MPA considers joining Stonewall equality scheme

The Metropolitan Police Authority will on Thursday consider whether to join Stonewall’s Diversity Champion Scheme to support and promote sexual orientation diversity in the workplace.

Possible membership is one of a number of issues under consideration as the MPA holds a diversity meeting with the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community. Other key issues are under-reporting of homophobic crime through lack of confidence in the police, LGBT recruitment and retention in the Metropolitan Police Service, training of police officers on LGBT issues and same sex domestic violence.

The MPA’s Kirsten Hearn commented: “Recent well-publicised hate crimes against LGBT people are just the tip of the iceberg, hiding the unpalatable reality that verbal and physical abuse and bullying for sexual orientation still exist in our ‘tolerant’ society. There is a lethargy of silence which breeds ignorance and, as a leading public authority, we are working actively to break this stalemate.”