The Enforcer on the Streets and on the Ice

Brett Parson has always felt a duty to stand between the vulnerable and whatever might harm them. Few communities are perceived as vulnerable as the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, or Transgender (GLBT) community.

Parson is a former NHL referee. He’s a police officer. He is one of nearly 12 million GLBT people living in the United States as estimated by the University of California’s Williams Institute.

He feared being outed throughout his sports career. Today, Parson hovers between wanting people to see him as just another person and embracing his status as an openly gay public figure.

Parson is no Officer Krupke but he’s no Harvey Milk either.

“We are not a swat-you-on-the-ass, sing ‘Kumbaya,’ window-dressing unit,” says Parson, repeating a statement he’d made several times as head of the Metropolitan Police Department’s Gay and Lesbian Liaison Unit (GLLU).

Doing police work has mattered more to Parson than achieving some utopia.

“Just because [the police] hand out brochures that say we respect you, doesn’t mean we respect you. Our actions will show. And, more importantly, you need to respect us,” says Parson.

“He’s a rock”

Parson and his partner, Chris Grosso, 48, tease each other incessantly about everything.

Grosso, who plays music for a living, has a regular gig at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel and teaches a workshop for vocalists one day a week. Both men carry similar working hours.

Parson found a kindred spirit in the piano player. Like him, Parson has pursued the career that ultimately makes him happy.

“Everytime I see him play or hear him play I am totally in awe of that talent and that ability. I love that,” says Parson.

Grosso says he admires his partner and clings to his role as the reliable “rock” in the relationship.

“He’s always got, you know, some great thing that he’s going to go do for people,” says Grosso, his partner of thirteen years.

Parson cracks a smile hearing his admirable qualities.

“Get that grin off your face,” says Grosso.

He Can Play

There has been a national discussion about gay and lesbian athletes these days and Parson seems to look on with interest.

He is happy with the NHL’s You Can Play Project particularly since he left hockey feeling the pressure of being outed.

“Sports are suppose to be, for the majority of people, something that makes you feel good, makes you feel included, part of a team - something that you can learn accomplishment,” says Parson, “but it’s also suppose to be safe.”

He never felt safe when officiating in the NHL.

Dan Woog covered Parson’s anxiety in the book Jocks: True Stories of America’s Gay Male Athletes.

“Had they known Brett was gay, players and coaches would have made comments to get under his skin or undermine his authority, while general managers, even team owners, might have suggested that certain calls were in some way connected to his sexual orientation,” writes Woog.

“It was one of the reasons I left,” says Parson.

Just a Good Cop

Parson’s work with the GLLU is renowned. He engaged the GLBT community. He spoke their language. He understood their anxieties.

Activists call upon Parson to be an interface between the law enforcement and the gay community despite rifts between them.

The patrol sergeant spoke at a vigil for Lashai Mclean, a transgender person gunned down in July 2011. Controversy surrounded the manner in which police handled the case.

He has reminded activists that risky circumstances, like prostitution, leave people open to victimization. It’s those circumstances, he says, that need to change.

For Parson, being the “Sheriff of Gay Washington” (as The Washington Post so artfully put it) was not as important as arresting bad guys.

Parson, who led the GLLU from 2001 to 2007 and commanded the entire liaison program until 2009, has since been on patrol in the city's 6th district.

“One of the things that springboarded us into international acclaim was we were actually doing police work,” says Parson.

The sergeant was open about his concerns regarding the unit he helped build.

“It’s frustrating to me that the one major ingredient that won us the Harvard Innovations in American Government Award has been completely forgotten,” says Parson.

It’s no secret that Chief of Police Cathy Lanier changed the GLLU after being appointed in 2007, emphasizing decentralization.

"When's the last time [the GLLU] worked a case? When's the last time they found a missing person, saved a suicidal gay kid? When's the last time they closed a homicide? When's the last time they papered a hate crime or a domestic violence case? I don't see them," says Parson.

The GLLU couldn’t be reached for comment and a spokeswoman for the department’s Public Information Office wouldn’t discuss the unit.

Anthony is a writer and American University graduate student living in Northwest, Washington, D.C. (www.anthonyjrivera80.com/blog/)