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Topics

In the early days of 2003, before Aurora had met, or even had a name, we were invited to say what topics we wanted the group to address with the Police. The list has grown since, and some have been started or removed.

General issues

1) Consultation must be consultation

Distrust and frustration are created when people want to contribute to policing and other issues, attempt to do so, but are kept out. The C&D Act, and particularly its secondary legislation requires that the Police use 'creative and flexible' means to engage lgbt people in relevant policing issues and to involve them in implementing solutions. A Home Office report has subsequently condemned earnest groups of self-appointed, self-styled 'representatives', and these are specifically prohibited. Lgbt Police consultation must be a process open to the whole community and must be available to all, even if the Police do not have the resources to fulfil the whole of the C&D requirements to publicise and promote it.

(In Croydon, early in 2003 there was concern that lgbt people might lose the last forms of their face-to-face consultation with the Police. So a decision was taken to fund, resource and launch an independent forum, within the terms of the C&D Act, as has been done in other Divisions of the Met and in other parts of the country. This comes into force if our last form of face-to-face contact with the Police becomes a closed group. Thus there will continue to be a legally authorised forum for lgbt-Police consultation. It is doubtful that the commander would find the Police time for two forums, and more doubtful that she would press her decision through an action for judicial review to ignore the legal forum.)

Aurora is protecting these isses in its Procedures (informal constitution).

2) Giving gays a bad image - child abuse

There are two areas in which Police inadvertently tend to support or encourage prejudice and violence against gay people; they are in issues of cottaging and child abuse. The Police do not generally associate child abuse with gays. Research has shown that only a minority of people in the UK now believes gay are more likely than straights to be paedophile. But the press is not much interested in showing how bad the majority of its readers are. Only minority abuse sells newspapers. Female circumcision, abuse within ethnic groups, religious minorities and sexual minorities are the easy targets.

Practices should be introduced to prevent this association. This is not primarily a question of relieving violence against gays. Many parents find it incredible that kids are more at risk in the home than the community or with strangers. The assumption that home is best protects and hides the majority of child abuse. So this is an issue of the protection of children.

After writing the above, a very nasty incident in Croydon turned into a murder when the assailants discovered that their victim was gay. The intent to kill their victim was rationalised on the grounds that 'gay' means 'paedophile'. Police must stop promoting and supporting this association.

Current example

In a press release on the Met's own website, a new leaflet against stalking and internet stalking stressed the danger of strangers to children, while the accompanying promotion emphasised that the leaflet addressed every aspect of such unwanted attention to kids. It is inexcusable that the Police should openly promote this - and fail to correct when it is pointed out to through the advertised channel.

Covert example

n one Police force the Police offer schools a safety training day shortly before the summer holidays. During the day small groups are left alone between events in the advertised schedule. A selected civilian then approaches a small group using a variety of ploys. One is the old lady whose dog has run off. The children agree to help look for it. At the point where a child is about to go off with the stranger an officer appears to bang home the danger of going off with strangers.

That afternoon, back home, mother asks the child what happened on their day out, and the children excitedly retell how they nearly went off with a stranger and the Police had to step in. All the right bells have been rung, and mother obligingly warns against (what she perceives to be) paedophile strangers. She reinforces the wrong stereotype with the apparent authority of the Police, and confident that this is the message the Police are presenting.

Thus the children are given exactly the wrong message for their own safety, and the Police reinforce prejudice again sexual strangers.

Gay people, pay for this activity. It should not put gay people or kids at risk.

3) Giving gays a bad image: cottaging and cruising

The other way in which Police represent gays in an unfair and dangerous way is in cottaging and cruising.
The Police are not in control of what the press prints. Getting the word 'gay' in a headline sells newspapers. But it is not acceptable for the Police always to associate gay men with cruising or cottaging. Whenever figures have been researched, heterosexuals more commonly have sex in public places, in public lavatories, and overwhelmingly in what the gross indecency offence describes as public places. On those occasions when it has been investigated, men rounded up in cruising areas have turned out to be predominantly married men. They are usually men who have particular reason to be closeted - not open with their wives or their church groups or ethnic groups about the sex they are seeking, and unable to use gay clubs, pubs, websites or the many publicised and public ways in which gays can find casual sex.

This area is dealt with later, but when Police make press releases it should be the norm that the material is accompanied with a passage stressing that this is not typically an activity of gay men. It should suggest suitable words and phrases, 'public sex' 'mesmen' (or 'men who have sex with men') 'eye contact'. It should explain clearly the other dangers of irresponsible reporting - but these are dealt with later. Mr and Mrs Everyman see this image of gay men being repeated, in their local paper, apparently with the full authority of quoted representatives of the Police. This can be expected to damage the image of one social group, and it is difficult to see what else it can do.

A complementary approach would be to circularise the local church and ethnic minority groups particularly, to request them to pass on warnings with a tactful explanation of why the Police are addressing groups in which men are likely to be much more closeted, but have an equal right to the protection of the Police. This will take some care to develop.

4) Prevention versus reporting

As a general principle the Police are seen as picking up the pieces when something dreadful has gone dreadfully wrong.

The Police are seldom more popular than when they engage openly in prevention. This happens so seldom on gay issues, and it is an easy way to build bridges to the community. Why not be a popular Police force? Accept the offers of help made and take a preventative approach to topics that are likely to become important?

A preventative approach for violence is particularly important. We should address street violence, partner abuse and abuse from parents and family to see if what we can offer that is worthwhile. It has been done tentatively but needs a real positive approach.

Ways to prevent violence against transpeople is covered in publications for transpeople. This should be brushed up, re-published and backed by the Police, and targeted to this group. The content and the means are there. It is up to the Police to use them.

5) 'Homophobia'

It was a big step forward for gay people when psychotic behaviour against gay people was recognised for what it is. There are people who have anti-gay attitudes. Some have had bad experiences and some are misinformed, some just don't think they know gay people. But the coining of the word 'homophobia' was a key step in identifying that the problem is not with the victim but with the perpetrator, and it is sometimes a psychotic condition.

Venerable institutions like the Sun newspaper have their own reasons for belittling anti-gay activity. The Police use the 'HO' code (which stands for 'homophobic') for historical reasons. But it does present problems. The ordinary citizen is inclined to report a 'homophobic' incident if the assailant was wielding a knife, foaming at the mouth and chasing the victim down the street. But they don't think of it as 'homophobic' if it's verbal prejudice. And they are right. The word confuses even senior Police officers. I've heard intelligent officers ask for more 'homophobic crime' to be reported: if it's homophobic then it isn't crime.

If we mean 'anti-gay' we should say it.

Since the term is stretched to cover activity against lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgendered people we should be careful to include activity against (e.g.) transsexual people. The term 'sexual minorities' is general enough.

In early 2003 in the trial of one of our gay murders, the defence attempted to make a case for 'homosexual panic'. It should be remembered that 'homophobia' is still a legal defence - not an offence.

It does take time and trouble to re-phrase what we say to what we mean. Other words like Islamophobic and transphobic have defined meanings that are clear, if unfortunate. But it is better to avoid the word 'homophobic' if it is general activity against lgbt people that is referred to.

6) Reporting

There is great difficulty in getting lgbt people to report at all. Several initiatives have been tried, few seem to work well or to work for long. We could pursue some of the easier ones, and should consult with other lgbt Police consultation groups to see what they've tried and what they've rejected. Reporting levels vary enormously, but the reasons why are not understood at all well. The Hounslow group did some study on this and we might approach them.

One reason is that we get used to accepting 'attitude' because we are different. It was a decision we made when we came out. It is hard to change that.

This is a fundamental problem for the Police and we should prepare a list of approaches and discuss them. The list could include a local community reporting facility, to answer the question 'are the Police interested in my particular problem?', printed material and reporting forms, value of a list of varied items reported; value of a one-day all-out offensive on reporting; value of a national phone number; usefulness of GALOP, and the possible value of local internet reporting?

Issues classified by sub-group

Different people define the terms for these groups differently. This account tries to avoid terminology that has been controversial.

We are concerned with the issues of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgender people. There are other distinct groups of LGBT people that are being added. If you are an Croydon lgbt person, and you do not identify with any of these issues, please go to Home > Contact Us and tell us.

Gay men

The term 'gay' is used here as a short form of 'homosexual'. Not all homosexuals identify as gay.

Issues:

• the gross indecency offence
• partner abuse - prevention and reporting
• street violence - prevention and reporting
• verbal abuse - prevention and reporting
• cottaging and cruising (see above under 'general issues')
• prostitution (both rent-boys and clients)

Lesbians

I'm using the term as synonymous with homosexual women. Women may experience less marked discrimination than men but it is sometimes targeted at lesbian mothers as they are more easily identifiable.

Issues

• partner abuse - prevention and reporting
• partner abuse - prevention and reporting
• street violence - prevention and reporting
• verbal abuse - prevention and reporting
• gross indecency offence (only as a mainstream gay issue)

Bisexuals

Both males and females are bisexual. The distinctive issue for men is the number of men who identify as heterosexual but also have sex with men. The answer to the old question 'What's the difference between a bisexual and a gay man?' is 'Four pints of lager'. (It used to be two pints, but alcohol levels fell markedly in the 1980s.)

A high proportion of men who go cottaging and cruising identify as heterosexual, although seeking sex with other men.

Issues

• cottaging and cruising

Transgender issues

'Transgender' (to over-simplify) falls into six groups:

1. Transgender - Male to female transsexual

Other sub-groups are sometimes useful for policing: pre-op, post-op, non-op and people who are transitioning.

Issues

• custody issues
• the 'Which Loo?' question
• lone female by a motorway
• employment in the Police
• violence - very distinctive for this group
• partner abuse - I have recently been told there is a trans issue

2. Transgender - Female to male transsexual

Female to male transsexuals are often assumed to be less common, than male to female, though it is difficult to justify this. Someone with a beard and a broken voice passes very easily as male. The reverse is not the case.

Issues

• custody issues
• the 'Which Loo?' question
• employment in the Police
• violence (similar to male to female above)
• partner abuse - I have recently been told this is a trans issue

3. Transgender - Intersex

Inter-sex people are NOT transsexual. There are some 80 different intersex conditions identified in medical texts. Intersex people I've recently contacted for this purpose assure me they have no specific issues other than those of transsexuals. I suspect there are some, but transsexuals have not identified for campaigning or mutual support until very recent years.

Issues

Female genital mutilation ('female circumcision'): an issue where we have maternity units - like Mayday Hospital

4. Transgender — Entertainers who cross-dress

Drag entertainers like Lily Savage and Dame Edna sometimes experience physical and verbal abuse but this is not distinct from that of others who cross dress publicly. The same goes for fancy dress. This is why there are no distinct issues listed for this group.

Issues

None distinct from people who cross-dress publicly

5. Transgender - People who cross-dress secretly

This is a difficult to reach and closeted group of men. The Beaumont Society has catered for this group nationally and when I have contacted them they have put me on to members who have been active on policing issues. Police have been called to violent incidents when a wife comes home unexpectedly to find her husband dressed in her clothes.

Issues

• possibly partner abuse

6. Transgender - People who cross-dress publicly

It is widely acceptable for women to cross-dress in our culture.

This group includes men who dress up, go out because they identify strongly in a female role. It also includes men who cross-dress ostentatiously and party in drag as a lifestyle choice. Some very good material has been published from this group and for this group from the Police, including material on how to keep out of trouble with the Police that is valuable in different contexts.

Issues

• street violence
• street safety (preventative approach)
• the Which Loo? question (a different issue from that for transsexuals)

Youth

Although this is not an lgbt group, lgbt youth issues should probably be dealt with separately - partly because communication is through gay youth workers and partly because the common issues are those of schools, abuse, violence, graffiti and the whole Section 28 culture. There are good support groups and websites for L, G, B and various T young people that we should tap into.

The gayyouth.com website in the states has a positive section on dating; safety, tell someone trusted who you're going out with, and first date does not entail first sex, etc, etc.

Issues

• abuse in schools, verbal and physical
• lack of basic support and sex education leading to safety issues