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

Contents:

• AS A GAY OFFICER I SAW HOW HOMOPHOBIC THE POLICE ARE
• WE WENT TO A CONVENTN FOR GAY POLICE OFFICERS BERL
• THE HANDSOME UNRVER P S. IS HE ENTRAPPG GAY MEN OR CLEANG UP A PARK?
• MEN LURED TO “HOE OF HORRORS” ON GAY DATG APP “GRDR”

AS A GAY OFFICER I SAW HOW HOMOPHOBIC THE POLICE ARE

In a secret document my chief supertennt wrote that he had nsired movg me bee of “ncerns over victimisatn rultg om PC Maxwell’s sexual orientatn” many straight ps, beg gay was seen as unnatural.

I moved statns and ntued to police other gay men unr outdated laws, wh me and my lleagu often lookg for gay men on the nal towpath we uld punish for sex acts. Senrs officers directed to do this bee, they said, the men were g a public when I thk about the se of Stephen Port – who was last week nvicted of murrg four young gay men, whose killgs tectiv failed to lk spe obv clu – the notn of stutnalised homophobia is at the foreont of my md. A uple of years after I joed the force the Labour ernment repealed outdated homophobic laws on gross cency and buggery.

WE WENT TO A CONVENTN FOR GAY POLICE OFFICERS BERL

However, though people knew they uld no longer outwardly e homophobic language the workplace, they found other ways to exprs their disda and prejudice.

THE HANDSOME UNRVER P S. IS HE ENTRAPPG GAY MEN OR CLEANG UP A PARK?

An appeal judge upheld my this month a gay man, David Cary, won pensatn om the Met after a ne-year battle over s failure to vtigate homophobic abe claims agast him. In rponse to this, cg my own se agast the force, the Met said: “The way the anisatn als wh homophobic crime and our ternal practic and polici have changed dramatilly sce 2013.

MEN LURED TO “HOE OF HORRORS” ON GAY DATG APP “GRDR”

The system, riddled wh stutnal homophobia as is, needs to be alt I challenged homophobia the Met, not a sgle gay officer or LGBT anisatn stood alongsi me.