We Can Stop the Kent County Sheriff Department’s “Bag a Fag” policy action planned for Tuesday, December 13

It has been known for the past year that the Kent County Sheriff’s Department has been targeting gay men at public parks in the area and arresting them. The ACLU became involved earlier this year requesting documents from the Sheriff’s Dept. The ACLU has discovered that no formal complaints have been filed against men wanting to meet other men. The Sheriff’s Department had agreed months ago to meet with the ACLU to discuss this matter. However, to date, the Sheriff’s Dept has failed to make themselves available for that meeting.

Therefore, we are asking as many people as possible to join us Tuesday, December 13 at 9:30 am at the Kent County Commission meeting to voice our opposition to this policy of harassing and arresting gay men.

Here is a link to a document that the ACLU sent to the Sheriff’s department, which lays out why their policy of targeting gay men is unjust and a violation of people’s rights.

In addition, there is an excellent report written by Rudy Sera on the history of “Bag a Fag” operations in Michigan, which you can find on the LGBT People’s History Project site.

The Kent County Commission meets in the County building, room 310. Everyone has an opportunity to speak about this issue during public comment, which is at the beginning of the meeting. Please help us spread the word and join us if you can to speak out about this injustice in our community.

We Can Stop the Kent County Sheriff Department’s “Bag a Fag” policy action

Tuesday, December 13

9:30 AM

Kent County Building

Room 310

Downtown Grand Rapids