When retired Officer Jim Ritter was employed by the Seattle Police Department in 1983, no one asked about his sexuality.
Ritter feared law enforcement departments wouldn’t use him due to the fact he’s gay — a panic he explained was exacerbated when two Seattle law enforcement officers led a failed effort to overturn protections for LGBTQ people today in the late 1970s. Following he was employed, he waited a ten years prior to coming out, 1st telling his main who was “supportive,” then his squad, which was “accepting.”
