Gay police officers facing 'faith-based homophobia' -10/01/06
From Ekklesia
Gay police officers are facing increasing “faith-based homophobia” reports the Times newspaper. A helpline set up for them indicates a rise in homophobic bullying and harassment from other officers. The Gay Police Association (GPA) reports that there has been a 75 per cent increase in calls on its 24-hour action line and gives warning of a rise in “faith-based homophobia” from Christian and Muslim officers.
Vic Codling, the national co-ordinator of the GPA, writes in the latest edition of Police Review that there were 14 cases last year involving homophobia based on religion. The cases included officers who had refused to work with gay officers or were withdrawn from groups discussing equality within forces. Mr Codling said that police managers were unsure of what action to take. He pointed to the Christian Police Association which, he said, as a condition of membership ruled out habitual homosexual activity without repentance.
A spokesman for the Christian Police Association told the magazine: “It is certainly not a condition of membership and we do not ask anyone their sexual orientation when they apply.” Their website however states that "to make a lasting impact on society, Christians need to demonstrate their adherence to biblical ethics". This, for many conservative Christians, implies opposition to homosexuality.
About Me
- CyberKitten
- I have a burning need to know stuff and I love asking awkward questions.
5 comments:
I could better understand their meaness toward gays if we regularly fed them to the lions or something, but really, grow up people! It's not contagious and homophobia is merely a sign of ignorance. I wouldn't think advertising ignorance would be a good way of gaining converts.
VV,
With all due respect, but what part of "It is certainly not a condition of membership and we do not ask anyone their sexual orientation when they apply." was difficult to understand? The rest of the paragraph, which you seemed to have picked up on to the exclusion of this, seems basically to be nothing more than an unsubstantiated assertion of "Well, they're Xian fundies, they *must* be gay bashers, regardless of what they say".
Whilst this would be an interesting story if true, I have to say that the apparent absence of any mention of this story on the websites of either the Gay Police Association or The Times lead one to feel a certain scepticism about the story.
random said: Whilst this would be an interesting story if true, I have to say that the apparent absence of any mention of this story on the websites of either the Gay Police Association or The Times lead one to feel a certain scepticism about the story.
Try - http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1977599,00.html
A 3 second Google search brought that up.
I am homophobiaophobic, I don't trust anyone who is so willing to judge others and invade their lives. I just wrote about this on my blog if you want to check it out.
Gah - good catch, CK. My excuse is I relied on the search engine on The Times' own website, which drew a blank. I should have relied on google. The larger point still stands however.
Post a Comment