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. 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.

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

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. 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.

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

" This quote expos a fear trsic to my gay experience — a fear that my sexualy mak me ferr.

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

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.

BRISH ARMY GENERAL SET TO E OUT AS GAY

“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.

AS A GAY OFFICER I SAW HOW HOMOPHOBIC THE POLICE ARE

“Although I’d been a practisg homosexual sce I was 9 or 10!

’” The doctor also ed the word “homosexual”.