Friends, this is a really long entry, but you may recall that our connection to KBCO came after I had a business trip to Denver & my cousin Jerome there recommended I check it out. Jerome is a radiologist and a Major in the USAF, honorably discharged in 2000, and on inactive reserve (after going AF-ROTC through med school). As I've mentioned elsewhere, he came out 3 yrs ago to my dad.
This is what happened to him 2 weeks ago when he attended a Madonna concert with his boyfriend and a straight female friend. I've since gotten his permission to publicize this widely if in doing so it can lead to positive change. Your thoughts along this line are welcome.
16 November 2008
To Whom It May Concern:
My name is Jerome Schroeder. I am a 40-year-old physician in Denver, CO and have practiced Diagnostic Radiology, primarily detecting breast cancer, in the downtown Denver area for over 6 years.
Although I knew I was gay since high school, I only came out publicly, first to friends, then to my family, three years ago. I have lived for the last two-and-a-half years with my boyfriend, George, who is hoping to enter Pharmacy School next fall.
On the evening of November 12 of this year, I attended the Madonna concert at the Pepsi Center in Denver with George and several other friends, many of us having always wanted to see Madonna. I’ve heard that she refused to play Denver dates after Colorado passed anti-gay legislation Amendment 2 in the early ‘90s and I believe this was the first time since then that she played here.
About ˝ of the way through the concert, I believe that I and my boyfriend (and by association, one female friend with us) were the victim of a hate crime, or at least, discrimination based on our sexual orientation.
We arrived about 30 minutes before Madonna started playing and had two drinks while watching the arena fill. When Madonna began we took our seats in the club level. George sat to my right and our (straight) friend Sacha sat to his right. We were in the last row in our section with our backs against a wall (there were only about 8 or 9 rows in the section).
In front of us was what appeared to be a heterosexual couple attending the concert together: he was directly in front of me, and she was directly in front of George. From the very start of the concert, the male seemed agitated. He turned to us frequently in the first 30 minutes of the concert and several times said ‘Fucking faggots!’ under his breath, but loud enough for us to hear. Early in the concert, I accidentally dripped a few drops of water from the last of my drink and he turned and screamed at me. I told him to relax, turn around and enjoy the concert.
Although the couple never stood during the concert (despite nearly everyone else in the arena doing so) he left his seat several times, each time yelling ‘Fucking faggots!’ as he left. George later told me he feared that he would be waiting for us after the concert and that he may provoke a confrontation. We were relieved, then, when, about and hour or so into the concert, they both left and were gone for 15 minutes or so. We thought they had left for good.
It was at this time that Denver Police officers, presumably off-duty cops working the concert, entered our row and motioned for all three of us to follow them.
When they got us to the common area behind the seats, they informed us that ‘The Pepsi Center would like you to leave.’ They would not tell us why. They would not tell us what we must have done to deserve this. They said that a complaint had been filed, but wouldn’t tell us who filed it or what it said. They continued to tell us to leave, then, because I was the most vocal about wanting information, they focused on me (there were about 9 of them) and told me to leave or get arrested. I held out my hands and said ‘Arrest me!’ which they promptly did. The panic in George’s eyes as they led me away will stay with me forever…I called out to him to leave and call a lawyer friend of ours and that I’d get hold of him when I could. My rights were never read to me.
Two officers led me to the holding area in the Pepsi Center. The one on my left had a name badge, which said ‘R. Frank.’ The one on my right did not have a name badge, so I repetitively asked him for his name…he ignored me.
The holding area had a small cage and I was the only one in it. Directly in front of the cage was a desk at which R. Frank sat filling out paperwork. The other officer was to my right (outside of my cage) in a little sitting area, seemingly fascinated by whatever was on a TV bolted to the wall near the ceiling in the corner. I continued asking him for his name (I particularly remember him staring at a McDonald’s commercial while I kept asking for his name) and he continued to ignore me. I was, of course, cuffed this entire time.
After about 20 minutes or so (I had been arrested at about 10:30p and I think it was a little after 11 by then) other Denver Police officers arrived to take me ‘downtown.’
During the transfer of custody, my cuffs were switched and the officer whose name I still didn’t know started screaming at me, his face inches from mine, telling me ‘Never fucking interrupt me when I’m on my phone!’ while poking me in the chest with his finger. When I informed him that I simply wanted to know his name, he kept screaming at me and poking me in the chest. I responded by telling him to stop touching me (my hands were cuffed behind my back the entire time). Finally, he yelled his name at me, claiming his last name was Belou…I have no way of verifying this at this time.
I was then put into a ‘paddy wagon’ and taken downtown where I was booked and fingerprinted. I finally was released after I posted $100 bond and my fingerprints passed a national database. I walked home at 5:30am the next morning.
I received a yellow citation for my arrest and I am formally charged with ‘trespassing.’ Again, they did not read me my rights and did not charge me with anything else. They did not do a breathalyzer on me or accuse me of drunkenness, disorderly conduct, resisting arrest or anything else. I have not seen the police report or the alleged complaint filed against us. George and Sacha left the Pepsi Center without being charged with anything. The police confiscated George’s and my tickets, but Sacha refused to give up hers.
One of my friends who attended was sitting in a row 7 or 8 in front of us and didn’t see us get removed. However, Sacha got him while I was being arrested and he did see me get led away. He is a concierge at the Pepsi Center but was only attending the concert that night. He got our tickets for us, which I paid for with a credit card. Since the incident, he has asked around at work and has discovered that the complaint was filed by the girl of the couple who claimed that I (or someone) ‘shoved’ her. At no time did any of us have any interaction with her. I personally couldn’t even tell you what color her hair or skin was.
I am convinced that the complaint filed against us was because the male of the couple in front of us had either a problem with George and I being gay (and occasionally showing basic affection) or with gay people in general. I have no idea why he would attend a Madonna concert, but, as mentioned earlier, neither he nor his companion stood once during the concert and neither seemed to be enjoying it (Madonna doesn’t have an opening act; just her). Although I haven’t seen the complaint, on the ticket I was given the ‘complainant’ line is signed by “Jessica St-----“(I can’t make out the last name). I don’t know if she was the girl in front of us or not, but I presume she was, as they re-took their seats once we were removed.
I was humiliated, embarrassed and terrorized by the entire experience and truly feel that it was initiated by the couple in front of us and their fear or anger at homosexuals. The police did not follow Pepsi Center protocol (according to my concierge friend) which requires them to get our side of the story (at least) and trying to resolve the issue, usually by reseating one of the two parties. And, as I’ve mentioned earlier, they did not read me my rights. A trespassing charge, I’m told, is a ‘generic’ charge that is filed if someone refuses to leave when asked to by a cop. However, I had a legal ticket to the concert and was sitting in my assigned seat.
I am angry with the couple in front of us who filed a false charge, the police who handled the situation (particularly the two who led me away), the Denver Police Department in general, the Pepsi Center and the city of Denver. George and Sacha are also still traumatized by the whole event. As insignificant as it may sound, Madonna was a childhood heroine of Sacha’s and she has waited her whole life to see her perform. That dream was shattered that night, too.
I feel that, at minimum, our civil rights were violated and, if the complaint filed against us mentions anything about our sexuality, this was a hate-crime. The Denver Police Department, the City of Denver and the Pepsi Center obviously do not have the proper protocols in place or training in handling these types of situations. By the way, while I was in jail, I met two young Hispanic gay males (friends, not lovers) who were also arrested at the Madonna concert, one being accused of stealing a white woman’s purse. The purse was apparently located un-stolen. Nevertheless, they were both arrested. And, at a Proposition 8 protest in Denver which we attended yesterday, I met two others who were arrested at the Madonna concert apparently because they had Mexican ID’s (which were valid) but the cops ‘didn’t like how they looked.’ I don’t know what they were charged with. I also have a gay black friend who, upon hearing my story, related that just last Sunday, as he walked at night down a downtown Denver street with a cane (a prop, not a medical device), Denver police stopped him because someone ‘reported a black man with a sword…’ George and I are white (as is Sacha) so I don’t think that Denver police are racially motivated necessarily, but I also don’t think that the Hispanics arrested at the Madonna concert were given the option of leaving as I was. But it does seem as though there is an anti-gay attitude. Denver is otherwise quite tolerant of gay folks and has a fairly large gay community.
I’m writing this to you as an appeal for your advice and support. While I am not necessarily interested in a large civil monetary settlement, I do feel that there are ongoing injustices against gays in Denver, which are being ignored and/or allowed to happen (or even propagated) by the very people we trust to protect us. It is an outrage that we were disrespected as we were and I would like to pursue action to the point that changes are made. Minimally, I would like to be compensated the cost of our tickets (about $600) my costs of incarceration and bail (about $190) and whatever legal costs I incur to clear this charge (my attorney estimated about $2500). I would also like a formal apology from the Pepsi Center and the Denver Police Department, a formal reprimand for the two police officers who arrested me and a review by the Pepsi Center and the Denver Police Department of their policies for removing people at events. I would also like the couple in front of us, should they prove to be the ones who submitted the complaint against us to be charged with filing a false police report.
I apologize for the length of this story, but I wanted to be as detailed as possible. Please do not hesitate to contact me at any time.
Best Regards,
Jerome S. Schroeder, MD
2532 Glenarm Place
Denver, CO 80205
shadowdoc97@gmail.com
