Court rules in favor of CHP officer who says homophobic discrimination drove him out

A state appellate court ruled Tuesday in favor of a veteran California Highway Patrol officer who claimed he was forced out of his dream job after his co-workers and supervisors discovered he was gay, and subjected him to merciless ridicule and endangered him by refusing to provide backup on calls.

The unanimous decision by a panel of California’s 1st District Court of Appeal in San Francisco means the lawsuit originally filed by former CHP Officer Jay Brome must now return to Solano Superior Court for trial after originally being dismissed on grounds that it had been filed past the statute of limitations.

“This means that our client is going to have his chance to tell a jury his story and tell what really happened and whether he should be entitled to damages,” Brome attorney Lisa Ells said. “I just spoke with him. He is over the moon.”

Brome, who used a different attorney when he first filed his suit, said he was pleased that his claims now will get a hearing before jurors.

“Justice isn’t the end,” he said. “Justice is the actual process and that was denied me by not being able to present my case before a jury.

“Now, I’ll get to explain my case and let a jury decide.”

The CHP said in a statement late Tuesday that it “holds its employees to high standards of conduct and strictly enforces its Equal Employment Opportunity policy designed to ensure a work environment free of discrimination and harassment.”

The agency declined further comment because the matter is pending in court.

The 17-page ruling found that “there is enough evidence for a reasonable trier of fact to conclude that the Patrol knowingly permitted these conditions.”

“We conclude that Brome has raised a triable issue as to whether his working conditions were so intolerable that a reasonable employee would have resigned,” the ruling states. “Unlike the other officers at the Solano office, Brome was routinely forced to respond to high-risk enforcement and accident scenes on his own, placing his life in danger.

“These denials of backup assistance happened daily and were at least in some instances due to his sexual orientation. His captain testified that the denial of backup could put an officer in a ‘very precarious’ situation, reinforcing that a reasonable officer would have found the conditions objectively intolerable.”

Brome contended that the harassment he faced started at the CHP academy in West Sacramento in 1996 and continued through every assignment as he moved from CHP offices in San Francisco, Contra Costa and, finally, Solano County, where he worked until his doctor told him to take medical stress leave in January 2015.

By then, Brome said, his complaints to superiors had been ignored and he had been subjected to slurs — called “fag” or “gay” or told to “take my skirt off and start acting like a man.”

When he was named Solano Officer of the Year in 2013 — an honor that comes with a photo on the briefing room wall — his photo was never placed on display, he said.

The decision to leave the CHP was wrenching, but came after the stress had led to suicidal thoughts, he told The Sacramento Bee in a 2018 interview at his home in Vallejo.

“I had to leave because of the cumulative effects, and the fact that I wasn’t getting backup,” Brome said then. “What was happening was I would drive around in my patrol car and for no reason I would just be crying, tears just running down my face.

“I was getting these urges to kill myself, and it was this sudden urge while I was driving my patrol car and it just said, ‘Pull out your gun and shoot yourself.’ ”

Other CHP officers came forward in support of Brome after he filed suit, saying they had witnessed homophobic behavior, and national gay rights organizations came out in support of Brome’s appeal, arguing that California law enforcement has a lengthy history of homophobic behavior.

“Jay Brome’s account of his twenty-year career mirrors that of other LGBT law enforcement officers in California,” an amicus brief filed by lawyers for the National Center for Lesbian Rights said. “Verbal insults, refusals to provide back-up, denials of career opportunities, and other forms of discrimination have plagued LGBT law enforcement officers for decades.

“And the anti-LGBT bias within these agencies affects public trust and safety as well. The attitudes that breed anti-LGBT comments and jokes heard throughout the police station follow those officers out into the community. As a result, LGBT community members report remarkably high levels of mistreatment and abuse by police officers, from verbal harassment to discrimination and excessive force.”

This story was originally published January 28, 2020 at 4:00 PM.