Police force hailed as best gay employer

Published on Tuesday 8 January 2008 21:17

THE stereotype of the gay-baiting cop – portrayed by DCI Gene Hunt in BBC1's Life on Mars – is indeed a thing of the past, a survey has shown.

Lothian and Borders Police has been chosen as Scotland's most gay-friendly employer, The Scotsman can reveal.

The force has also become the first employer north of the Border to make it into the top 20 of Stonewall's annual UK list of best employers for lesbian, gay and bisexual people.

The force will today be officially credited by the charity that promotes gay rights for its strenuous efforts to engage with the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual communities, including advertising jobs in gay publications such as Pink News and Base, and at the annual Pride event in London.

The force was also present at last year's Pride Scotia event in Edinburgh. At the previous year's march in Glasgow, nine firemen cited moral grounds for their refusal to hand out leaflets encouraging recruitment from the gay community – leading them to receive "extra training" on diversity issues.

The only other Scottish employer to make Stonewall's 2008 Workplace Equality Index top-100 list is the Scottish Government, which came 51st.

Calum Irving, director of Stonewall Scotland, said: "We congratulate Lothian and Borders Police on their fantastic achievement.

"They have made tackling homophobia in the workplace a priority and showed that, with will and leadership, any workplace can be made a positive environment where lesbian, gay and bisexual staff can thrive alongside 'straight' colleagues."

He added: "Some people may be surprised to learn a police force is Scotland's most gay-friendly employer, but this shows things have moved on from the Life on Mars stereotype."

In 2006, the force launched a pioneering "sexual orientation monitoring" initiative, which led 14 of its 2,800 officers to report that they were gay or lesbian. But it is likely that many more gay and lesbian officers remained silent.

Tom Halpin, deputy chief constable, said: "To come out of this as the top employer in Scotland demonstrates the effort put into this by all staff members across the force."