City of San Diego on trial next week in civil rights suit five years after wrongful arrest of man who wore kilt to LGBT Pride

SAN DIEGO—After five years and myriad motions to delay or dismiss Will Walters’ 14th Amendment discrimination civil rights lawsuit against the City of San Diego, whose Police Department wrongfully arrested him when they applied a tougher, discriminatory standard of enforcement of the city’s nudity ordinance at the 2011 LGBT Pride Festival than the standard of enforcement applied at non-gay events, officers and the city will finally face a jury on Tuesday, Dec. 6 in the U.S. District Court in San Diego in front of Judge Cathy Ann Bencivengo.

“We are wondering how the city attorney will defend what happened to Will that day at the Pride festival given the fact that Jan Goldsmith has taken every opportunity to distance himself from the fact that Will was arrested in the first place,” said Chris Morris, lead attorney for Will Walters.

Although City Attorney Jan Goldsmith’s office recently tried, yet again, to delay the trial, the motion was denied. So too was a motion to separate the liability aspect of the proceedings from the portion seeking damages.

However, the city attorney did succeed in persuading the judge to exclude testimony from former City of San Diego Chief Lifeguard Chris Brewster, who was prepared to testify that in his former job, one of a sworn peace officer for the city, he established a policy that city lifeguards could not cite nor contact anyone for wearing a thong or g-string.

“But it’s self-evident that women are allowed to wear g-strings at the beach,” Morris, who is a former deputy San Diego city attorney, said. “As long as we find jurors who have been to the beach and who have seen people wearing g-stings or thongs at the beach, we should be OK.”

Far from nude, Walters was wearing a leather gladiator kilt with 12-inch front and rear flaps as well as thong underwear beneath; that was in addition to leather gear over his upper torso at the time of his arrest.

Will Walters has incurred legal fees totaling nearly $1 million in his five-year quest for justice following his wrongful arrest for “nudity” at the 2011 San Diego LGBT Pride Festival.

“How is the average person supposed to stand up for their constitutional rights if it takes this long and costs this much to sue?” Walters asks.

He contends his arrest five years ago violated his 14th Amendment right to equal enforcement of the law because women and men at local beaches wear far more revealing swimsuits to public beaches every day without incident.

Also, one of San Diego’s most anticipated and for many one of its most fun annual events is the decidedly “heterocentric” beach party, called the Over The Line Tournament, which is famous for women in g-strings. In a meeting with event organizers before the 2011 Pride Event, members of the San Diego Police Department acknowledged that a different standard was enforced at Over The Line and other special events than for gay men at the Pride Festival in 2011.

During his arrest, Walters was humiliated by police in front of his peers among the LGBT community and in front of members of the public at Balboa Park. He was also assaulted, locked in a patrol car for 20 minutes during a “side-stop” en route to jail on one of the hottest days of the year with no air conditioning and windows closed. He was also taunted by jailhouse guards for the outfit he had worn to Pride and spent an entire night behind bars.

Will Walters declined to sue the San Diego Sheriff’s Dept., which runs the jail, because it apologized for the treatment he suffered in the department’s custody. By contrast, neither officials of the San Diego Police Department nor even San Diego City Councilman Todd Gloria, a fellow member of the LGBT community, would offer an apology to Walters for his arrest.

“The sheriff apologized, so I didn’t feel that I had to sue them,” Walters said. “But if the city and if our own gay San Diego city councilman can’t say, hey our officers made a mistake; I’m sorry. Well, what choice do I have but to stand up for my rights and for the Constitution in general? If I don’t, who will?”

Following five years of often-exotic delay tactics on the part of the San Diego City Attorney’s Office, U.S. District Court Judge Cathy Ann Bencivengo denied yet more recent attempts to delay his case. The judge has now set Tuesday, December 6, 2016 as the trial date in Will Walters’ civil suit against the City of San Diego for wrongful arrest. If he prevails, the city is likely to be responsible for his legal costs.

“Will Walters’s five-year path to a jury was long and arduous — one he’s persevered on for his own rights and for those of everyone, LGBT or otherwise,” wrote Chris Morris, Walters’ lead attorney in a recent commentary for The Advocate, the nation’s most widely read LGBT newsmagazine.

“After the summary judgment dismissing his claim against the city was at first granted by the trial judge, the case was appealed to the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. When a panel of justices at the 9th Circuit unanimously overturned that judge’s decision, Walters’s case was finally set for trial. But not before the city tried yet again, just last month in fact, to delay a trial. Fortunately for the cause of justice, the judge set December 6 as the trial date — period.”

During his appeal to the 9th Circuit, Walters’ legal team presented the justices with overwhelming evidence of a double standard held for public nudity: one adopted for LGBT people at Pride, and one adopted for everyone else. The panel of judges was shown photos of the officers who arrested Walters happily standing next to women in g-strings at the beach.

The panel was presented with deposition testimony from the officer in charge admitting that he adopted the enforcement posture for Pride and that various other scantily clad Pride attendees were also detained for “offending” outfits. The 9th Circuit panel was also presented with a total absence of any other enforcement of this standard at any other event or venue in San Diego.

Walters’ Timeline