Memories tagged with "police"
Allegations and counter allegations in the police
Bernard talks about what subsequently happened to him after he came out on television. “I used to have a group of Asian kids, in their teens, twenties, chatting to me, etc. After a while the young lads saw through me being gay and saw me for wh...
Backing into the closet in the Police
"I wasn't out in the Police - I found myself going more back in the closet because of the attitude. If anybody was camp or effeminate even if they were straight or married it was picked upon by a few people. I just thought, ‘No, this isn't going t...
Being rebuffed made me realise I was gay
Bernard, born 1958, said he was aware of experiencing same-sex interest in his teens but “Growing up in Catholic Ireland we didn’t know much about gays so I didn’t understand what it was.” Bernard arrived in Birmingham in 1982...
Book: ‘Coming out of the blue’ - 1990
"’Coming out of the blue’ was written in 1990; I remember reading that at the time of joining. In my experience 75 -80 per cent of it was quite negative with the problems that people have (in the Police). It was almost more accepting of women to b...
Co-ordinating the Gay Police Association
Bernard, a police officer, recently outed at work, then talked about the Lesbian and Gay Police Association which was formed in 1990. Bernard said “I heard about it in 91 / 92 and joined as a member. I became the force coordinator, not be...
Dog Sh*t on the lawn
In February 1987 “We held a protest march in Wombourne which staggered the local community; attended by 300 people. The Police filmed the whole event, everyone was photographed, definitely overkill! In the end all the charges were dropped, the ...
Gettting conditioned to the gay scene
Because being gay in the police force wasn’t really acceptable, Bernard initially met the Friend group in a pub in Holloway Head (probably the Greyhound). “It was run by these older gay guys, the idea was to introduce you to the gay scene...
Greyhound Women Fight Back
WOMEN FIGHT BACK – article in ‘Zap’, Issue 1, July 1978 by Helen Rose It was a good night, at the Greyhound, 40 women together, all in high spirits, talking, laughing, joking. One or two new, but most knowing each other. That sort of unhassled atmosp...
Harassment through late teens
Derek describes persistent homophobic harassment and gay bashing from an older boy.“At the age of 15,16, there was an older kid in the street who accused me of being gay, he was 19 and he was a milkman in the area that I went to school in (Kingstandi...
I came out on TV
Bernard explained how he came to ‘come out’ on Crime Stalker in 1996. “Back in 1996 the programme Taggart introduced a gay character; this was the first time an openly gay policeman was on TV. In the Central Region there was this pr...
I was outed in the police
Bernard explained his ‘outing’ in the police. “I probably indirectly came out in the early 90s in the job. I was working with the CID at West Bromwich police station. There was some guy aged 21 in hospital having tried to commit sui...
Joining the Police in 1995 age 23
"My sister told me not to join the Police because she was in the Police and she said it was quite homophobic; this was in 1995. She said ' I wouldn't advise it. I work with people who said 'I wouldn't work with gays’.' I thought I can't let that h...
Keeping the lads out of girls only space
“Women only space was absolutely unheard of, the lads would do everything to get in to the Girls' night at the youth club, they set fire to the doors, they used to break in, my self defence came in very handy, I was very good at kicking behind me and...
Lesbians in Sybil's back yard in Bilston 1960s
Sybil owned a tiny little Black Country pub in Moxley, near Bilston:“All the girls, especially the girls from the Black Country, would go to so they didn’t have to travel into Birmingham. It was all wait in the back yard till the police had gone, and...
Police Training - Gay Issues
"The police training had role-plays where the class would split into two groups. One part would play police officers and the other would play members of the public. They would have these scenarios and have these mock houses. Then they would introd...
Pretty Police Score Again
These front two page articles from 'In The Pink' published in August 1989, highlight the level of police activity against gay men who were Cottaging.PRETTY POLICE SCORE AGAIN!Five men have received fines of £250 (plus costs of £25) at Seisdon magistr...
Senior police officers just paid lip-service
Bernard talks about the reaction of the police force to his coming out on the TV programme Crime Stalker. “At the time I was working at Sparkhill Police Station as an officer, and I told them I was taking part in a Crime Stalker programme and t...
Sensitive policing in the late '80s
Belinda recalls “The Police had a 12 year old boy who had been picked up for cottaging. The police were concerned that he was being exploited by older men and directed him towards the discos at The Matador feeling that this would be a much safer venu...
The National Lesbian Conference London 1981
The first national lesbian conference was in London, in 1981 and I don’t recall there being a second one. The women I went with were a real cross over between the revolutionary feminist group and the Women and Manual Trades group, some weren’t part o...