Be Part Of Our New Book!
We are excited to announce the start of a new book project and what will be the third book in our Coming Out From Behind The Badge series. And we would like your story to be part of this exciting new project!
Since our first book, “Coming Out From Behind The Badge” was published in 2007 and our second book, “American Heroes Coming Out From Behind The Badge,” was published in 2010, we have heard from law enforcement professionals from around the country about how helpful, inspiring, and motivating the stories contained in the books have been. We heard from hundreds of college students, who read our books as part of a college class, about how the stories educated them about LGBT people. We also heard from police chiefs and straight allies about how the stories “opened their eyes” to the hidden struggles that are going on in their own departments. But despite this progress, we know from research done by organizations, such as UCLA’s Williams Institute, that homophobia in the law enforcement profession is still pervasive and that there are still many LGBT law enforcement professionals who are still hiding deep the closet. The good news is that the climate in our country is changing quickly. The elimination of the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy and rapid expansion of marriage equality across the country is creating a greater awareness of LGBT people in law enforcement and an interest from law enforcement leaders and straight allies to learn more. With all of this in mind, we have decided to continue our work with a third book.
We are now accepting contributions from professionals working in the law enforcement, corrections, 9-1-1 dispatch, fire service, and emergency medical services to include in our book. This book will focus on the journeys of lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender members of the public safety professions described above and what events and people shaped who they are today. We are looking for stories and advice from people of all ages, races, nationalities, and religions to take part. Your story can memorialized in print forever as part of your legacy that will help generations for years to come. Every story is important and we are not looking for the most sensational or most challenging life to share in this book. Readers are looking for stories in which they can see themselves and what could be possible for them in the future. We hear all the time, things like, “oh, my story isn’t interesting,” or, “nothing happened when I came out, so I don’t have anything of value to share.” If this is what you are thinking, then it’s your story we want! Every journey is important and you have valuable experience and advice that can truly make a difference.
You don’t have to be a professional writer or even worry about use of proper grammar, spelling or punctuation as we have a professional editor who will take care of making sure your story reads well and conforms to a consistent style. You can write your story out from start to finish or you can complete our online interview that will walk you through a series of questions that will result in a finished story.
Any proceeds earned from this project will go directly to fund scholarships for LGBT law enforcement students and training grants for public safety agencies to fund LGBT awareness programs.
Click Here To Learn More About How To Get Started.