As a gay officer I saw how homophobic the police are | Kev Maxwell | The Guardian

Contents:

• I'M A BRISH ROYAL NAVY OFFICER — AND I'M GAY. I FEEL LIKE I'VE HAD TO WORK TWICE AS HARD AS MY STRAIGHT PEERS.
• I'M A GAY ARMY OFFICER—QUEER TROOPS MT FIGHT BACK
• THIS IS WHAT IT WAS LIKE TO GO TO JAIL IN ENGLAND JT FOR BEG GAY
• FROM THE ARCHIVE, 24 JANUARY 1976: GUARDSMEN GAY MAGAZE RECEIVE MARCHG ORRS
• GAY ROYAL NAVY OFFICER AWARD MORE THAN £45,000 AFTER BEG OUTED: ‘IT MA ME FEEL SUB-HUMAN’
• BRISH ARMY GENERAL SET TO E OUT AS GAY
• AS A GAY OFFICER I SAW HOW HOMOPHOBIC THE POLICE ARE

I'M A BRISH ROYAL NAVY OFFICER — AND I'M GAY. I FEEL LIKE I'VE HAD TO WORK TWICE AS HARD AS MY STRAIGHT PEERS.

I joed the Royal Navy three years ago and me out as gay to my fellow officers.

Dpe the Royal Navy's homophobic history, the other officers accepted me.

I'M A GAY ARMY OFFICER—QUEER TROOPS MT FIGHT BACK

But I still felt the need to ph myself harr than most to prove gay men aren't wards. Not long after, I ma another bold cisn: I me out as gay to my fellow officers.

After that, one thought repeated my head: "Don't let them thk gays are weak. As motivatg as the thought was, I later realized I was puttg myself a box that no one else out as gay the Royal Navy went surprisgly smoothlyWhen I joed the Navy three years ago, I already had a gree social scienc and secured my dream job.

THIS IS WHAT IT WAS LIKE TO GO TO JAIL IN ENGLAND JT FOR BEG GAY

Barely an hour later, I was headg ashore when I overheard one sailor tellg another about me beg gay.

Dpe 68% of the public opposg the ban 1999, a survey of ary personnel the mid-'90s found that 95% of rponnts said they would prefer not to serve alongsi homosexuals, the BBC reported.

FROM THE ARCHIVE, 24 JANUARY 1976: GUARDSMEN GAY MAGAZE RECEIVE MARCHG ORRS

Origally, was feared that the arrival of gays to the ary would create an " vers them" mdset, disptg the uny required for operatnal effectivens. After beg betrayed, ptured, and sentenced to ath, his last words were: "Let be known homosexuals are not wards.

" This quote expos a fear trsic to my gay experience — a fear that my sexualy mak me ferr. But as a gay man, I have been fightg my whole life to enjoy the very privileg I am entled to as both a beholr and protector of them. I was one of few soldiers who joed the service before graduatg high school, but the admistratn at the time, which I believe was homophobic, chose to act as if I never existed bee of my queer hate that I experienced growg up on Long Island was my first enunter wh how others would treat me as a queer soldier.

He is old now – 81 – but the events of his youth, when Bra hated gay men, still is 50 years this month sce the laws forbiddg sex between men were overturned England and Wal – laws that led to the nvictn of World War II breaker Alan Turg, the rceratn of Osr Wil, and thoands more jailed like Biddlebe.

GAY ROYAL NAVY OFFICER AWARD MORE THAN £45,000 AFTER BEG OUTED: ‘IT MA ME FEEL SUB-HUMAN’

“At that time I had never heard the word ‘homosexual’, ” he says – nor “queer”. It would be another before people ed the word “gay” to mean anythg other than happy, and another 15 before sex between men beme law agast “buggery” – as the offence was known – dated back to 1533, but 1885, the related offence of “gross cency” was add, outlawg any sexual ntact between such, the law did not only mean jail; s impact sd out, ntrollg and suffotg: an all-pervasive prison.

Generatns of gay men (there was no law agast lbianism) died wh the lie. “Although I’d been a practisg homosexual sce I was 9 or 10! ’” The doctor also ed the word “homosexual”.

BRISH ARMY GENERAL SET TO E OUT AS GAY

” He did not realise, however, that gay men exist everywhere.

“I thought homosexuals were only the navy. But spe now knowg he was gay, he had no ia how to act upon onboard ship.

AS A GAY OFFICER I SAW HOW HOMOPHOBIC THE POLICE ARE

“I was thkg, How do you regnise somebody [as gay]? I spoke to him and he told me what was gog on, that there were gays on the ship.