I was deeply disappointed to see that the National Union of Students transgender conference recently voted to try to block police from attending Pride events.
The motion ‘No Pride in the Police’ expressed the view that the police were racist, classist and transphobic and said that “many trans people have faced mistreatment and violence at the hands of the police.”
I’m disappointed on a number of levels. Firstly I’m disappointed that the delegates felt the need for this divisive motion rather than working towards a solution. Secondly, I’m disappointed that people still feel marginalised by the police and that the support I see in the forces I work with isn’t filtering down to the public, there’s obviously more work to be done to win back hearts and minds.
As someone that is old enough to remember the bad old days when I was terrified of leaving the house as my true self, not because of attacks by the public but because of the fear that any interaction with the police would lead to me being outed I know how bad the relationship between the police and the trans community has been.
But that was twenty years ago, times change, society has changed and so, I believe, have the police.
I’ve worked with a number of police forces including Sussex, Surrey and Bedfordshire to raise awareness of trans identities and issues and I have met nothing but honesty and support from the officers and staff that I’ve had the honour to work with.
Individual officers may be transphobic, homophobic, racist, islamophobic but to brand all police this way does a massive disservice to the many thousands of officers that are not. We would be outraged if people condemned all LGBT people because of the acts of a few and we must be careful not to do the same to others.
Of course there are still a small minority of officers with bigoted views, the police are part of society and reflect the diversity that exists on our streets, both good and bad. But the overriding impression that I get from the police I meet is of the need to support minority groups and to work together to make society a safer place for everyone.
The world improves when people work together to combat injustices, not when we fight those whose roles are to protect us. The way forward is conversation and inclusivity, not censure and exclusion.