Calgary Constable Lynn MacDonald Builds Bridges Between Police Services And Gay Community

Calgary Police Services Sexuality and Gender Diversity Chief’s Advisory Board co-chair Constable Lynn MacDonald, wants the city’s LBGT community to know that hate motivated crimes are taken with the upmost seriousness and that victims will be treated with dignity and respect during the investigation. Speaking at a community meeting in Calgary March 26th, MacDonald, an openly gay Diversity Resources Officer, said that “we have educated officers and we have some that need further education. The one thing that we want to try to get out of this tonight is to break the silence of violence, and secondly, for you to understand that you do have a connection with the police force.” The event was held in an effort to underline violence against and within the LGBT community, including instruction on how to report incidents of domestic violence and of gay bashing. MacDonald, whose work in a very short time here in Calgary has been exceptional and inspiring, said that an inherent mistrust of police exists, as well as the fear of being outed when reporting violent crimes – which is certainly not unique to Calgary – but in a city that rightly or wrongly is perceived to be ultra-conservative, the distance between the community and city services, like the police force is great, a gap MacDonald hopes to narrow. “Can I stand here and say that there’s no homophobic people on our service?” said MacDonald. “That would be ridiculous of me to say. Like any career, or any profession, we have people that have their own personal opinions and biases, but for us it’s about educating those people and bringing to light to them that you may have your personal opinion, but the bottom line is you’re paid to do a job, and you’re paid to do that job equally for everybody with the City of Calgary. There’s a thousand of me on our service. It’s just a matter of getting people to notice that they’re there.”