Greg Miraglia is the author of Coming Out From Behind The Badge and American Heroes Coming Out From Behind The Badge. Mr. Miraglia has a Masters Degree in Education Administration and Bachelors Degree in Business. He is currently the Dean of Career Technical and Online Education at Napa Valley College. His duties include administrative oversight of the Criminal Justice Training Center and all career and occupational training programs offered by the college. He also teaches a variety of law enforcement courses including all human relations, work place harassment, community policing, and one of the only state certified hate crimes investigations courses in the State of California. In 2011, he authored curriculum for an accredited LGBT Studies Program now offered by Napa Valley College. This was the second program of its type offered by a California college.
Mr. Miraglia is the National Program Coordinator for the Stop the Hate! Program and speaks about hate crime prevention throughout the country. He is also a radio program host on Outbeat Radio, a weekly LGBT program on KRCB Radio. He serves as a member of the Board of Directors for the Matthew Shepard Foundation and as an advisor for Positive Images in Santa Rosa. Mr. Miraglia has over 30 years of experience in law enforcement with three different police departments working most recently as deputy chief of the Napa Valley Railroad Police Department.
After coming out himself in 2004, Mr. Miraglia decided to work with others in law enforcement who are still struggling with the pervasive homophobia that still exists in many areas of the law enforcement, the fire service, and EMS profession.
Coming Out From Behind The Badge In The Media
Read the August 2012 article from South Florida Gay News
Interview With Greg Miraglia On New York’s City Scape Radio – June 2010
Read the March 2010 Advocate article about homophobia in law enforcement
Click here to listen to the February 2011 interview with Greg Miraglia on Blue Pride Radio
Click here to listen to the July 2010 interview with Greg Miraglia on Blue Pride Radio
Click here to listen to the February 2009 interview with Greg Miraglia on Blue Pride Radio
More About Coming Out From Behind The Badge
Law enforcement is a noble career that demands courage and personal commitment to serve our communities and society as a whole. Law enforcement personnel who are gay, lesbian, or bisexual have to have another kind of courage to be successful in a largely conservative and often times homophobic profession.
We look to law enforcement officers to be role models, community leaders, and in some ways, “heroes.” But even law enforcement officers need good role models to be successful and this is particularly important for current or aspiring law enforcement officers who happen to be gay, lesbian, or bisexual. Law enforcement as a whole needs strong gay, lesbian, and bisexual personnel to be out at work in order to correct the misinformation, misperceptions, and definitions of what it means have a sexual orientation other than heterosexual.
In 2005, a 24 year old officer was found dead in his apartment after taking his own life. Responding officers found no note and no obvious reason for his decision to commit suicide. He was a highly successful officer who loved law enforcement. His apartment was full of pictures of him in uniform, working with his friends, and of other fellow officers. He had no sign of a girlfriend and among all of the pictures, there were none with any women. His fellow officers were stunned. His friends talked about knowing this officer, but only about small pieces of his life. Those who were closest to him said they never saw him with a girl and some speculated that he might be gay. The officers investigating this young officer’s death suspected the same. Why did he take his own life?
No one will ever know for sure, but how incredibly sad it would be if this highly successful officer who was so loved by his co-workers decided that he couldn’t be who he was out of fear of being rejected by those he loved and cared for so much. How sad it would be if he felt so trapped by being gay and a cop that he didn’t see the possibility of being both at the same time. My friends, that is what this book is all about. He is the officer who this book is intended to help and to save.
We are here to support others in our profession as well as our allies and those who are seeking a career in law enforcement who happen to be gay, lesbian, or bi-sexual.
