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Brian Paddick
Brian Paddick
When Brian Paddick held office as the Deputy Assistant Commissioner in London's Metropolitan Police Service he was the most senior openly gay police o
"I am a strange dilemma, between someone who is quite soft and gets emotional, and then Iââ¬â¢ve got this tough inner core. Iââ¬â¢m still standing, Iââ¬â¢m still fighting."
Do you still have your police uniform?
No! We didn’t leave on very good terms, I was the only senior officer opposed to ID cards and detention of terrorist suspects for long periods without being charged.I fell out with them over the shooting of that innocent Brazilian at Stockwell. I understand the police have to sometimes use fatal force, but someone has to be held to account for it - and no-one has been held to account for killing Jean Charles De Menezes. I was really hopeful for Ian Blair – he was supposed to be the most liberal commissioner we’ve ever had, but he needed a strong Mayor behind him saying ‘we are not going to put up with sexism, racism, homophobia in the police’
Is the gay ‘tag’ a mixed blessing?
In Lambeth my superior had doubts about installing me there, due to supposed Afro-Caribbean homophobia. When he considered taking me out, there were 300 local people at a meeting demanding my reinstatement. There was a 5,000 signature petition handed in to Scotland Yard. I bet then, he was wishing there was more homophobia. The fact is, you get in, you do a decent job, they know you’re a good guy, and your sexuality fades into the background.
Have you ever been a victim of homophobia?
I take issue with Matthew Parris’ view that gays have ‘never had it so good’ – I’ve been walking along the street hand in hand with my boyfriend – white van drives by sounding his horn and you look and he’s doing the ‘w****r’ sign. There is still much homophobia and racism in this city. As soon as we ease off, things will start going backwards. We have to keep up the fight.
How do you tackle homophobia?
David and I were supporting the Gay and Lesbian Awards, which had a mixed history, but the idea behind it was celebrating gay people who have been successful in their field – commerce, industry, public sector etc. Not hairdressers or designers, people who have succeeded in the mainstream. People have this stereotype that needs to be broken. We need to get away from this idea that gays are weak and effeminate, and only do particular jobs. We are successful in every field of life. To have had a gay mayor would’ve be such a shock to stereotypes that it would even have got homophobes thinking about ‘Well hang on a minute, maybe I’ve got this wrong’.
Where there any moments in your career when the personal attacks got too much and you wanted to pack it all in?
Friends said to me, you’ve done your bit now, but I couldn’t let them beat me. I had to do it for myself, and for the LGBT community. These were homophobic attacks and I couldn’t let down the men and women who would have a worse deal if I had just let them walk over me. I also have great parents who have given me a great set of genes which mean I can string a sentence together, and I do have that backbone which allows me to fight. I am a strange dilemma, between someone who is quite soft and gets emotional, and then I’ve got this tough inner core. I’m still standing, I’m still fighting.
What made you be so openly gay in the forces?
I wanted to improve the relationship between the gay community and the police. There is a senior officer who understands you. It was also to provide a positive role model, to show other gay and lesbian police officers to say look you can be gay, and you can still reach a senior position. We have to encourage LGBT people to aspire to the senior positions - we are just as capable as any other community.
Will we have a gay Prime Minister in our lifetime?
The difficulty is that there are probably lots of gay MPs but there are a lot of people still concerned about coming out. Every time we reach a more senior position, the more chance there is of the next LGBT person going even further.
What would you advise to a young person struggling with the idea of ‘coming out’?
If you try and be something that you’re not, people pick that up. Being able to be yourself, completely yourself, including your sexuality, is very liberating. People feel comfortable in your company because they know you are being yourself. Second, there is a difficulty with parents. My dad reacted very badly, not in an angry way, more in a devastated way. And yet, after a few months if I came round without my partner he would want to know where he was.
Tell us about your friendship with Elton John…
I met David through my ex, which led to meeting Elton. I’ve met him on half a dozen occasions. Both David and Elton like me and think I am competent. Then the Evening Standard put on their front page that I was thinking of running for mayor, and I got a text from David - it was August and I was in Tenerife - and he said ‘please stand for Mayor, we’ll support you’! I didn’t approach them and say ‘will you be my celebrity backers’ – they have been friends of mine for a long time.
Are there a legion of Brian Paddick fans out there?
The number of Facebook friend requests I’ve had since I ran for Mayor…the number of times I’ve had to say ‘thank you very much, but I don’t think my boyfriend would approve!’ We did a Hello!-type photo shoot over the summer, and without me knowing it they sold one of the pictures to the Standard, and apparently the reaction from gay men and straight woman was very positive!
