The Rainbow Organisation of the Finnish Police: Our work is recognised, but not all of our LGBTIQ+ colleagues are ready to join
This interview was originally published in September 2020 in Finnish. The Finnish version of the interview is available in the FIBS blog archive.
June is Pride Month to celebrate the LGBTIQ+ community. However, for sexual minorities work life can still be far from celebrating differences. Everyday life may instead be marked by concealment, silence and fear of discrimination. The Police Rainbow organisation was born out of a desire to influence the culture prevailing in the police. We met the founder of the organisation, Linnea West, who shared with us her experiences and thoughts about setting up an LGBTIQ+ network in the police.
Jonna Louvirier (J.L): Linnea, you are a board member of the European LGBTIQ+ Police Association and the founder of the new Police Rainbow organisation. How did you end up setting up a rainbow organisation for the police?
Linnea West (L.W): It all started with me being annoyed by how men from sexual minorities were talked about, the tone was often discriminating. For example during coffee breaks I have heard completely inappropriate jokes about gay men. Even though I have been openly homosexual at work from the very beginning, the persons telling the jokes did not think that they might offend me. At the time I didn’t show my frustration, but the difficult position of gay men in the police sticked with me.
It has always been important to me to underline that I do not do this for myself. This organisation is valuable only if others find the work we do important. And while I in the beginning mainly saw discrimination related to male homosexuals, along the way it has become clear that women have also experienced many difficult situations.
J.L: How have people reacted to the birth of the organisation?
L.W: We have gotten a lot of positive feedback and so many people have gotten involved that it’s clear that there is an audience for whom our work is important. But we have also received messages from people who have said that although they belong to the LGBTIQ+ minority, and while they see our work as valuable, they are not joining us yet. Many are still observing: they want to check how we manage and how people will react. And then there are those who are not on board with this. I have for example been told that I should not make this into an issue, that I should just let things be because compared to before, things are quite okay now. So they think that we should just be quiet and happy, and be grateful for how things are now.
J.L: So a person belonging to a sexual minority may think that it is more useful to stay silent?
L.W: Yes. Many have invested a lot in their careers by studying and working for years. Now that the situation is quite tolerable, and they feel they can manage, there is a fear that with this type of coming out one would wreck everything one has worked for. People who fear this assume that their colleagues would not accept them, that the organisation wouldn’t accept them. They have accepted that these topics should not be publicly discussed. To me it seems that many people still think that homosexuality can be accepted, but only as long as it is not talked about.
J.L: Research shows that LBGTIQ+-positive organisations are more productive. Is this something you recognise in Finnish work life?
L.W: On some level it is probably discussed and people are somewhat aware of the topic, but none of this is yet visible in practice. After all, a productive employee is someone who is doing well and who trusts their organisation. Team spirit and belonging to an organisation is built on knowing each other. But if a person has to hide their sexuality, then they cannot mention anything about their family, who they live with, or even talk about their vacations: because someone might ask who they spent it with. If an organisation’s culture is open and people feel good at work, their performance will be better.
We are not that far yet. Many good things have been done in the police and the National Police Board really wants to promote these things. The challenge at the moment is creating real change, for example in the local police. Plans and guidelines alone will not help if change is not driven through on a practical level.
J.L: How do you see the role of Rainbow Police in this work? What are the main goals of your organisation?
L.W: We have a two-part goal: to promote equality among police personnel and to improve civil protection. In my opinion, improving staff equality is a far-reaching issue. For example, our work can have a positive impact on police families. By gaining positive examples in work life of the LGBTIQ+ community, our heterosexual collegues will hopefully be better able to support their children if they come out as homosexual. This way we are not just having an impact on those who work in the police, but also on their families and those close to them.
Our second goal is to increase people’s confidence in the police. At the moment, many hate crimes go unreported, and one of the reasons is that there is a lack of confidence in the police handling minority issues in an unprejudiced way. Our goal is that everybody will feel safe telling the police that they belong to a minority.
J.L: These are really important goals. But in principle, these are also things that are central to the National Police itself and would be its management’s responsibility. Who should do these things and what role can a group of minority workers play in relation to the whole Police organisation?
L.W: That’s a good question. We have a working group on equality and non-discrimination in the Police Board, and people who are working on this topic. What we as an employee resource group can bring is efficiency. It is not yet well known what kinds of problems minority employees face. It can be really difficult for a minority employee to discuss their own experiences, especially with management. We can gather experiences from people and bring them up and into the discussions in an anonymous manner. My goal is for us as an ERG to be an important and valuable partner.
At the same time, it is important to remember that the promotion of equality cannot be the minority’s responsibility. The employer has an important role to play in making it clear that discrimination is in no way acceptable in the workplace. Even if no one is publicly homosexual at the workplace, the atmosphere must support equality. The same goes for immigrants and racism. It doesn’t matter who sits at the coffee table. The conversation must always be such that anyone can join without feeling discriminated against.
Linnea West was interviewed by Includia’s CEO Jonna Louvrier. Louvrier has over 10 years of experience on D&I research in Finland, France and USA.
