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| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2001 CONTACT: Officer Dave Leach 231-275-7392 Gary Glenn 517-835-7978 |
| CHRISTIAN POLICE OFFICER PUTS JOB ON THE LINE TO PROTEST TRAVERSE CITY "GAY PRIDE" STICKER |
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TRAVERSE CITY, MI. -- A thirty-year veteran of the Traverse City Police Department, only five months from retirement, Tuesday became the first city employee to publicly protest City Manager Richard Lewis' order that all city vehicles display a new city logo featuring the official "gay pride" rainbow flag. Officer Dave Leach, a patrolman and evidence technician who joined the TCPD in 1971 after serving three years with the Oakland County Sheriffs Department, said Tuesday afternoon during an interview with Traverse City Christian radio station WLJN that being forced by city officials to drive a patrol car with a logo displaying the official "gay pride" flag violates his religious convictions. Leach, known to fellow officers as a devout Christian, also plans to testify on the issue tonight (Tuesday night) during a regular meeting of the Traverse City city commission. He asked WLJN listeners for their prayers, acknowledging that he is "afraid" his public opposition may put his job or city pension at risk; however, he said he is speaking out not only for himself but for other city police officers and fire department personnel who share his views but are not willing to risk possible retribution from city officials. According to a local newspaper, Traverse City Police Chief Ralph Soffredine last month said some city employees have objected to the stickers being on city vehicles. "They look at it as feeling the city shouldn't be endorsing a particular lifestyle," the chief said, according to the Traverse City Record-Eagle. [LINK] Leach and his wife Sharon have three grown children, including a daughter who is herself a police officer and is married to a police officer. Leach is a member of the Church of the Living God, a non-denominational Christian church where he has served on the Board of Executives and as a home fellowship teacher. Gary Glenn, president of the American Family Association of Michigan, said at least three public interest law firms that offer free legal representation and specialize in religious freedom issues are watching to see if Leach's First Amendment guarantee of religious freedom or employment rights are violated. "Officer Leach is that rare individual courageous enough to stand up to his superiors and face the risk of persecution --including he believes, the possible loss of retirement benefits -- to make a public witness of his Christian faith," Glenn said. "We urge families who share Officer Leach's faith and commitment to traditional family values to answer his request for prayers, and we renew our call that Traverse City officials disavow their adoption of a logo featuring the officially recognized flag of a homosexual political agenda most city employees and residents do not support." Glenn said it is particularly offensive that Leach and other law enforcement personnel are being forced to display the widely-recognized flag of the "gay pride" movement, since homosexual behavior is a felony violation of Michigan's criminal code. [LINK] Traverse City officials announced during a Dec. 19th news conference that bumper stickers featuring a new city logo intended to promote "diversity" would be placed on all city vehicles, including police cars, fire trucks, and snow plows. City officials also spent $2,500 in city funds to print 10,000 bumper stickers featuring the official "gay pride" flag. [LINK] The same day, a homosexual publication in San Francisco praised Traverse City officials' display of the homosexual "liberation symbol" -- [LINK] -- while a homosexual advocacy group in Detroit issued a news release boasting that Traverse City "made history" by adopting a logo "inspired by a popular gay symbol." [LINK] The background of the logo is an exact reproduction of the striped rainbow design officially recognized by the International Congress of Flag Makers as the "Gay and Lesbian Pride" flag. see "Traverse City" # # # |
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