About us 

Sexual orientation

Thames Valley Police is committed to tackling discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. Sexual orientation is one of our ‘six strands of diversity’.

We were announced as one of the UK’s top 100 employers of gay people in an index published in January. Thames Valley Police was ranked 48th in Stonewall’s 2009 Workplace Equality Index.

Stonewall is a charitable organisation which campaigns and lobbies for equality for gay men, lesbians, and bisexual people. Stonewall has produced the ranking every year since 2005.

What is homophobia?

Homophobia is a fear or hatred of homosexuals or homosexuality. It can result in prejudice against gay and lesbian members of the community.

Homophobia can happen at home, in schools, on the street, and in the workplace. It can come from someone you know or a complete stranger.

Examples of homophobic incidents

• Verbal abuse and physical assaults.
• Damage to property outside gay venues.
• Burglary, sometimes including graffiti.
• Attacks where the offender’s actions or words display a homophobic motive.
• Incidents were heterosexual people who are mistaken for homosexual or bisexual people are subjected to homophobic abuse, harassment or attacks.
• Domestic abuse in a heterosexual setting (for example, if a husband beats his wife having discovered that she is a lesbian).

How we deal with homophobic incidents

Police define a homophobic incident as one that appears to any person to be motivated by homophobia.

Thames Valley Police seeks to:

• Deal promptly and effectively with reported incidents of homophobia.
• Work in partnership with members of, and groups within, the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community and partner agencies to provide an effective problem-solving approach.
• Provide the necessary training to increase awareness among Force members of homophobia issues.
• Make sure that an appropriate level of sensitivity is applied to police inquiries.
• Reduce homophobic incidents.
• Reassure lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people that we are committed to providing an effective response to their requests for police assistance.