A sincere apology by West Midlands Police’s new chief for decades of discrimination and persecution by officers towards gay, bi, lesbian and trans people is a vital moment of ‘courage’, Birmingham Pride director Lawrence Barton said today. But he admitted he still feels a frisson of fear when he reaches for his husband’s hand in public in his home city, uncertain if the act might trigger insults or even violence from homophobes. “True equality still feels a long way off,” he said. READ MORE: West
Midlands Police chief says ‘sorry’ to LGBTQ community for ‘historic harm’ Mr Barton spoke out after the force’s acting Chief Constable Scott Green publicly apologised for historic mistreatment of LGBTQ+ people and communities. As revealed by BirminghamLive, Green issued a long letter describing the role played by officers in the years up to 2003, when being gay was finally decriminalised. He wrote: “I recognise laws were historically wrongly used to proactively target members of the LGBTQ+ community, in particular gay and bi-sexual men, and that
this ruined lives having a lasting negative impact. “As a result, people did not feel they could be open to be who they were or about the people they loved for fear they would be arrested and sent to prison. “This was completely wrong and for this I would like to extend a sincere apology for any recent and historic injustices and discrimination that members of LGBTQ+ communities in the West Midlands have faced.” Read the letter in full here Barton, 52, who has campaigned
for the apology for years, said: “It’s moved me tremendously to hear the chief of the West Midlands Police force do what his two immediate predecessors did not – which is to finally acknowledge the hurt and harm done. “It’s a really emotional moment. It acknowledges the horrific brutality that the LGBT community went through, for decades, at the hands of West Midlands Police officers. “Their experiences can never be changed or erased. Lives were ruined as a result of the law and the way
the police acted. “For this to be acknowledged for the first time by the police has taken courage, it is a really powerful step and message that we in our community have fought for over many years.” The spectre of homophobia still looms large amid rising hate crimes in Birmingham and the West Midlands region, though, said Mr Barton. Equality for same sex relationships and LGBTQ+ people might now be enshrined in UK law, but homophobia still casts a long shadow, he added. “We still
have a long way to go to achieve true equality,” he said. “But today is a really important, historic day, and we need to be positive.” Two previous chief constables of West Midlands Police – Sir Dave Thompson and Craig Guildford – were both asked to make the same apology but made excuses not to do so, said Mr Barton. READ MORE: Birmingham Pride’s full statement as they accept ‘significant’ apology from police chief It is a testament to Scott Green that he has now
done so, and it is a testament too to the members of our community who have fought for this, he said. He said he was one of those growing up gay in the period from 1970s to 2003 who faced hostility and laws that victimised them for their sexuality. Before 2003, when homosexuality was ‘decriminalised’, gay people in the UK faced severe institutional discrimination. Homosexual acts were only partly decriminalized in 1967, and gay people endured unequal ages of consent, a ban on military service,
widespread workplace discrimination, and Section 28 was a legal gag order on LGBTQ+ education in schools. Thousands of men were arrested and convicted under laws criminalising “gross indecency” up until the Sexual Offences Act 2003, while gay, lesbian, and bisexual people were legally barred from serving in the UK Armed Forces until the year 2000. People who were found out to be gay could be fired from their job indiscriminately without breaking the law until 2003. Said Mr Barton: “When I came out at the
age of 18, I fell in love with a man who I have now been with for over 30 years and has been my husband now for 24 years. “But back in the 1990s I could not openly be with him. We were breaking the law because the age of consent was 21, so by law we were not allowed to love each other. “Police officers did awful things to trap gay people and to expose them, it was incredibly wrong. “Many people are still
living with the trauma of what they lived through in the 1970, 80s, 90s and 2000s. The scepticism and mistrust you see from many LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bi, trans, queer people) towards the police now is rooted in those experiences and behaviours. “Police would literally seek to out and entrap gay men and ruin lives.” Asked if things had improved since then, Mr Barton said equality was now enshrined in law and much had got better for LGBTQ+ people. But true equality still felt a
long way off in the UK. “I was born in Birmingham and even now I would still not feel safe walking through the city holding hands with my husband. “Equality is not just about being able to legally marry or be together in the eyes of the law. It is about acceptance and safely being able to express love openly. Sadly we are not there yet. We are nowhere near that point in our city; I fear we have many more years to go.” He
added that the fight for equality persists. “Globally, LGBTQ+ people are still persecuted. Three quarters of the countries of the Commonwealth have anti-LGBTQ laws. You can be imprisoned or killed for being gay in many parts of the world because of faith or cultural ideas.” As recently as the last local elections held across the West Midlands, homosexuality was still being used as a line of attack against people and parties, including by prominent community influencers. “Some individuals were saying disgraceful things,” he added. “It
shows the Pride movement and mission is still needed.” Police and Crime Commissioner Simon Foster has also been lobbying for today’s act of contrition by West Midlands Police. He said: “I welcome West Midlands Police’s decision to apologise for the role it played in contributing to historic discrimination and victimisation experienced by LGBTQ+ communities. This discrimination and victimisation was of course also reflected in wider society and was not exclusive to policing. “However, for too many years, members of the LGBTQ+ community were let down
by policing. People who should have been protected and supported instead faced discrimination, prejudice, victimisation and, in some cases, criminalisation simply for being who they were. It is right that these wrongs and injustices are acknowledged openly and honestly.” He added: “I called for this apology because building trust and confidence requires us to confront difficult truths about our history. Policing by consent depends on strong relationships with all communities and that essential trust can only be strengthened through accountability, openness and a commitment to
learning from the past.”
Birmingham Pride, West Midlands Police apology, Scott Green, Lawrence Barton, LGBTQ+ equality, hate crimes, homophobia, Birmingham, policing by consent