The Peter Tatchell Foundation has urged the Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, and the Chief Constable, Stephen Watson, to issue “a formal apology for decades of abusive, homophobic policing that devastated the lives of LGBT+ people.”
In a letter sent on 16 April, human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell acknowledged Manchester’s more inclusive and supportive policies today but condemned the force’s historic persecution of LGBT+ people as “some of the most vicious and aggressively homophobic in Britain.”
Tatchell cited the 1980s tenure of Chief Constable James Anderton, who openly denounced gay men as “swirling around in a cesspit of their own making” and orchestrated a campaign of harassment, entrapment and humiliation. Victims were beaten, arrested for kissing, and outed in the press—leading to prison, fines, job losses, evictions and suicide attempts.
The Foundation is not asking the police to apologise for enforcing now-repealed homophobic laws, but to say sorry for the “abusive and often unlawful manner” in which these laws were enforced.
“Raiding gay birthday parties, using homophobic slurs and harassing and bashing people outside gay pubs—these tactics would never be acceptable today,” said Tatchell.
“So far, 21 UK police forces have apologised for similar past wrongs, including the Metropolitan Police, Police Scotland and Merseyside Police. Their apologies have been followed by new LGBT+ action plans, including the appointment of LGBT+ community liaison officers and the establishment of homophobic hate crime hotlines. These apologies and new supportive LGBT+ policies have much improved relations between the police and the LGBT+ community.”
“Mayor Burnham and the Chief Constable were not responsible for the past homophobic abuses,” Tatchell said, “but as people with oversight of the police, they have the power—and duty—to help make amends. A formal apology would be an important act of healing. It would boost in trust and confidence in the police, and encourage more LGBTs to report hate crimes, domestic violence and sexual assaults,” said Tatchell.
