Britain's Spy Service Seeks to Hire Gays

the_syco

[url=http://www.military.com/forums/0,15240,173968,00.html]Military.com[/url] wrote:

As part of an ongoing recruitment drive, MI5 is already wooing women, minorities and people with language skills. The fact that they're now reaching out to Britain's gay community is long overdue, said Peter Tatchell, a London-based gay rights activist.
"Until a decade ago, gay people were seen as a security threat, and as recently as two decades ago, they were being witch hunted and sacked from the security services," he said Monday.
"It was part of the Cold War mentality that saw security threats, traitors, and spies everywhere," he said. "Gay people were regarded as vulnerable to blackmail, even if they were open and out about their sexuality."
Britain had some infamous gay agents during that era, such as Guy Burgess and Anthony Blunt. The two men were caught spying for the Soviet Union.
The spy agency is shaking off its clubby image and becoming more representative of the community it serves, said Ben Summerskill, chief executive officer the gay rights group Stonewall, which publishes a job hunting guide that includes the spy agency as a prospective employer.

When a employer which is not bound by the same rules as everyone else (regarding equality), it does mean something, imo.

ixoy

Yep, it's a small but nice move. Now it'd mean more to me if they now incorporate it into "Spooks" and have a gay agent...

Stark

"Gay spies". I sense a movie coming on.

shay_562

The British Military wrote:

Until a decade ago, gay people were seen as a security threat...

Well, obviously. Homosexuals can't swim, they attract enemy radar, they attract sharks, they nudge people when they're trying to shoot, they always insist on sitting at "The Captain's Table"...they muck about. Imagine the fear when you go to sleep with a gay man on board and think "Oh God, when I wake up, will everyone be dead?" You can't run a ship like that!

Hmm? Oh, right, the topic. It's nice and all, ixoy's totally right about the Spooks thing, but I find it hard to muster too much enthusiasm; it's less that they've done something especially good here, and more that they've stopped being quite so blatantly stupid. Which I guess is still kinda nice for them, in their own special way...

anotherlostie

I was watching the drama "Consenting Adults" on BBC4 last week and Wolfendon's son was being courted by MI5 for the reason that he was gay - no wife, kids etc. to tie him to home, and of course once they knew he was gay, there was no blackmail threat. Now this was in the 50's when a blowjob could get you sent down (so to speak:D) for several years, so this report doesn't seem that newsworthy to me?

L1011

If we believe the world of James Bond, they need agents to be able to tempt and bed any potential target - so of course they're going to need a few gays

markw999

Stark wrote: »

"Gay spies". I sense a movie coming on.

It's called Kiss Me Deadly and stars Robert Gant from queer as folk

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1043839/

CDUK

I am from the UK so will be sending my application in on Monday! (they finish early on fridays - POET'S day - Pi55 Off Early Tomorrow's Saturday!) Mind you they will probably turn me down, the letter will have a Dublin postmark! :eek: