Gay men were unfairly targeted by undercover police in lewd conduct investigation, judge rules
A Long Beach, California, undercover investigation focused on lewd conduct that only targeted gay men was discriminatory, according to a recent court ruling, which tossed charges filed against a man arrested for allegedly masturbating in a park bathroom.
Defendant Rory Moroney was charged with misdemeanor indecent exposure and lewd conduct, the Long Beach Press Telegram reports. According to the article, Moroney testified that the undercover officer behaved in a way that seemed to show he wasn’t offended by Moroney, and wanted to have sex. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Halim Dhanidina granted a defense motion to dismiss the case based on discriminatory prosecution.
The judge also found that government evidence didn’t support its claim that such arrests are driven by community complaints. Instead, he found that the Long Beach Police Department “harbored animus toward homosexuals.”
“The only other way the prosecution could justify the discriminatory prosecution in this case would be to show that the singled out group, men who engage in homosexual sex, constitute a ‘criminal organization’ or ‘gang of lawbreakers’ with certain ‘criminal proclivities,’ ” Dhanidina stated. “This position only finds support in the rhetoric of homophobia that seeks to portray homosexual men as sexual deviants and pedophiles.”
Following the April 29 ruling, Long Beach Police Department Chief Robert Luna issued a statement that the agency takes Dhanidina’s ruling seriously, and will evaluate how it responds to lewd conduct complaints.
