Statement by TUV MP Jim Allister:
“Having been the only public representative to publicly challenge the PSNI on the planned training for LGBT officers to assist them in promotion examinations, I welcome the climb down on the issue which we have learned of today.
“It should have been obvious from the off that the plan was, as the PSNI email reported by the Nolan Show this morning says, “exclusionary” and did “not create a one team environment”. Why therefore was it ever permitted to get off the ground in the first place?
“We also need to know if, as the PSNI claims, they contacted the Equality Commission about the issue or if it was the other way around. If, as appears to be the case, it was the latter that raises serious issues about equality within the PSNI. Why would they need the outside policing body when it comes to equality issues to highlight something so blatantly obvious to them? Is there a culture within the PSNI which fears challenging the LGBT Network on anything? Hopefully this sorry episode will mark the end of special treatment for the LGBT Network or indeed any group within the PSNI.”