Over at The Guardian’s Comment Is Free blog, Brian Paddick, former Lib Dem candidate for London mayor and former deputy assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, explains how far the police force has come in its attitude to gay people. You can read it in full here, but here’s an excerpt:
When I joined the Metropolitan Police in 1976, homophobia was rife and overt. “Only girls and poofs wear gloves!” bawled the drill sergeant on the parade square at Hendon. Ten years later, a close colleague was beaten up by his police officer flatmate, simply for bringing his boyfriend home. In the 1990s, sexual orientation was included in the Met’s equal opportunities statement. But at the same time I received a visit from my boss to tell me it was “a shield and not a flag.” …
Acutely aware of the need to retain public confidence, to be seen to be fair and impartial, and to reflect the communities they serve, the police service has done more than many other sectors to address equality issues. … Having said that, the Metropolian Police, the force that polices the UK’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and was once at the forefront of the diversity agenda, is ranked 35th [the Stonewall workplace equality index]. … The new commissioner of the Met clearly has much more work to do.
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One Comment
Someone ought to point out the simple fact that the Stonewall Index is comprised of mainly companies that they charge 2000 quid to join Stonewall.
It is hardly independent or something anyone should be putting too much stock in. It is perhaps much more about making money for Stonewall.
People should track the correlation between Stonewall “Diversity Champions” and the companies they rank highly in the “Equality Index”. To get into the second requires a very high financial commitment to join the first. which seems corrupt.