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Brent Bailey Guilty Not of Lewd Conduct, But of Being Gay…In Fullerton

We are sorry to learn that El Modena High School principal Brent Bailey resigned his job January 31, 2007. But Mr. Bailey committed a crime intolerable in a place like Fullerton: he was a gay man in a conservative, evangelical and homophobic place.

It is a shame to see a successful career ended because of a homophobic law enforcement policy that for years has targeted gay men for prosecution for the most innocuous activity.

The Fullerton Police Department arrested Brent Bailey on December 27, 2006 allegedly for lewd conduct in violation of Penal Code 647. The lewd conduct arrest occurred at the restrooms at Brea Dam Park.

Lewd conduct sting operations like this have operated for decades. Police get wind that gay men tend to gravitate to a particular location (like Brea Dam Park in Fullerton). The good folks of the neighborhoods want the gays out of their back yard.

The local police send undercover decoys to the location to pose as gay men. The decoys "cruise" or entice gay men who come to the location through suggestive behavior, eye contact, facial expressions and outright propositions to go in a stall and do something sexual.

Gay men who take the bait get arrested and charged with lewd conduct. Under California Penal Code 647(a) and 647(d), a person convicted of lewd conduct can face fines, probation, jail time and other penalties.

Often times, however, the real consequences of a lewd conduct conviction are far more than penalties imposed by the courts. The lewd conduct conviction goes on a person's permanent criminal record and turns up on a background check any time the person applies for a job, a state license, an apartment, insurance, a loan or membership in an organization.

The lewd conduct conviction acts as a scarlet letter, plaguing the person the rest of his life.

And, in a case like that of former El Modena High School principal Brent Bailey, the lewd conduct arrest alone sufficed to end the career of a beloved school administrator.

Let's face it. Brent Bailey was no threat to the students at El Modena High. He was not accused of any appropriate behavior with minors. At worst, he was willing to fool around with another consenting adult in the privacy of restroom stall.

Problem was that the other adult was also a male.