Thread by @Matthew_Hodson

When we were dying of AIDS, James Anderton described gay men as 'swirling around in a cesspit of their own making.'
He was emblematic of the policing that led many gay men to view the Police as hostile, so crimes against us went unreported.
It's hard to forgive.

https://twitter.com/gmpolice/status/1522519174635040772

TW - rape.
In 1989 I was beaten and raped while in a gay bar.
I don’t talk about this often because it’s painful.
The thought of reporting this to the Police was instantly dismissed, despite physical evidence.
I did not believe I would be treated with sympathy or fairness.

Even now, I think I made the right, the only choice for my wellbeing.
It haunts me that the man who raped me may have gone on to more such acts.
1000s of crimes against #LGBTQ people went unreported because of clear police hostility towards us.
That’s James Anderton’s legacy.

Throughout the 90s I felt that the police were more likely to harass than to protect me.
My jaw was broken in a homophobic attack in Whitehall in 1990.
A policeman asked if I was gay and then said, ‘Well there’s nothing I can do about it then.’
My attackers were still in sight.

Police failings following the murder of Anthony Walgate meant that his killer claimed three more victims - Gabriel, Daniel and Jack.
The victims families stated, “Our firmly held belief is that the Metropolitan police’s actions were, in part, driven by homophobia.”
#FourLives

While challenges remain, police culture seems to be changing - in no small part due to the work of openly #LGBTQ+ officers.
Some have contacted me sharing their anger about the @gmpolice tweet.
PC @andyluvv wrote about the history of policing and LGBTQ.
news.met.police.uk/blog_posts/lgb…

Post script:
I got into a discussion on this site with an anonymous Police officer account.
He told me:
The LGBTQ community were more homophobic than the Police (provided no evidence)
I should get over being raped (probably true, but not sensitive)
And that there was no… 1/4

…evidence that the investigation into the Stephen Port murders was hampered by homophobia (the inquiry concluded that there were severe failings, resulting in 3 deaths that may have been averted, probably as a result of homophobia).
He didn’t even bother to Google this. 2/4

I have been told he is a real officer.
If I were the victim of a crime now that was linked to my sexuality, I would not trust this person to investigate competently or sensitively.
I know there are officers that do good, incl. #LGBTQ ones, but… 3/4

…it is clear there remains a rich seam of homophobia within the Police force, which will hamper investigations and leave those who commit crimes against LGBTQ people free to offend again.
Whether this is James Anderton’s legacy or he just reflected what persists, who knows? 4/4