Come meet Atlanta Police LGBT Liaison, Brian Sharp April 17, 2011

Come, meet and listen to Officer Brian Sharp, the LGBT liaison for the Atlanta Police Department. [From the GA Voice] As an openly gay man and APD officer, Sharp said he was honored when Chief George Turner and Mayor Kasim Reed asked him to take on the duty of being the department’s second LGBT liaison. This is the first time in the department’s history two GLBT liaisons are serving the APD as part of a campaign promise made by Reed when he was running for office.

“When I came here I wondered how it would be. When I was a recruit, there was a GLBT liaison that spoke to us and I wanted to be that person for someone else. This is a perfect fit for me,” he said. “There are a lot of openly gay males in the department and also in the community. I think I can bring something new to the table that hasn’t perhaps been brought to the table before,” he said. “We are all human beings.”

When he was 16, Sharp came out to his mother. “It went as well as could be expected. She went through what I called the stages of grief, but after two weeks she told me that I was the same son I was two weeks before I told her and she said, ‘I love you,’ and she’s been great ever since,” he said. When he was 19, Sharp moved to metro Atlanta and currently lives in the Buckhead area with his partner of two years.

Brian and his partner are regular attendees at our PFLAG meetings.

Official Website: http://www.pflagatl.org/2011/04/atlanta_police_brian_sharp/