Triangle Foundation Advocacy Staff: From left: Sean Kosofsky, Heather MacAllister, Jeffrey Montgomery
Police sting Holt restroom
Timing, place of operation leaves gays questioning
By JACLYN ROESCHKE
The State News
Accusations of sexual profiling and entrapment arose after a Michigan State Police sting operation at a Holt-area restroom late last week.
Michigan State Police said the sting, which took place on Thursday and Friday at the restroom on northbound U.S. 127, resulted in the arrests of 12 men on charges of criminal sexual conduct, indecent exposure and solicitation to commit an immoral act.
The arrests came shortly before the start of Michigan's Pride Weekend, area gay activists to believe targeting and profiling of gay men was involved in the sting operation.
"There has to be a connection between this operation and the weekend it was carried out," Todd Heywood, a Lansing resident who was briefly detained in the sting, said.
Though Heywood, a member of the gay-rights activist group Triangle Foundation, was not charged, he said officers made disparaging comments to him while targeting him for misconduct.
State Police Lt. Gary Nix said undercover officers were planted at the restroom in response to citizen complaints.
"We had received a number of citizen complaints," Nix, the Lansing post commander, said, adding officers have been stationed at the scene in the past. "People said they were being accosted, assaulted and propositioned and there were just people doing gross things in the restroom."
He said the operation wasn't implemented specifically for Pride Weekend, and said the sting was not an attack on the gay community.
"Some people want to put that spin on it," said Nix, adding suspects names have not been released. "This was not to target gay people. It was law enforcement against people committing lewd acts."
Nix said stings of this magnitude have taken place in the area before, but would not give specifics regarding where they took place or the number of officers involved. He also would not say the frequency of the operations or how many complaints police had received.
But some, such as Heywood, disagree with Nix's views on the timing of the sting around Pride Weekend.
Heywood arrived at the rest area at about midnight on Friday. He proceeded into the restroom and used the facilities before leaving to smoke a cigarette. When he was finished smoking, Heywood went back into the restroom and then out again.
As he began to leave the second time, his car was pinned into the parking lot by two unmarked vehicles - a silver van and a red car.
An officer in the passenger seat of the red vehicle approached him and made him get out of the car before frisking him, Heywood said.
"I was so terrified because I didn't know how many officers there were," Heywood said.
As the officer brought out his handcuffs, Heywood said another officer got out of the silver van and said to the man arresting Heywood, "No, no, that's the wrong fag. He is cool."
Heywood has filed a formal complaint against the police department and said he plans to discuss the case with an attorney.
Nix said he does not believe the derogatory comment was made, but added the Michigan State Police are investigating the incident.
Sting operations of this magnitude have been occurring for years, Sean Kosofsky, the Triangle Foundation's director of policy, said. Kosofsky said the operations are deliberate attacks against homosexuals.
"These types of police acts are typically called a 'bag a fag' operation," Kosofsky said. "It is illegal profiling behavior and an attempt to fabricate a problem. It's like, if you're gay and using a rest area, you are there for sex."
Kosofsky said officers typically "bait" men in restrooms by smiling and eyeing them, thus coercing the men into criminal misconduct. Nix said his officers don't set out to entrap or entice anyone.
Because of this coercion, many Michigan residents have taken precincts to court in an attempt to challenge the practices they believe are unfair.
ACLU Lansing Chapter President Henry Silverman said undercover operations are generally viewed as harassment by members of the gay community.
"There is certainly a history on the part of police of singling out gays for particular actions," Silverman said, adding he had not heard of the particulars of Heywood's case.
Cases are many times thrown out before suspects are charged in a court proceeding, Silverman said. The process of arresting, but not carrying through on the charges is where the harassment comes in, he said.
"There are better ways to protect the public," Silverman said. "Unfortunately, we live in a macho society with prejudice and homophobia - and the police certainly aren't exempt from that."
Location: http://www.statenews.com/article.phtml?pk=24425
Triangle Foundation Advocacy Staff: From left: Sean Kosofsky, Heather MacAllister, Jeffrey Montgomery
Todd Heywood, Lansing Community College Board's only gay member
He's right, of course. 
In other words, they were targeting "gay" people.
Well, that'd be enough to turn me from straight to gay. (NOT!)
What kind of fools does this Kosofsky think we all are??
Baloney! Unless the cops put a gun to their heads and MADE them commit these acts of indecency, then there was NO coersion! They need to just take responsibility for their acts of depravity and stop whining! Goodness!
When there's an epidemic of straight people picking each other up and having sex with each other at rest rooms and the cops do nothing, maybe these people will have a point.
Maybe we could give them a small "restroom" of their own, one now, maybe a couple more later and whatever it takes to please the pissed-off, gay community.