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Ha'aretz - Tel Aviv,Israel
05 July 2007

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'We don't know anyone like tha

Britain's annual Gay Pride parade was held last week. The brief footage of the event broadcast on the news featured the usual colorful pictures, but marching at the head of the procession was a group of uniformed officers from Britain's Gay Police Association. "I only wish it was like that here," an Israeli who is both a police officer and a proud homosexual told Haaretz, requesting anonymity.

"But in the meantime I'm mad at the police - when the Pride march was held in Jerusalem they declared the highest security level, which prevented me from marching in the parade even if I'd wanted to," T. said. He was not at the Jerusalem march, although he has been to nearly every Gay Pride march in Tel Aviv, and many of the officers who made the Jerusalem event possible were gays and lesbians. One asked his commanding officer ahead of time for security detail on the parade, while others were randomly assigned to secure the event.

After speaking with a few officers at national police headquarters, one could infer that as far as they are concerned, "There are almost no gays or lesbians here." In response to a question about their attitude toward gay subordinates, two senior officers in one district said - after they stopped choking - "We don't know anyone like that here." One even explained: "In the police force, we don't really know how to deal with that issue," and said that if he were to discover that one of his detectives was gay, "I might transfer him to a different position, because what would happen if suddenly he has to deal with an investigation that's connected to homosexuals?"

That officer is not an exception in the police, although the current situation is not what it once was. "Ten years ago, when I was a security officer and interviewed potential police recruits, a man sat across from me and announced that he was gay," a former security officer in the police force told Haaretz. "I wrote it on his application, and from my perspective it wasn't a problem. But the field security officer refused to recruit him. He explained that a homosexual could be an extortion risk, because maybe he hadn't told his family about his sexual preferences, and criminals could exploit that." The issue went all the way up the chain of command to the national police chief at the time, who ruled in favor of recruiting the candidate. A number of potential police recruits have been asked in admissions interviews about their sexual preferences.

"In an interview for the officer corps I told the security officer I am a lesbian. Shortly afterward I was called in to my commander, who told me the security officer had informed him that I was a lesbian and recommended that I not be promoted because of it," an officer who nevertheless climbed the police ranks said.

While no official figures are available, of course, there seem to be a considerable number of gays on the force. In certain units, gays and lesbians make up almost half the total. "We created our own 'gangs.' It's not talked about in the police but we find each other, become friendly and even go out together. I estimate that at least 30 percent of us are gay or lesbian," said M., an officer. She, like T., previously served in a local police station and found the situation there much more complicated: "A police station is generally a much more conservative, older environment. Most of the people there didn't know about me, but there was a lot of gossip behind my back and people made comments."

A number of years ago, the commander of one of the small, elite units in the force discovered that one of his subordinates frequented a gay nightclub. "There was a lot of noise, and he wanted to get rid of the officer," an officer familiar with the incident recalled. "It took a lot of time and convincing from the other officers before he realized that the subordinate was a professional and it would be a shame to lose him."

"It's probably easier for a lesbian [than for a gay man] in the police; our commanders see us as us non-threatening, as someone who performs like a man and maybe also as someone who won't marry and have children," says M., who explains that she has not come out as a lesbian for fear that it could affect her chances for promotion.

Dr. Erella Shadmi, Head of Women and Gender Studies at Beit Berl Academic College and a former police chief superintendent, is certain her dismissal from the police force 20 years ago was based on her sexual preferences. "Then, they made my life miserable, but since then the police, like the rest of society, has changed a little," Shadmi said. She agrees that the police force is "more conservative, masculine and sexist" than other workplaces, and says its special character poses particular difficulties for gays and lesbians. "The police is often the officer's second family, and police culture is masculine and heterosexual. Most police officers are family men, with wives and children. All the vacations and activities are based on that."

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Ha'aretz - Tel Aviv,Israel05 July 2007

'We don't know anyone like tha

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Ha'aretz - Tel Aviv,Israel
05 July 2007