Missouri police officer told to ‘tone down your gayness’ reaches $10 million settlement, gets promotion – By Bill Hutchinson (ABC News) / Feb 11 2020
Keith Wildhaber reached a settlement as the chief announced his retirement.
A gay Missouri police officer who won a “historic” $20 million judgment in a sexual orientation discrimination lawsuit alleging he was told to “tone down your gayness” by a police commission board member has reached a settlement with St. Louis County for half the amount a jury awarded him.
The settlement in the discrimination case filed by Lt. Keith Wildhaber was announced just hours after St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar said he will retire.
“I think it’s really important for those of us in St. Louis County to recognize this is a tough time for the county, but we have to recognize that discrimination isn’t right. By settling this lawsuit, the county recognizes that what Lt. Wildhaber went though was not right,” St. Louis County Executive Sam Page said at a news conference Monday evening.
Page said the county plans to sell bonds to cover the $10.25 million settlement it hammered out with Wildhaber and his attorneys.
According to the settlement papers filed Tuesday morning in a St. Louis County court, Wildhaber is to receive a little more than $6.4 million and his attorneys will get about $3.8 million.
Page said he hopes the county will recoup most of the settlement money through insurance.
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