Association of lesbian and gay police officers

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The Association of Lesbian and Gay Police Officers (VelsPol) in Germany is a national umbrella organization for lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people in the police force. He also supports victims of violence against the aforementioned groups of people. Furthermore, the members of the association try to break down prejudices within the police and in society. The regional associations with the largest number of members are Velspol Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, Berlin and North Rhine-Westphalia.

history

On July 17, 1994, around 30 lesbian police officers from Germany met for the first time at the Waldschlösschen Academy in Reinhausen in the Göttingen district to exchange experiences with their coming out and the different reactions to their departments. The initiators met at the suggestion of the historian and journalist Jens Dobler from Berlin and the openly gay police officers Jürgen Bugla from Castrop-Rauxel and Lutz Wohlan from Düsseldorf and with financial support from the German Gay Association and the Federal Working Group of Critical Police Officers . They belonged to the most diverse areas of the police (-S-, -K-, administration, Federal Border Police). The executive committee of the police union had expressly canceled.

Many of those appearing were still afraid of discrimination and for their careers if they openly admit their sexual orientation. However, the participants from Berlin already reported about their officially appointed gay officer in the police, who functions both as a contact point for gays and lesbians outside the police and as a self-help facility for police officers.

The first meeting in the Waldschlösschen resulted in working groups of lesbian and gay police officers in several federal states (North Rhine-Westphalia, Hesse, Lower Saxony and Berlin). Over the years, similar groups such as HaPol , AHPol etc. have developed in other federal states . Today, most of the federal states have independent organizations with different legal forms : ( association , [registered] association , interest group and the like). For reasons of a uniform appearance and the improved recognition value, the groups were brought together nationwide in VelsPol and renamed after a few years .

aims

VelsPol Germany wants to achieve a relaxed, unprejudiced way of dealing with lesbians, gays and trans * people within and outside the police force.

Club work

The association's work includes:

  • Further training events at training and further education centers in the police or through our own seminars, e.g. B. in cooperation with the International Police Association (IPA)
  • Participation in public events with information stands
  • Advice to authorities (interior ministries, police authorities, etc.)
  • Participation in studies and scientific surveys
  • Support for lesbian and gay police officers, among other things by listening, talking and exchanging experiences
  • Intervention with authorities and colleagues who do not deal correctly with lesbians and gays
  • Internal public relations
  • Information about discrimination / bullying
  • Promotion of the reputation of the police in public through public appearance and standing up for one's own way of life
  • Participation in the great Christopher Street Day parades in Berlin, Frankfurt, Cologne, Munich and Stuttgart
  • Organization and implementation of the annual national meeting of lesbians and gays in the German police.

Members and Board of Directors

The board of the federal association is made up of representatives from the national associations.

Club successes

Successes include:

  • Participation in the anti-violence campaign "Love deserves respect" by the State Criminal Police Office in North Rhine-Westphalia
  • Change of the passage of the custody order of the police NRW. Until 1999 it was stipulated there that "the violent, the mentally ill, homosexuals and people with contagious diseases are to be kept in individual cells." This passage was deleted due to the intervention of the VelsPol NRW.
  • Acquisition of "contacts for same-sex lifestyles" in the police authorities
  • Standardization of the requirements for the "contact person for same-sex lifestyles"
  • Uncovering the possibility of storing the homosexuality of witnesses, victims and perpetrators in police computers in a search-independent manner. These so-called pink lists were then abolished.
  • As a result of the seminars organized by the association, a group of lesbian / gay police officers was set up in Austria from 2004 onwards, which ultimately formed the "Gaycops Austria" association in Vienna on October 27, 2007 in the presence of a representative from the Austrian Federal Ministry of the Interior. united.

Federal meeting

An annual federal meeting has been held since 1995. The target group of these seminars are predominantly police officers, i. H. Workers, employees and civil servants together with their partners. The meetings have so far taken place in the Waldschlösschen in Göttingen , in the IBZ Schloss Gimborn (Marienheide near Cologne), in the house of the union youth in Oberursel near Frankfurt / Main, in Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Leipzig, Stuttgart and Frankfurt am Main.

The federal meetings are at the same time recognized by the Federal Agency for Civic Education, at which on the one hand external speakers give lectures, but on the other hand various topics are developed by the VelsPol as input for the respective interior ministry. In addition to the seminar and congress character, the needs for the exchange of experiences and informal discussions are taken into account. A coming-out seminar is usually also offered for newcomers and a women's seminar for female colleagues, where the respective experiences can be exchanged.

Comparable clubs

There are models and imitators of such associations around the world. In 2004 the European Gay Cop Network was founded at a Europe-wide symposium in the Netherlands , from which the Eurogay Police Association emerged in April 2005 . This is a registered association based in Apeldoorn , of which VelsPol Germany is a member.

In Europe there is also Flag Asso (France), Gay Police Association (United Kingdom), Gay Polisen (Sweden), Pink in Blue (Netherlands), GaylesPol (Spain), Gay Cops Austria (2005 website, association 2007), Polis Aperta (Italy, 2008), PinkCop (Switzerland, 2008). Globally there are still organizations in Australia ( GALPEN ) and South Africa and in the USA Golden State Peace Officers Association (California, 1985; before that since 1979 Pigs in Paradise ), Gay Officers Action League (GOAL NY, New York, 1982), Gay Officers Action League of New England (GOAL NE, New England, 1991), Florida LEGAL (Law Enforcement Gays And Lesbians, 1999), and Metropolitan Police Department's Gay and Lesbian Liaison Unit (GLLU, Washington, DC, 2000).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Contact person of the Berlin police for same-sex lifestyles ( memento of the original from March 24, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.berlin.de
  2. ^ Deutsche Welle , July 25, 2005
  3. ↑ Police register blocked Thuringia no longer records homosexuality , August 5, 2005