LGBTQ+ people are more likely to be stopped, arrested, and falsely accused...

[Jessica_Rose ✅]

LGBTQ+ people are more likely to be stopped, arrested, and falsely accused by police: report

https://www.advocate.com/news/lgbtq-police-mistreatment-report 🔗

Ryan Adamczeski (17 Nov 2025)

LGBTQ+ people are significantly more likely to report being stopped, detained, and falsely accused by law enforcement compared to non-LGBTQ+ people, and it's keeping them from calling for help.

A recent review of more than 25 years of research on interactions between LGBTQ+ people and law enforcement by the Williams Institute found that LGBTQ+ people were more likely than non-LGBTQ+ people to face mistreatment from police. LGBTQ+ people were more likely have been stopped (51 percent vs. 42 percent), searched (27 percent vs. 16 percent), arrested (20 percent vs. 14 percent), and held in custody (19 percent vs. 14 percent) over the course of their lives.

"Experiences of police mistreatment may discourage LGBTQ people from reporting crimes or engaging with law enforcement," Joshua Arrayales, lead author and Law Fellow at the Williams Institute, said in a statement. "Reporting crimes is essential for accurate crime statistics, proper allocation of crime prevention resources, and support services that address the unique needs of LGBTQ survivors."

Police still engage in tactics such as raids and entrapment, the report notes, leading to distrust between the community and law enforcement. Over one-fifth (21 percent) of LGBTQ+ people reported at least one police-initiated contact in the prior 12 months, compared to 15 percent of non-LGBTQ+ people. LGBQ people were nearly six times as likely as the general population (6 percent vs. 1 percent) to have been stopped by police in a public space.

[Lori Dee ✅]

I wonder how much locale affects these results. In large cities, I can see this happening. In much smaller towns, maybe as well. But I have never had an issue with law enforcement. I have had quite a bit of contact with local police and Sheriff Deputies over ten years while in Rapid City, SD, and was always treated with courtesy and respect. The nature of the contact varied as well. Sometimes I filed the complaint, sometimes I was a witness, and other times it was a more social interaction (crime prevention events).

We saw these sorts of claims decades ago about racial profiling and racial discrimination by law enforcement. I am not saying it doesn't happen; I am certain that it does. But my experience has been that if you treat law enforcement with courtesy and respect, they will tend to respond the same way. Bad behavior tends to attract bad behavior. Just saying.