Date: Mon, 20 Feb 1995 11:44:51 -0500 From: Chris Hagin To: Multiple recipients of list GLB-NEWS Subject: San Jose Police author anti-minority flier Date: Mon, 20 Feb 1995 06:15:00 -0500 Police want to know who wrote anti-minority flier new type cover and jump; no inset. SAN JOSE, Calif. -- San Jose police confirmed Sunday that they are trying to determine who distributed a biting internal flier that attacked women, gays and minorities. The flier, called the Outsider, in an apparent play on the official newsletter, the Insider, was distributed in the police locker room Thursday. The leaflet appeared at a time when the department is trying to hire and promote women, minorities and gays. Among other things, the flier poked fun at the physical appearance of lesbian leader Wiggsy Sivertsen and included a mock dialogue between Deputy Chief Tom Shigemasa and Japanese visitors. The one-page, double-sided flier also skewered the so-called protected groups in the department: Hispanics, women and gays -- and made fun of recent top hires by Chief Lou Cobarruviaz. ``It was an unauthorized publication,'' Lt. Allen McCulloch said Sunday. ``And the chief's office is investigating.'' The flier appeared not long after the Police Officers' Association narrowly rejected a city proposal that would have allowed officers bereavement leave if an unmarried partner died. At least some leaders in the gay and lesbian community -- including Sivertsen -- had interpreted that vote as anti-gay -- an interpretation POA leaders rejected. Sivertsen said Sunday that she had written a letter about the issue to the POA's chief, Jim Tomaino -- and she suggested the flier may have been connected to her stance. ``What disturbs me the most is not so much the attack on me,'' Sivertsen said. ``It sounds like a whole lot of people were pretty ferociously attacked. I think it's too bad. It makes me kind of sad.'' The flier appeared to have been done by someone familiar with computer graphics. But what set it apart was the fiercely sardonic style of its writing. In an item, the flier sarcastically advertised a ``protected classes handbook'' to protect groups from ``promotions based on raw scores,'' ``your own laziness'' and ``low levels of IQ.'' The police department has used the concept of ``protected classes'' to further promotions for minorities, women and gays who traditionally have not been represented in the department's upper ranks. S. CHRISTOPHER HAGIN | The Pledge of Allegance says: Atlanta 1996 | "With liberty and justice for ALL" chagin@mindspring.com | What part of ALL do you not understand? HATE IS NOT A FAMILY VALUE