Stefaans Brummer
PETER SCHOEMAN (28) was chatting to a friend in his car near Pretoria’s Burgerspark, frequented by gay men, when he says a police flying squad car pulled up and an officer unleashed a string of obscenities against “you moffies”.
Schoeman (not his real name) says this and similar incidents have eroded his respect for the police and it is time to speak out; after all, he is a police sergeant himself.
He says he has twice subsequently been harassed by the same lieutenant, who seemed unaware he was dealing with a fellow policeman.
“When I joined the police I thought I was in a career where people would have respect for each other, regardless of sexual preference. Now my respect for the police is gone. I am molested and taunted,” Schoeman said. “The average policeman does not respect gays. If you don’t have a wife, don’t booze ’till you drop and don’t climb on every prostitute on the street, you are not a policeman and you are not a man.”
He said there had been an increase in gay assaults in Pretoria.
When Phil Smit (19) and a friend left Incognito bar, they were followed by four men who insulted them, pelted them with bottles and pointed a gun at them. They drove to Sunnyside police station and asked the police for help.
The officer in charge replied: “Go outside so that they can bliksem you to pieces, then we can help you. I want to see blood first.”
Smit’s ordeal was before the election when gays were still “illegal”; before the Bill of Rights outlawing discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation came into effect; before the assurance in June by PWV Executive Council member for Safety and Security Jessie Duarte that gay people were entitled to equality in the law and police protection.
Yet, the Pretoria Gay and Lesbian Organisation (Glow) says nothing has changed. “Because of the unsympathetic attitude of society, we believe many cases go unreported. Another reason is the perception that the police are generally not eager to protect gay people, follow up on reported cases and bring assailants to trial.”
Tjaart Booyens (28), a freelance theatre designer from Pretoria, did have the guts to report to police when he was assaulted outside Incognito on July 23. He was assaulted on a second occasion. When the police arrived, Booyens pointed his assailant out to them. His assailant attacked him again, but only after a lengthy struggle did police intervene, Booyens says.
The assailant was put into a police van and Booyens travelled to Pretoria central police station to lay a charge. There, he says, he was told by the flying squad lieutenant that the assailant had been released from the police van “as he was concerned about the safety of his vehicle”.
Duarte said she was looking for ways to sensitise police and would welcome a lobby from the gay community to help find solutions. She suggested the police curriculum, which now includes lectures on human rights but does not deal specifically with sexuality, be broadened to include lectures on homosexuality, possibly by gay people themselves.
* Northern Transvaal police spokesman Lieutenant- Colonel Andrew Lesch said: “If there is proof of police prejudice, we will do something about it.”