cops make an arrest. Don’t come onto me if you are not interested. We are not talking about gay men coming onto uninterested parties. These cops are eyeballing and playing up to gay men giving them signs of interest and behaving in the exact way they then claim is illegal for anyone to do. That is discrimination honey anyway you splice and dice it. Just cause county judge is part of the hate campaign doesn’t make it right.
Spike
@Right Wingers Are Socioptahs (John From England):
All the rich gays in PS are EXTREMELY REPUBLICAN. Most if not all made their money while in the corporate closest and in no way participated in the revolution of gay rights during the past 20 years. They are all white, well educated, always had jobs that offered good medical benefit and to this day do not support gay marriage. They made their money and don’t like the Govt. taxing them or those who will inherit their money for any social causes that don’t benefit them personally.
A few years ago at one of the big yearly black tie gay fund raisers Lea DaLaria was billed as one of the entertainers, she’s a fantastic saxophone player, between sets, she took the microphone and went off on GW Bush. They cut the mike and pulled her off stage. It was hilarious how upset all those stuffy old republican queens were with what she said.