Posted: February 25, 2003

Demoted Officer Wins $320,000 from City of Cincinnatti

Cincinnati Police Had 'Gotcha Program' for TG Woman

by Eric Resnick
Gay People's Chronicle

Cincinnatti, OH- A federal jury awarded a transsexual police officer $320,000 and the opportunity to be reinstated as a sergeant following an eight-day trial that found that the city of Cincinnati demoted her for being transsexual.

The jury awarded Philecia Barnes the amount on February 27. It includes $150,000 compensatory damages, $30,511 back pay, and the option to take $140,000 front pay in lieu of reinstatement at the sergeant rank.

The suit was brought by Barnes and her attorney Al Gerhardstein in the U.S. District Court in Cincinnati under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and later rulings that it includes discrimination by sex-stereotyping.

Barnes now says the city can't remedy the discrimination as long as Article 12 remains in the city's charter, and has asked the judge to strike it as part of her February 27 motion to be reinstated to the higher rank.

The suit was filed in October 2000, after the city claimed that Barnes, then male and named Phillip, failed a six-month probation following promotion to sergeant. Barnes was demoted in June, 1999.

Barnes later completed sex reassignment, and has continued to work for the department at the lesser rank and pay.

Barnes, who is also a former Marine sergeant and Desert Storm veteran, had a clean record as an officer for 18 years, then scored 18th out of 150 applicants on the promotion exam.

Barnes has also earned a masters degree in social work, and works in the unit that deals with issues of mental health.

"Everyone agreed that [Barnes] was an excellent officer before and after the demotion," said Gerhardstein. "But it was the intent to set her up to fail [as a sergeant] so she would not become management."

Gerhardstein said the city set up a special "gotcha program" for Barnes, that exacerbated some of her admitted shortcomings in order to find her unfit for the job.

At trial, police chief Tom Streicher testified that Barnes was put under the toughest scrutiny of any sergeant candidate ever.

That scrutiny included requiring her to drive only video-equipped cruisers, and to wear a microphone that recorded all conversations.

Barnes' evaluators filled out specially created five-page forms every day to document each mistake, especially the minor ones involving paperwork. Barnes was required to sign the forms.

She became the first sergeant candidate in the city's history to fail probation.

Gerhardstein said the city knew Barnes was transgender prior to surgery because the vice squad videotaped Barnes, who then dressed as a man on duty and a woman off duty, at bars.

Gerhardstein said the work environment around the police force was hostile to gay people, and presented the jury with recordings of the lieutenant in charge of Barnes' station using "fag" to describe gay men.

At trial, Assistant Police Chief Ron Twitty testified that he twice told Barnes, who had arched eyebrows and long nails, to look and act more masculine.

Twitty and Streicher also testified that Barnes lacked "command presence," though neither could demonstrate what they meant for the jury.