A kiss between two gay men on a bench near the Texas state Capitol has led to disciplinary action against a Texas Department of Public Safety trooper.

Randall Ellis, executive director of the Lesbian & Gay Rights Lobby of Texas, said the trooper may have picked on the wrong gay couple when he told the two men they could not kiss at the state Capitol because homosexual conduct was illegal in Texas.

One of the men happened to be John Corvino, a former University of Texas at Austin graduate student who is now an assistant professor of philosophy at Wayne State University in Detroit.

He is also a syndicated columnist and lectures around the country on morality and homosexuality.

“There are a few people out there who really understand the law,” Ellis said.

Ellis said the trooper observed the two men kissing at the state Capitol in September and confronted them.

“The average gay or lesbian couple would have been upset about it, but they would have marched off and probably not thought of calling LGRL,” Ellis said. “More often than not, people just let those things go.”

Not so this time. Corvino knew there was no law against two men kissing, and was especially offended considering the the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in Lawrence vs. Texas in June of 2003 striking down the state’s sodomy law.

Corvino filed a complaint with the DPS and shortly after the Sept. 16 confrontation, and Ellis said followed the case closely.

Sensitivity needed
In the aftermath, DPS spokesperson Tela Mange announced last week that trooper Michael Carlson had been placed on job probation for six months and given a written reprimand.

In addition, Mange said, Carlson, who has been a DPS trooper for three years, also has been ordered to have more training on Texas laws.

“He could probably use some sensitivity training also,” Ellis said.

Ellis said he was confident that the DPS would take action in the case.

“The legislature that is running things may be insensitive, but the state agencies have some awareness,” he said.

Although state agencies try to give their employees sensitivity training, Ellis said, “My experience is that it doesn’t go far enough with law enforcement agencies. That’s a hard culture to get through to.”

Although the DPS took three months to investigate the matter, Ellis said, he is pleased with the outcome.

Corvino echoed that sentiment. “I’m very pleased,” he said.

In his complaint, Corvino said that the trooper approached him and a male companion as they sat on a park bench.

When asked what they were doing, Corvino said, the two men responded that they were “hanging out.”

When Corvino argued with the officer that the two were not breaking the law by kissing, he said in his complaint that Carlson responded that, “homosexual conduct is against the law. We won’t have you doing this on Capitol grounds.”

Before leaving the area, Corvino informed the officer that the Supreme Court had struck down the Texas sodomy law rendering homosexual conduct no longer illegal.

Ellis said he has offered to provide gay and lesbian sensitivity training to state agencies. In addition to lobbying for gay and lesbian civil rights, he said, “Education is a lot of what we do.”

The outcome of the investigation was slow in coming, but Ellis said, “The DPS made sure they didn’t ignore this issue.”

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