A bisexual cop who keeps her sexuality secret because of homophobic banter in her detachment. A lesbian officer who felt compelled to quit her job after coming out of the closet. A transgender cop who never noticed misogyny in his force until he entered the men’s locker room.
They are among 21 LGBT police officers interviewed in a landmark new study highlighting the struggles of queer police in Ontario. It is the first piece of Canadian research to explore the lives of gay cops.
And while Ontario police forces have come a long way since the Toronto bathhouse raids of 1981, many gay officers said they believe police culture is fundamentally “conservative,” “unaccepting,” and “an old boys’ network.”
“Until 20 or 30 years ago openly gay officers were a real anomaly,” said research author Joe Couto, who works for the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police as the director of government relations and communications. “Policing is only now coming to grips with serving that community and including them in police organization.”
Couto’s thesis study, published through Royal Roads University, drew on sit-down interviews with 21 LGBT cops from across Ontario. He also analyzed the wording of police mottos, policies and business plans and looked at how involved police leaders were in the gay community.
Many findings came as a surprise. Some lesbian cops felt more easily accepted in the “macho” culture than gay male cops, some reported hearing derogatory comments and jokes on a daily basis, and many lesbian cops felt they had to “prove themselves” as both women and LGBT officers.
Out of 16 police forces assessed in the study, Toronto Police stood out as a leader in supporting LGBT officers. Toronto Police have made efforts to recruit from the gay community and have built an internal support network for LGBT cops. In 2005, Bill Blair became the first Toronto police chief to walk in the Pride parade.
There have been hiccups. In 2008, a lesbian police officer filed a harassment complaint against Toronto Police Staff Inspector Steve Izzett over allegations that he tried to “convert” her to heterosexuality and sexually harassed her at work. Disciplinary hearings later found Izzett guilty of sexual harassment and ordered his dismissal. (Izzett quit the force the day the final verdict was read.)
When it comes to identity, gay officers are in a bit of a limbo between the image of a prototypical cop and their sexual identity, Couto said.
“They want to be a tough law enforcer but they don’t want to give up who they are, and that’s fundamentally where they’re trying to figure it out. They’re trying to figure out how to be a gay cop and the cop that other cops will say, ‘Yeah, I want them on (my) platoon,’ ” Couto said.
Officers in the study recounted numerous incidents of homophobia at work.
One bisexual officer said, “I hear it, their derogatory comments on a regular basis. I think the police culture tolerates it.” She remains in the closet at work.
A transgender officer said he found it easier after he transitioned from female to male because “you’re joining the boys’ club.” He added that he didn’t realize “how misogynistic it (the culture) was until I became a boy.”
A gay male officer said, “People say stuff to fit in whereas they actually don’t believe what they’re saying. It’s stuff that they say to fit into the policing culture.” A lesbian senior officer said she didn’t apply for positions in a unit because of an experience involving derogatory comments made by a male officer.
Moving away from a hyper-masculine culture can be a steep challenge, and Couto said it starts with one person: the chief.
“The only reason we have locker room mentalities is because we allow them to happen. If leaders don’t allow that, if other officers don’t allow that, you’re going to cut that down and LGBT officers are going to have a much better workplace experience,” he said.
Many officers expressed a belief that police leadership has made progress in accepting and fostering LGBT officers across the province. It’s a change that often comes when younger, open-minded officers join policing, Couto said.
He hopes his research will spark new conversations in both academia and Canadian police forces.
“I fully expected I’d be building on other research, but there was nothing to build on. That’s why I took the approach of letting officers speak for themselves,” Couto said. “The real important factor is listening to those officers and what they say. If we do that I think we can address their needs.”
