Bonus Episode - Kyle Appleby LGBTQ+ Liaison

In this special bonus episode of the View from 100 podcast, Sheriff Armbrister and Master Corrections Officer Kyle Appleby discuss the agency's efforts to be inclusive, including Kyle's role as the LGBTQ+ liaison.

Appleby as liaison works to create transparency and understanding within the agency. This includes training new hires on respectful interactions with the LGBTQ+ community, particularly for transgender individuals. He helps staff understand the importance of using correct names and pronouns, explaining legal processes and being transparent about procedures.

DGSO is part of the LGBTQ+ Metro Law Enforcement Network, which allows the agency to be present at community events and show support. 

Transcript

Jay Armbrister  So I do want to talk briefly Kyle more specifically towards you. Yeah, no, I want you to talk about, you have a title, and I'm going to get it wrong, but it's the LGBTQ. I A rep something. What it before? I totally screwed.

Kyle Appleby  

Now you're going to the LGBTQ plus liaison courtly. Or courtly is on Jesus, the liaison for the for the LGBT community,

Jay Armbrister  

okay? And it's specifically for the Sheriff's Office, but also you do a lot of work locally and regionally, yeah,

Kyle Appleby  

so we do have a, it's a call it the Kansas City Metro Law Enforcement Network, all the LGBTQ liaisons for the entire area. So we hit different different events. It's sure, just being present, yeah, we're first and foremost. Everyone kind of comes to us saying, Hey, what are you guys doing? Are you gonna get this event? Can we share your table? Or, you know, it is a fantastic experience that I got to deal with this Sure, I you know, as a gay male, surprise anymore.

Nobody in this room is

 Kyle Appleby  

surprised, not surprised. Coming into this field, you know, in law enforcement, as a gay male, yeah, that wasn't easy. Sure. I had my own, my own experiences, not sure, not very positive, especially kind of where I came from, sure, smaller town, Bible belt, you know. And I understand that there the the conflict that you might have with law enforcement being in a in the LGBT community, there's, we work for the government, right? So every decision that the government makes, right? It affects them. Yeah. Affects people in our community, whether it be executive orders, whether it be new laws, whether that be whatever that may be, yeah, we're seen as the government right, and we're the ones that have to enforce those lines sometimes, yeah? So we made we just look like the bad guys sometimes. And we gotta, that's the hand we're dealt with, sure. So we have to work through that. So we have to show yeah, that we're out there. Oh, man, yeah. We have a such a diverse agency with full spectrums of everyone from our community, in that community, in that community, 100% and that's why, that's why it works out so well, yeah, we have a lot of support in the community. We do because we are reflection, yeah,

Jay Armbrister  

that, and that's what that is, one of the one of the kind of the feathers in our caps is that we are somewhat representative of our community. Now, do I wish we had more folks from other diverse cultures. Of course, I do. I wish we but again, sometimes it's hard to earn that trust. You know, I talk constantly about the beautiful and strong Native American population in this in this college and this university that we have in our town, I that has been an underutilized relationship that I have not done my part to to to engender into to to gain, make track, you know, make it work. But when it comes to the LGBTQ community, I feel like Lawrence, first off, is a leader

Kyle Appleby  

in I call it the San Fran of Kansas. We

Jay Armbrister  

absolute, we we very, we are, we are we are Berkeley, we are Austin, we are, you know, and I, but I, I'm with you in that, you know, I know, I know my heart, and I know where, where I am on these, on these issues, but when I put that uniform on, I can't help the way that they see or perceive me and that uniform and you know, even through the Pride Parade, we would get calls from people screaming, protect us, you know, and and that that is not offensive at All, and it's not a threat, it's not an anger that is their truth, and it's being shouted at me, and I want to shout back, I will, or I want to, but there again, there are times that the government does things that we simply can't, you know, you know, do anything with or or change but, but the thing that we're trying to show the community is that We are here and we want to make sure everybody is safe, everybody feels safe, and everybody feels heard. But if there is something bad that happens, we're here to work with you to get you through it. You may not like the outcome. You know, it may involve an arrest, but just like with our trans community, if they if one of those folks are arrested, we work very, very hard with that person to make sure that they are housed in a way that is a legal because the state has mandated how we house folks when it comes to male or female biologically, but they cannot legislate how we work with them through that process. And so that is, again, one of those things that I feel like we are. We're very ahead of the curve on we've had, we've had folks who identify say, female housed, female treated female in our jail, because that's that's how it should be. But as soon as they leave our jail and go to the Kansas Department of Correction or prison, they are thrown straight into a male housing unit because they biologically fit that criteria. To me, that's heartbreaking, absolutely heartbreaking, but it's also something I have no control over. But what I what we do have control over, is how you're treated while you're in with us and so and

Kyle Appleby  

you know every every member, when you get hired on goes, I do put on a classroom for them. I. Contacts with LGBT community, you know, especially for our trans folks, yeah, they're going through a lot right now, they're going through a lot, so we have to be very transparent. Yeah, you know, when we talk about police reports, it may have a name that they don't go by any right? So we have to be conscious to say this is why this name isn't here, but we have to go by illegally. What this is, this is what the process is going to look like when, you know, in the jail. Yep, we may have to ask certain personal questions, sure, but we need to explain why we're asking questions. Just be transparent, absolutely and we're going to mess up.

Jay Armbrister  

Absolutely I'm going

Kyle Appleby  

to misgender somebody, I'll be the first to admit it, and you apologize and you move on. Yeah,

Jay Armbrister  

yeah. Pronouns are difficult for me, just because, simply, they don't work grammatically. Sometimes, sure they is a very difficult thing to utilize, especially what I've noticed is if it's somebody I've had a previous relationship and have known them in another since. It was hard for me, but, but I just think again like that, like my child. My children are 20 and 22 their generation is just not a big it's not a thing to nothing. They somebody says that, hey, you know my pronouns are this. They're just like, bam, got it. But you get the old, crusty white dude like me, and I'm just like, I'm trying my best. I really am. But, but, you know, and that's, that's a best case scenario. On the flip side, some people are just treated with contempt and hatred, and so, so, yeah, I just, I wanted to, I wanted to touch on that, and just to kind of talk through is like, again, we're fortunate enough to have a community that supports this initiative. But it's also is that we just see this as we treat humans like, humans like and how they deserve to be, no matter how they choose to live their life, inside or outside of our jail. But it's, I just think, it's I think it's something that that the world is beginning to turn a little bit more towards. But we're there's a lot of work to be done. And again, those communities that feel unsafe, you know, I get it. I've never lived that life, and I'm not going to sit here and tell you, No, you are safe, because you might not be, but what I am telling you is that if you come in contact with one of us, we are going to do our very best to treat you in a human first approach, and especially because most of the times, by the time that we're involved in anything, it's a bad situation, it could very well be the worst situation they've ever been in. So we take that very seriously. So thank you so much for for the work you do on that. But also just kind of explaining it to folks.