Over the recent past, there have been numerous debates on the issue on the issue of LGBT people in the justice system. To be more specific, law enforcers have developed perceptions of these individuals which have affected their treatment within society. They tend to be regularly subjected to discrimination, torture, and abuse because police officers believe they may pose a threat as extremist militant individuals. The main reason as to why they view them in this manner is because they believe if such a person would openly announce their sexuality, then they can be easily influenced to join an extremist cause. The notion here is that LGBT individuals are different from the rest of humanity and as such, they have a high affinity towards crime due to their abnormal sexual preference.
One of the main stereotypes that have been attributed to this perception of is that traditionally, the male gender has always been viewed as the more dominant one. Consequently, police officers believe that individuals who will openly state that they are gay or lesbian tend to be weaker because they lack some manly attributes. In addition to this, they also tend to be less serious with work and may have less judgment on individuals of their kind. According to Shusta et al. (2015), the stereotypes here is that for their line of work, such individuals will be of little help due to their sexual orientation.
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From the information provided above, it is evident that police officers have developed a negative perception of openly proclaimed gay and lesbian individuals. They believe that there is a more likelihood that they will be involved in extremist acts because of their abnormal sexual preference. The result is that this stereotype has also been embedded in the fabric of the law enforcement system where police departments refrain from hiring such individuals because of their inferior and incompetent nature.
References
Shusta, R. M., Levine, D. R., Wong, H. Z., Olson, A. T., & Harris, P. R. (2015). Multicultural law enforcement: Strategies for peacekeeping in a diverse society (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
