Judge says Colorado State Patrol is anti-gay

DENVER, July 19 (UPI) -- The Colorado State Patrol has a homophobic culture in need of reform, a scathing review by an administrative law judge said.

The ruling Monday involved State Patrol Capt. Brett Williams, who left the agency in 2010 to become a helicopter pilot. He asked to return several months later and was asked a question during a required polygraph test that indicated he was gay.

State Personnel Board judge Mary McClatchey concluded police officials used the test as the reason for denying Williams' reinstatement, contrary to law-enforcement hiring standards that prevent polygraphs from being the sole factor in a hiring decision, The Denver Post reported Thursday.

Her ruling ordered the State Patrol to include sexual orientation among the topics covered in diversity-training programs, and also ordered that a point-of-contact senior official be designated for gay or lesbian officers.

"The anti-gay culture in the Patrol is well-documented in this case," McClatchey wrote. "The Patrol has never educated its members or leaders through training, or otherwise of the prohibition on sexual orientation discrimination in its written policy or state statute."