LGBT Awareness For Law Enforcement - Out To Protect Incorporated

The LGBT Awareness For Law Enforcement course is available face-to-face and as a fully online course. The course includes 4 hours of interactive instruction designed to address the following learning outcomes:

The student will explain the difference between sexual orientation and gender identity and how these two aspects of identity relate to each other and to race, culture and religion.
The student will define terminology used to describe sexual orientation and gender identity.
The student will identify ways to create an inclusive workplace and to support LGBTQ+ co-workers.
The student will identify key moments in the LGBTQ+ civil rights movement.
The student will understand how hate crimes and domestic violence impact LGBTQ+ people.

The intent of this course is to help law enforcement professional be more effective and comfortable when interacting with members of the LGBTQ+ community. It helps law enforcement professionals communicate more effectively and correctly with the intent of reducing complaints of bias, harassment or discrimination.

For California agencies:

This course meets the training required by California Penal Code Section 13519.41 for all peace officers and dispatchers. The online course offers scenarios specific to the role of line-level officer, 9-1-1 dispatcher, and agency manager or executive. The course is certified by the California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training. Participants who pass the course earn 4 hours of CPT credit.

For agencies outside of California:

We offer two versions of this course including one for line-level peace officers and dispatchers and a separate course for law enforcement managers and executives. Both courses address the same learning outcomes, but the content has been focused on the student’s role in the agency.

All of formats of this class are interactive and engage participants in the course content.

In October of 2021, the F.B.I. incorporated this course into the F.B.I. National Academy. Trainers from Out To Protect, through our formal relationship with the F.B.I.’s Office of Partner Engagement, traveled to Quantico to provide this class for the first time in F.B.I. history at the National Academy. We are pleased to be regular participants in the National Academy presenting LGBTQ: Issues and Solutions for Law Enforcement Leaders.

More About The Online Course

We are excited to offer the only online LGBT Awareness For Law Enforcement and LGBT Awareness For Law Enforcement Executives course in the country! The course first developed in 2016 and is continuously updated to provide the latest and most contemporary information. The courses are hosted on the Canvas Learning Management System and no special software is required. It can easily be accessed on any PC, MAC, or mobile device with Internet access.

Over 1500 law enforcement professionals from agencies across the United States have completed this course. We are proud to offer it free of charge to any law enforcement professional or criminal justice student. Click here for a list of some of the law enforcement agencies who have already participated in this training.

What Students Have Said About This Course

I enjoyed the historical aspect of this course. Not a lot of significant events in LGBT+ history were taught to me while in school so it was interesting to learn about.
This course provides a plethora of information.
I really thought that it was good to include the information about homeless LGBT+ juveniles and offers a way for officers to engage parents and minors on this topic.
The information provided is very well presented.
I enjoyed everything about this course.
What I valued most was learning new terminology I did not know about and learning about historical moments.
This course has been presented in a most mature, professional way that is easy to grasp and comprehend. It was very straight forward with real life situations regarding Domestic Violence within the LGBTQ community.

For agencies outside of California, this class is offered free of charge to law enforcement personnel. It requires 4 hours to complete. Course completion certificates are available for $20.

For California law enforcement personnel, we offer the California P.O.S.T. certified version for $20 which includes a course completion certificate. This course satisfies the training required by California Penal Code section 13519.41 for all peace officers and dispatchers. Select the link below applicable to you.

AGENCIES OUTSIDE OF CALIFORNIA REGISTER AND BEGIN TRAINING NOW

CALIFORNIA LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES REGISTER AND BEGIN TRAINING NOW

Did You Know?

According to the 2025 Racial Identity and Profiling Act report:

“Overall, calls for service were a more common cause for contact with persons perceived as transgender, both transgender men/boys (23.00%, 1,303 stops) or transgender women/girls (29.38%, 896 stops). In contrast, cisgender females had only 7.54 percent (101,335 stops) of encounters initiated by a call for service, with similar figures for cisgender males (8.56%, 287,502 stops) and gender nonconforming (9.22%, 910 stops).”

“Individuals perceived as LGBT were more likely to be stopped based on reasonable suspicion (24.39%, 8,824 stops) than individuals not perceived to be LGBT (12.93%, 605,608 stops). For stops initiated based on a traffic violation, officers stopped individuals perceived as LGBT (70.20%, 25,400 stops) at a lower rate than those perceived to not be LGBT (83.81%, 3,926,242 stops).”

“Individuals perceived as LGBT (25.02%, 9,052 stops) were arrested at higher rates compared to those individuals officers did not perceive to be non- LGBT (14.07%, 659,124 stops). Conversely, officers issued citations to individuals perceived to be LGBT at lower rates (31.73%, 11,481 stops) than they issued citations to individuals perceived to be non- LGBT (45.04%, 2,109,925 stops). Officers reported no action taken more often for stops of individuals perceived to be LGBT (9.43%, 3,380 stops) than for stops of individuals officers perceived as non-LGBT (6.69%, 313,638 stops). …Stops where officers select no action taken as the result of stop indicates that the individuals stopped were not engaged in criminal activity.”

“Youth perceived as LGBT were stopped due to calls for service at higher rates compared to non-LGBT youth and adult LGBT individuals. For LGBT youth, 46.9 percent (442) of stops were due to a call for service, compared to non-LGBT youth (25%, 21,591 stops) and adult LGBT individuals (16.3%, 5,749 stops).”

“Officers reported that most stops of LGBT youth that were officer-initiated were based on reasonable suspicion (53.2%, 501 stops), while for non-LGBT youth, most stops were based on traffic violations (57.5%, 49,703 stops).”

“Overall, officers reported using force at a higher rate in stops involving youth perceived as LGBT than for stops for non-LGBT youth. The difference in rates for the use of force is smallest among youth ages 18–24, where LGBT youth experienced the use of force during 16.35 percent of stops (1,052 stops) compared to 10.07 percent of stops of non-LGBT youth 18–24 (73,487 stops). The difference is greatest for youth 15–17, where officers reported using force in 31.31 percent of stops (222 stops) of youth perceived to be LGBT and reported using force in 21.06 percent of stops (14,586 stops) for youth 15–17 perceived to be non-LGBT.”

Why LGBT Awareness Training Is Necessary

LGBT awareness training continues to be critical for law enforcement. One of the recommendations in the 2022 report from California’s Racial Identity Profiling Advisory Board states:

“Require multiple hours of LGBT-specific training for all personnel and include LGBT advocacy organizations in training development and facilitation.”

Homophobia is fueled largely by fear and a general law of knowledge about sexual orientation and gender identity. Non-heterosexuality can pose challenges for conservative belief systems and result in hostile work environments, civil litigation, and less than satisfactory service to the community. Three studies published 2013, 2015 and 2021 by UCLA’s Williams Institute showed that homophobia is pervasive throughout law enforcement in the United States. These studies looked at internal and external events with law enforcement and LGBTQ+ people. Transphobia in law enforcement is perhaps an even greater problem. According to the last three years (2022-2024) of California Racial and Identity Profiling Act (RIPA) reports, there is a great disparity in how transgender and gender non-conforming citizens are treated compared to their cisgender peers.

Our training will prepare law enforcement personnel to effectively serve members of the LGBTQ+ community and create a change of culture inside law enforcement that is more inclusive of LGBTQ+ employees.

It’s not a matter of if or when an LGBT employee will be hired – they are already working in law enforcement organizations throughout the country. The issue is whether or not these colleagues of ours feel confident and comfortable coming out and being out at work. When law enforcement officers understand LGBT colleagues, they are likely to be more comfortable in the field when serving LGBT members of the community.

Customized Online Course Available

Are you interested in providing this training for your entire agency? We can provide a customized course featuring your agency logo, agency policies, and agency specific questions in the final quiz. We will also provide certificates of completion for everyone who successfully completes the course. Customized courses are made available for personnel to complete within 30 to no more than 90 days.

Click here to inquire about pricing for a customized course.

In Person Training At Your Agency

We can bring our LGBT Awareness Course to your agency in a 3 or 4 hour format. Our classes are interactive and include a number of learning activities designed to achieve the learning outcomes described at the top of this page.

Each participant receives a workbook with additional content to supplement what is covered in the class. We can customize the presentation by including a panel discussion of LGBTQ+ members of law enforcement.

Our goal is to increase awareness through education and experience. Our intent is to create a non-threatening open environment where participants can ask questions and engage in discussion with our experts.

Click here to request information about scheduling a face-to-face class.

Learn more answers from our FAQs.