Two veteran Seattle Police Department officers who say they are openly gay have filed a lawsuit in King County Superior Court alleging that the city and department leadership repeatedly passed them over for promotions because of their sexual orientation. Detectives and lieutenants named in the complaint are accused of using personnel moves, frozen promotion lists and assignment decisions in ways that stalled the officers’ careers, even when they were at the top of eligibility rosters or already serving in acting roles. The suit asks a judge to step in and remedy what the officers describe as discriminatory treatment.
According to The Seattle Times, Detective Anna Fishel applied for a sergeant position in 2024 and, by August 2025, had risen to the top of the promotional list while serving as an acting sergeant in the department’s policy unit. The outlet reports that Chief Shon Barnes told her the department’s priority was filling patrol sergeant slots and offered her a third-watch 7 p.m. to 5 a.m. assignment, which she says would be untenable as a single mother. The complaint states that the policy unit post was later filled by a straight man. The Seattle Times also reports that the Seattle city attorney’s office will defend the city against the lawsuit.
Raguso says the list was frozen while he sat first
Lieutenant Douglas Raguso, an SPD hire from 2004 who served as an East Precinct watch commander, says he tested for captain in early 2023 but was blocked when the department “unofficially frozen” the promotion roster while he remained at No. 1. The complaint alleges that Raguso stayed the top eligible candidate for more than a year, then the roster was unfrozen and a straight male officer was promoted instead. It also says four lieutenants were promoted to captain within about two weeks of Raguso’s reassignment to the Real-Time Crime Center. "Mr. Raguso's sexual orientation has been a substantial factor in the city's failure to promote him to captain," the complaint alleges, as reported by The Seattle Times.
Department leadership named in the suit
The complaint identifies Chief Shon Barnes and other command staff as central to the contested promotion and assignment decisions. The department’s official command roster lists Barnes as chief and Yvonne Underwood as deputy chief. The Seattle Police Department’s biographies describe the roles and responsibilities of those commanders and the units they oversee, and the lawsuit says those roles factored into who was eligible or selected for each slot. The filing asks the court to examine whether the personnel moves at issue violated city and state anti-discrimination law.
Legal implications
The officers’ central claim would implicate Washington’s Law Against Discrimination, which makes it an unfair practice for an employer to refuse to promote or otherwise discriminate based on sexual orientation, among other protected traits. The relevant statute spells out prohibited employer practices and is cited in the complaint; see RCW 49.60.180 for the statutory language. If the court finds the city violated those provisions, remedies can include damages and other relief ordered by the judge under state law.
What to watch next
The case will move through King County Superior Court procedures and could prompt discovery of personnel records, witness depositions and a formal city response in the coming weeks. Hoodline will be watching the docket, along with any official statements from the Seattle Police Department or the city attorney’s office, as the litigation plays out.
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