by Marc H. Whittemore
from the LAPD

Mr. Whittemore, a resident of Los Angeles, gives a personal detailed account of his encounters and interactions with LAPD Personnel during his protests of Proposition 8.  His personal journey ends with his next step in his involvement with the LAPD and serving the community.

November 21, 2008

If I were a completely sane gay man I would at the very least be soaking my entire self in some serious Epsom salts.  Or even just washing 8 hours of (Prop 8 passing) protest marching grime and sand off my bone tired, dried-sweat-river-trail-marked body.  But, since I make no such claim, I am safe.

The reason I fore go the soap here is there is such a pressing urgency to capture some of my thoughts that even good hygiene has to take a back seat this time.

It's about those cops.  Yeah, those LA cops!

As a Los Angeles resident now for over 10 years I, like probably most people, have skimmed an acquaintance across a few cops here and there for what I imagine to be a standard share of traffic tickets  (I need to add --never from a time when I didn't break the law).  Being one usually with the mindset that "it's only illegal if a cop sees you" when I am pulled over I react like most people probably react.  That is I usually drive away with a bit of simmering chagrin thinking "why aren't they catching the real criminals" irritated for having been caught and "what will it cost me this time?"

But today, because of some, what I can only describe as life changing interactions with LAPD over the passing of Prop 8, my rather juvenile outlook was propelled forward several years to that of respectful adult. 

To back up a moment -- when Prop 8 passed it caught many of the gay community by sheer surprise and shock.  I don't think we ever really thought that something given us in our great "evolved" state of CA would actually be repealed, especially when the people campaigning for the yes vote stooped to boldfaced lies.  I think even though we mounted a fight against the passing we, for the most part, still all felt safe with a snugly little feeling "ah, no problem - we can coast this one out with out getting too involved."

But, as you know, pass it did and with that singular act it reversed us back at least 30 years back to a bigoted mindset like the time of Stonewall.   And you know what?  WOW!  THANK GOD! 

To some of you that reaction may come (as coming from a gay man) an even greater shock. But walk with me a little way here.  For it was exactly that slap in the face which served as an extreme wake up call to the GLBT community.  It was the very fallout from the drastic reversal that put in motion and galvanized an entire community gay, straight, black, white -- to come together and fight.  The even more mind boggling thing is that this rippled across America at breakneck speed, culminating yesterday with major protests in nearly every major city of America.  People have suddenly come together.  They have stood up and have thus far made it VERY CLEAR that we will not allow ourselves as a society to slip back into an era of bigotry and hate.  Think of that.  It's less than 2 weeks since the passage of Prop 8 and America, on behalf of California, has come together and said "No, Oh no we are not going back that way."

And along the way of my many marching experiences one of our fair city's major forces has shown itself to truly be the clearest, brightest and the best.  I speak from my direct experience as I have been to almost all of the protests at some point, mostly on a daily basis.  While the first couple of demonstrations may have erred on some of our emotions having run wild we have since pulled in the horns somewhat and rapidly regrouped into what I know will remain positive force.  I dare say a LOT of that has come from the attitudes of the Blues and the Khakis attitudes toward us.

Expecting the LAPD to fight and resist us: as a faction of protesters who broke away from the main group with the spontaneous wish to march off down some streets for "more exposure" (and always after the initial grueling march where LAPD had already watched out and helped us considerably) we instead got "How can we help?". 

Expecting a cocky attitude of "No, nope, sorry --you can't go that way  --because we're the police and we say so", we got instead "Hey, just please give us a few minutes to help make this happen so everybody remains safe." 

Instead of approaching stone faced "uniforms" with cold attitudes we most often got a friendly nod and smile and people -- yes REAL people behind those uniforms willing to help our cause be heard and protect us every step of the way. 

Instead of a car or two they took great pains to pull a substantial presence to help further our needs and wishes as we marched, and indeed protect our civil rights.  And the miracle here folks is that we are talking CROWD behavior -- which if you haven't heard by now is far from being always the most rational and easy to talk to. 

So many of the LAPD to mention that I feel bad I didn't ask everyone I talked to for their business cards: Capt. Girmala and Carol Davis of Hollywood, Eric Davis of Wilshire, Art Miller of Hollywood, Tingrigles, Mark Durrnell and so many more --we are talking incredible people doing an amazing, mind boggling difficult job  --in the heat of the afternoon, wearing what must amount to being something like a navy blue toaster oven for a uniform and yet, in my experience they greet us with smiles and the utmost helpful attitudes. Were we in their shoes I'm not so sure anyone one of us marching would be so gracious and accommodating. 

I am humbled to the degree of jaw dropping awe.  I am honored.  I have the deepest respect.  Like never before I find myself incredibly grateful to be part of a sprawling metropolis, and one that I am proud to be a PART of now, not just reside in.  While I might not always be bouncing on my car seat with joy if I get pulled over again -- I can say I will be happy to meet any officer I might not have already had the pleasure of having met this week.  I can also say for myself and I know for many others these two weeks of working aside the LAPD  evaporated my tired lame old automobile driving attitude of "why don't you go catch the real criminals" and "it's only illegal if the cops are watching" attitude into one where I respect the law and certainly those who uphold it. 

So it is for that, for our city's finest and on an even larger scale for the galvanizing power of the Mormons and those yes-vote-people made happen for our community, I find myself here  --this moment --nearly catatonic, covered in a sooty film of grit from a 7 mile long march (downtown to Sunset and Highland), with not an electrolyte left in me, but with a staggering sense of gratitude I have not felt in years.  Wow.  And the best thing is that we rapidly advance now into what I expect will become known as "the last greatest civil right political movement in America."  I look forward to meeting many more of the LAPD in my newly launched career as a peaceful protester with a big mouth, a megaphone and a whole lot of respect.

Lastly, I do need to make a correction on behalf of the LAPD.  It was reported that on Thursday night at the El Coyote protest the police showed up intimidating the protesters with full riot gear.  I was there every step of the way.  They did NOT show up in anything of the kind and indeed, as like what I've just described, dealt with the volatile situation in a respectful and orderly manner and at no time used any tactics that were demeaning or intimidating to the protesters.

Ok, and nooooow for the soap.

Marc H. Whittemore

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Addendum:

As a result of the deep and profound respect that I (and many of us) as protesters grew toward the LAPD over the course of the last two weeks I will be going to the initial LAPD Reserves orientation meeting tomorrow night (Thursday 20th).   I'm not sure if age is an issue but at 50 years old I'll bet maybe even I can out last even a few of your young 30 year old guys (Heck - I just marched non-stop, on the hard pavement, from the East side of downtown to Sunset and Highland, in the direct heat of the day having only fueled myself with a bowl of frosted wheat at 7:30 am that morning).