Gay Cops

In the first book-length study of gay police officers, Leinen, a sociologist, author of Black Police, White Society and a former NYPD lieutenant, reports on the coping and surviving strategies of 41 homosexual New York City police officers, both male and female. The author, who is heterosexual and was on the force when he began this study, attended Gay Officers Action League meetings, dances and gay pride parades. He describes the tense passage from being a law enforcement agent who potentially threatens the secrecy of gay officers still in the closet to being a researcher observing their lifestyle. Academic jargon (``deviantized minority groups'' and `` `inner-closeted' group'') mars an otherwise intriguing account. Leinen often allows these cops to speak for themselves about coming out to each other, to their heterosexual colleagues and to their families. (Oct.)