Gardai to get LGB Group?

damien

http://uk.gay.com/headlines/9595

Lesbian and gay gardai could be on the way to gaining an official recognition in the same vein as the UK’s Gay Police Association (GPA). ay officers within Ireland’s police force are in talks with senior authorities to gain some sort of recognition, according to the Garda official magazine.

LGB gardai believe that more awareness would help tackle anti-gay sentiment and feeling in the force.They want more protection offered to staff who are out, after warning that homophobia is continuing to grow in the force.

“Homophobia is accepted or, at best, unchallenged,” a gay officer told the Garda Review.

azezil

there's something about that which just doesn't sit right with me.

While I fully agree with what they hope to accomplish and I know LGB's do good work in other surroundings, it just doesn't seem to me, to be the right way to go about it in this context...

Hard to explain as I'm not sure why, but as soon as I read the thread title I just thought 'eh, no'. It just looks to me like they're making a little club for the gay members of the force.

damien

Did you actually read the bloody article outlining the reason for such a group? "Hard to explain as I'm not sure why" is a complete lame ass and lazy excuse for being against something.

The article discusses a thing called "homophobia" which you know is endemic in certain organisations. Invisible people have invisible rights. If people are staying closeted in the Gardai out of a result of a homophobic work environment then how do you expect the Gardai as a whole to have any insight about the LGB community. That the Gardai needs an LGB liason officer is enough to show they need someone specialised to understand and get on with a community they're ignorant of.

Yeah, a club for gays, that's what they desire.

Boston

I've read the article and I'm still unsure as to what type of "group" their talking about. Would this be something akin to a college LGBT soc? Have you any more details then those in the article damien.

damien

Yes. I doubt it would be as childish, useless, and drama-filled as a college LGBT soc though.

Boston

Depends on the funding, how it is managed, and who gets involved, really. correct me if I'm wrong here, but such an organisation would have to be very open to be legal, yes? Things like, what they do and who is a member would have to be available to whatever superintendent was in overall charge of the it?

Talliesin

LiouVille wrote:

I've read the article and I'm still unsure as to what type of "group" their talking about. Would this be something akin to a college LGBT soc? Have you any more details then those in the article damien.

In the UK it works more along the lines of providing much the same support as the trade unions' LGBT officers, which can't happen in quite the same way with the police (who don't have the same rights about trade union membership in the UK as other people). In Ireland everyone has the right to join a trade union, but the nature of the Gardai's jobs means that some actions a trade union may choose to engage in aren't considered appropriate (consider the fact that the 'Blue Flu' wasn't a clear-cut strike), so it may still be of benefit.

If nothing else, it does seem like the British group has been helpful.

carbonkid

There already is a type of LGB garda group thats been around for a while. The newspapers got theyre infomation from reports of the gay beatings and that guy been arrested but they took it up wrong thinking they were going to set one up.

Friend of mine who is a garda told me the whole story in the pub over the weekend but i had a few pints on me at that stage so cant remember all the details

ixoy

Certainly seems like a good idea. It's - apparently - been a revelation in the UK. If I recall the Sunday Times correctly a few weeks ago, it's gone from one of the worst work environments for gay people to the best in the country in terms of acceptance and support (when required), ranking alongside the multinationals like IBM.