Dear GOAL NY:
Thank you for the work you have been conducting at the NYPD over the years.
I believe the sensitivity training you provide at the NYPD helped change things for the better. I have been living in
NYC since the mid 80's when I was a just a teenager who had come to the USA fro Brazil. Over the years, I would read
or hear that crime reports made by gays were not taken seriously and that gays were not treated respectfully when reporting
a crime. Yet, when I watched GOAL NY marching down Fifth Avenue on my first gay pride I was overwhelmed by emotions
and in my mind I imagined that those gay police officers were extremely brave to have come out to the NYPD and so I was inspired
and overacted my fear and come out to my fellow students and professors at NYU. Also, I always imagined that if
I one day I needed help from the NYPD I would ask for a GOAL member.
The years passed and then on May 2001 I became romantically involved with my
ex-boyfriend. He presented himself to be the perfect partner and by July 2001, he had gained my trust. Soon, his true
self began to emerge. He became verbally abusive and soon he started to physically abuse me. I finally was able
to free myself and get out of the domestic violence cycle this last March and if it were not for those police officers who
came to my help I would have been dead today.
From the very first time (8/11/01) the police came to my rescue, they treated
me with concern, respect, and became invested in helping me understand what was happening. At no time my sexual orientation
became an issue. Those police officers were only concerned for my safety and they were the first to warn me that Frankie
would eventually kill me. Every officer involved in my case saw the seriousness of what I was going through before I
was even able to see it myself. They helped me get counseling with the gay and lesbian AVP, assigned PO Segnini, a domestic
violence officer from MTS, to my case and she also took a very active role in my protection. But, like many victims
of abuse and trauma I was on denial for several months and the abuse only escalated. Each time the police had to come
to my apartment they express more concern for my life and motivated me to leave Frankie. My attempts to have no contact
were futile and soon I would fall for the lies and manipulation, and every promise he made would be broken.
Then, on September 18, 2001, only seven days after our City was devastated by
the terrorist act of September 11, Frankie nearly killed me at a restaurant shoving a broken drinking glass into the right
side of my neck cutting an artery. He ran out of the restaurant. I just went in to shock and disbelieve, and even
though I saw how badly I was bleeding I could not believe it was happening. Instantly, bleeding got worst and I thought I
was going to die. I blocked every thing out of my mind and focussed with the help from the police officers and the paramedics
on saving my life. When I left the intensive care unit to a regular hospital room I was not emotionally and psychologically
able to connect with the reality that man who said he loved me was a monster and he would never be the good person he portrayed
himself to be.
Still, every police officer that dealt with this case continued to help me overcome
the trauma and help me leave that criminal. They never stopped listening to me, and protecting me from that criminal
until I finally was able to do it own my own and follow through the criminal charges. The following are all complaint
#s regarding this e-mail: 16821, 6450, 20154, 1789, 2565.
I believe that because you were brave enough to come out and show the NYPD that
we are not defined by our sexual orientation alone, it is just one part of who we are. By overcoming your fear of discrimination
within your place of work and coming out to the NYPD, you probably played a role in helping shape the way those officers were
able to help me save my life.
Thank you!
