A lesbian police sergeant is suing the British Transport Police alleging her fellow officers showed hostility after she fought to have her girlfriend assigned to the same shift, according to the Advocate.
Sergeant Jasmine Stewart and her partner Mhairi Gilchrist were allowed to work together at Ashford Police Station in 2006 after Stewart threatened to file a grievance procedure. However, she was told by Inspector Terry Reene that, "People here wouldn't like it, you two being a couple."
Stewart is accusing her force of "institutional homophobia" for originally refusing to let her girlfriend work on the same shift as her.
Stewart, who has been working for the department since 2005, insists that the couple was sexually discriminated against, saying they were the butt of jokes for being lesbians and the decision to allow them to work together prompted hostility from other officers.
She claims that her colleagues showed ongoing antagonism toward their relationship and made homophobic remarks. So she filed a suit charging discrimination based on her gender and sexual orientation; it is currently being heard in an Ashford court.??
According to the Daily Telegraph, Stewart said, "There were comments made on a daily basis like 'I don't know why you want to go to one of those meetings - it's for the poofs'."
Benjamin Uduje, representing the force, said that the request to work together had initially been turned down because it was thought to be inappropriate that two officers in a relationship should work so closely together.
He added that the force had always accepted Stewart's sexuality and that there was no "culture of homophobia." Stewart was moved to tears at one point in court this week, the Telegraph reports. The case is continuing and Stewart was formerly dismissed from the force in April 2009, allegedly on the grounds of non-attendance.
|
"different from them. I'll will miss Oprah dearly. She has been very vocal about LGBTQI people. I'll..."
[view article]