Police chief won't say sorry for force's past homophobia

The Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police has refused to apologise to the LGBT+ community for historic homophobia in the force.

- AMY-CLARE MARTIN CRIME CORRESPONDENT

Campaigners said it was an “insult” after 21 other forces have issued formal apologies over their past conduct, adding that Greater Manchester Police (GMP) was “involved in some of the most extreme unlawful victimisation of LGBTs by any UK force”.

Human rights charity the Peter Tatchell Foundation first issued calls to all forces to say sorry for “decades-long victimisation” of the LGBT+ community in June 2023.

However, in a recent letter, seen by The Independent, its Chief Constable, Stephen Watson, declined to “accede to your request for a general apology”, adding it could be seen as “superficial and merely performative” and could “unfairly impugn” the service of past officers.

The director of the foundation, Peter Tatchell, who was this week named in The Independent’s Pride List 2025 for his gay rights activism, said: “This refusal to apologise is an insult to the LGBT+ community, who suffered so much at the hands of the Manchester police in decades past.”

Mr Tatchell has this week written to CC Watson, appealing once again for him to apologise – noting the troubling history of the force under the late Chief Constable Sir James Anderton in the 1980s. At the height of the Aids crisis, Mr Anderton said gay men were “swirling about in a human cesspit of their own making”, resulting in calls for his resignation.