Rapping Paper on Being Arrested
I never liked bars, gay or otherwise. When I moved to Toledo, I wanted to make friends (I mean friends, in the ordinary sense of the word) and come to grips with being gay. I found PRO/Toledo a congenial group. By the early ‘80s it had lost most of its political activism, and became more and more social. But in the late ‘60s the group formed in response to police harassment of gays. PRO formed to protect the civil liberties of gays, starting with posting bail when arrested.
Rapping Paper sheds light on the situation. If the sidewalks of Toledo were half the simmering Sodom that Rapping Paper made them out to be - or if the paper itself inflamed homophobic straights - it’s easy to see why the Toledo establishment wanted to “clean up the town” by throwing all the queers in jail. Besides PRO bailing gays out, Rapping Paper published legal advice in its first issue:
Arrested
Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later. You got yourself busted by the morals squad. What to do now? Who should you call? What should you say? Who do you turn to?
The following is a short primer on procedures to follow starting at the moment of arrest.
When you are confronted with the arrest itself do not argue or fight with the cops. Offer NO resistance! Allow them to handcuff you and put you in the squad car quietly. They will probably be calling you all sorts of truly vile names and will handle you rather roughly to help assert their Macho superiority in front of each other, but just go along with it quietly. Do NOT respond to their questions except to give them your name, address, age and other pertinent information for their arrest sheet. You do NOT need to tell them where you are employed.
When you get to the station they will continue to question you and taunt you. Simply ignore them. Any interview with a law enforcement official that lasts longer than 10 seconds in the absence of your lawyer has lasted too long!! Do tell them that you wish to have a lawyer present during ANY questioning. Then clam up! They cannot force you to talk and your refusal to talk will NOT add to your charges or make matters worse. In fact, by talking you can make your problem MUCH worse! So shut up!
Keep in mind that you are NOT GUILTY! No matter what the supposed 'morals offense', you are NOT GUILTY! It may cost you the next four months of going out money, but get yourself a good attorney who will plead your case as a NOT GUILTY case without plea bargaining with the prosecutor. 'Remember, if you were arrested for sodomy and your lawyer plea bargains your charge down to Disorderly Conduct in exchange for a GUILTY plea, YOUR ORIGINAL ARREST RECORD WILL SHOW THAT YOU WERE ARRESTED FOR SODOMY! AND THAT YOU PLEADED GUILTY to doing SOMETHING wrong! Do not allow plea bargaining. Do not plead guilty to anything! Do not waive a JURY TRIAL. Insist upon your right to a jury trial. Juries are MUCH easier-going about this sort of thing than any judge sitting in judgment on you.
If you need help paying bail, call your family (they'll be shocked, but they'll help!), call a gay organization, call your boss, contact ANYBODY who can help. Pleading NOT GUILTY will carry weight with them. They simply won't believe the charges. You will get off. Good Luck.
Rapping Paper, February 1975