First out trans police officer in Seattle opens up about positive reception
The first out transgender police officer in Seattle has spoken about the warm welcome he received when he came out.
Tori Newburn, 32, said in an interview with KING that he received many congratulations including cards and thanks in person.
“I was happy to see and hear that nobody had anything bad to say. They weren’t sugar coating anything just because they knew a transgender person was in the room,” Newburn told the local station.
“Because they didn’t. That was very encouraging.”
Newburn grew up in Southern California and completed his transition more than ten years ago with his parents’ help.
After he came out, the Seattle Police Department released a training video featuring trans issues.
Jim Ritter, a fellow officer with the SPD told KING that Newburn’s coming out would help to rid the department of “a lot of misinformation about transgender individuals.”
“Having Tori talk about his experiences takes the mystery away about topics people don’t know a lot about,” Ritter adds.
