St Louis County in Missouri has agreed to a 10.25 million dollar (£7.9 million) settlement with a gay police lieutenant who says he was passed over for promotion 23 times and was told to “tone down” his “gayness”. The agreement with Keith Wildhaber was finalised on Monday, hours after St Louis County police chief Jon Belmar announced he is retiring, the St Louis Post-Dispatch reported. Although jurors awarded Mr Wildhaber nearly 20 million dollars (£15.4 million) in October, each side had reason to negotiate because Mr Wildhaber could keep a larger share of the award by settling. Mr Belmar promoted Mr Wildhaber to lieutenant in December, placing him in command of a new diversity and inclusion unit. Mr Page said that Mr Belmar’s retirement was not a condition of the settlement.

Source: Irish Independent February 11, 2020 13:52 UTC