Local police agencies throughout the State of Texas have moved increasingly toward more community-oriented approaches to policing. This philosophy embraces the ideas that (a) the police should reach out to communities they typically have excluded and (b) the police should include members of those communities among their ranks. Lesbians and gay men are an appropriate target of such outreach efforts. Although federal law enforcement agencies have banned discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in hiring law enforcement personnel, state and local agencies have been slow to follow suit. In the city of Houston, for example, the issue has been hotly contested in all branches of local government. This article reports the results of a survey of 95% of all police chiefs in the State of Texas. The survey was designed to assess police chiefs' attitudes toward hiring lesbian and gay police officers.
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