SCENE FROM THE STREET

The Honor of Co-named Streets—Sgt. Charles H. Cochrane Way 

The Honor of Co-named Streets—Sgt. Charles H. Cochrane Way

People have been honored in Greenwich Village with co-naming of streets or places for them. Look for the special green signs below the regular street signs and see nycstreets.net for text source.

Honoree Charles H. Cochrane (1944-2008) was the first openly gay New York City Police Department officer. In 1981, he testified at a City Council meeting in support of New York City’s gay rights bill. At the meeting, he testified that he was very proud of being a New York City policeman and equally proud of being gay. He stood up for what he believed in during a time when there weren’t many openly gay police officers. He went on to help form the Gay Officers Action League (GOAL), the first Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Law Enforcement Group in the United States, which set the pattern for establishing GOAL chapters that now exist in every major police department in the United States and helped advance civil rights issues in relation to sexual orientation.

On June 17, 2016, Cochrane’s courageous 1981 testimony was honored with the unveiling of New York City street signs marking Charles H. Cochrane Way at Washington Place and Sixth Avenue. At the unveiling ceremony, NYPD Chief of Department James O’Neill paid tribute to Cochrane’s fortitude, noting, “Charlie had come out as a gay cop during a time when gay cops were afraid of losing their jobs and of being physically harmed.” He added that “through the efforts of Charlie, this is now a very different New York City than it was 35 years ago and it’s a very different NYPD.”

Text and photo by Brian J. Pape, AIA