Building bridges with the police: Moose Jaw Pride leads training course on LGBT issues

Police in Moose Jaw took part in a training session this week where they learned about various issues of importance to the LGBT community.

Moose Jaw Pride provided the course, which dealt with gender and sexual diversity among other topics. Twenty people were at the session.

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"It's been, I think, really successful," said Joe Wickenhauser, executive director of Moose Jaw Pride, on Friday.

"The LGBT community is particularly vulnerable to various forms of attack. You know, homophobic and transphobic ... [incidents] are a lot more prevalent that I think people notice."

'Learning opportunity for the police'

Wickenhausersaid the course provides basic information about gender identity and sexual orientation, and how those are different things.

"We talk about language [and] what kind of language is offensive [and] what kind of language is respectful," Wickenhauser said, noting that the use of appropriate pronouns when interacting with people is important.

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The course also included a discussion about the life experiences of LGBT people.

"This has been a really good learning opportunity for the police," Wickenhauser said, adding that many of the participants said it was their first-ever chance to learn about such things.

"We're just starting to build that relationship and build those bridges and I think it's really, really exciting," he said.

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More sessions are being planned for the end of November.

Wickenhauser said they are also hoping to organize a community forum for police officers and members of the LBGT community.