Palm Springs Police Conduct Internal Investigation After Anti-Gay Slur Recorded During Sex Sting Sweep, St. Cloud Former Police Officer Suing Alleges Anti-Gay Discrimination, Baptist Church Bans Lesbians From Playing Softball, Spain Loss Too Much For Fernando Torres

Palm Springs Police Chief David Dominguez has initiated an internal review after complaints an undercover officer uttered a gay slur when he monitored a Warm Sands neighbourhood public sex sting in 2009. In a statement made Tuesday Dominguez said that the Palm Springs Police Department has reviewed videotapes made during the undercover operation and determined that an inappropriate comment was made, adding that the comment made “in no way reflects the policy of the Palm Springs Department.” The statement – the officer called the suspects “cocksuckers” which elicited great laughter from other officers – is not the only controversy surrounding the public park sweep, since a negotiation between the Department and the district attorney was made to have all 24 men arrested face misdemeanour charges under California Penal Code 314 that would require them to register as sex offenders for the remainder of the lives, the not so subtle implication that gay men somehow qualify as criminal sex offenders.

27 year old Sean Lathrop, a former St. Cloud, Minnesota police officer, filed a federal lawsuit that alleges the department actively discriminated against him because he is gay. He was with the force from September 2006 until April 2010, and contends that his rights guaranteed under the First and Fourteenth Amendments as well as the Minnesota Human Rights Act were violated. According to reports “the city vehemently denies these allegations” and looks forward to “addressing the allegations fully in court. The city treated Mr. Lathrop fairly and non-discriminatory throughout his employment.”

In Memphis, Tennessee Jana J. Jacobson says that officials from the Bellevue Baptist Church banned her from participating in an adult softball league after she acknowledged she was gay. According to Jacobson, captain of the team, the church said her “deviant” lifestyle would prevent her from playing in the league which began play June 8th. The church is refusing to comment.

Spain somehow lost to Switzerland in FIFA World Cup play Wednesday, 1-0, bad news for people like me who adore Spain’s smoking sexy Cesc Fabregas and Fernando Torres.