Pride Month Profiles: Sarah Crews

For Pride Month, the AFL-CIO is spotlighting various LGBTQ+ Americans who have worked and continue to work at the intersection of civil and labor rights. Today’s Pride Month profile is Sarah Crews of the Ithaca Police Benevolent Association, a member organization of the Midstate Central Labor Council (CLC) and an affiliate of the New York State AFL-CIO.

Sarah Crews is a police officer employed by the City of Ithaca, New York, Police Department and a long-standing member of the Ithaca Police Benevolent Association, the labor organization that represents Ithaca police officers, sergeants and lieutenants. Crews is a staunch advocate for progressive policy change within the Ithaca Police Department and the broader law enforcement community. For several years Crews has been fighting fiercely to change discriminatory policies and procedures that do not provide LGBTQ+ police officers the same rights and protections that have traditionally only been afforded to heterosexual officers. Specifically, these policies pertain to the search, transport and jailing of prisoners. Crews has spent countless hours and a large amount of her own income as she continues to seek progressive change and fights for policies that recognize and afford equal protections to LGBTQ+ workers within her workplace and profession.