From Lanier on down it is quite clear, GLBT issues are of no concern to the MPD.

(2) “Designated act” means a criminal act, including arson, assault, burglary, injury to property, kidnapping, manslaughter, murder, rape, robbery, theft, or unlawful entry, and attempting, aiding, abetting, advising, inciting, conniving, or conspiring to commit arson, assault, burglary, injury to property, kidnapping, manslaughter, murder, rape, robbery, theft, or unlawful entry.
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Read it for yourself, folks. DC’s hate crimes law is as clear as a bell. Note well… injury to property, theft or conspiring to commit those offenses is SPECIFICALLY included.

MPD, at its highest levels, has long been ignoring this law. The lame MPD excuses and fuzzy-wuzzy legal obfuscations given to the Blade are familiar to a number of us.

The Washington Blade is discovering what victims of anti-LGBT violent hate crimes in DC over the past 6 years have long suspected. MPD is apparently engaged in a quiet, institutional homophobic and transphobic bias against LGBTQ people and their business stakeholders in DC.

MPD is simply ignoring effective enforcement of DC’s hate crimes law as applied to LGBTQ residents and visitors. Let’s just ask a simple question again and again– how many of DC’s anti-LGBT hate crimes over the past 6 years have been closed with an arrest? All District residents and especially LGBT residents and visitors are entitled to know that.

Let me be very clear. This MPD institutional homophobia and transphobia does NOT emanate, nor “bubble up” from ‘rogue’ rank and file MPD officers, anxious to sacrifice the honor of their life’s work, their families’ livelihoods and their retirement benefits by ignoring what their chiefs really want them to do. Nor does it come from our dedicated GLLU officers– who must always follow their MPD chiefs’ orders– or else.

Perhaps for political reasons, but whatever his reason, Mayor Gray is tacitly complicit in this institutional anti-LGBTQ MPD bias.

LGBT voters should recall that Mayor Gray’s first broken promise was to DC’s LGBT community, when he failed to consult GLAA, GLOV and other DC LGBT public safety stakeholders in his selection of a police chief. LGBT residents of, and visitors to our Capital City have been paying a heavy, violent price ever since. That number now includes hate crime attacks on DC’s LGBT news media publications.

We don’t need any more new laws, Chairman Mendelson. We DO need you, CM Cheh and CM Wells– as well as ALL of our council members who purport to be LGBT ‘allies’– to EFFECTIVELY exercise COUNCIL’s POLICE OVERSIGHT responsibilities to end anti-LGBT hate crimes in DC.

Moreover, it is long past time that we ask President Obama why his Justice Department is ignoring anti-LGBT hate crimes in our Nation’s Capital.

Of all cities in these United States, Washington, DC should be a welcoming and safe place for LGBT visitors and tourists– from every city, village and hamlet across our country– and from all over the world. It is not.