UK police force accused of 'LGBT bias' after town Pride event

A UK police force has come under fire for supporting Pride events, with a judicial review arguing that officers cannot claim impartiality when dealing with disputes over transgender rights. Sarah Phillimore, barrister and co-founder of the Fair Cop organisation, said Wiltshire Police's involvement with Swindon's summer Pride event, where staff members ran a stall, exposed a lack of neutrality. The judicial review lodged against the force's Chief Constable for alleged breach of duty to remain impartial follows a similar case brought against Northumbria Police earlier this year.

The High Court concluded over the summer that the force's support for transgender rights, including displaying flags on its vehicles in a show of solidarity, risked raising doubts about "fairness and impartiality".

Mr Justice Linden said: "It is not hard to imagine circumstances in which the officers in question might be called on to deal with a clash between gender-critical people and supporters of gender ideology, and therefore situations where the former had cause for concern as to whether they were being dealt with impartially."

Although the ruling was specific to the Northumbria force, it has emboldened campaigners such as Ms Phillimore to seek similar action elsewhere, especially where it pertains to uniformed officers expressing views on contentious issues.

James Gardner, of Conrathe Gardner LLP, speaking on behalf of Ms Phillimore, said Wiltshire Police had "lent their full support" to this summer's Swindon Pride event, "with a stall run by staff members wearing police T-shirts with Pride motifs and Progress lanyards, displaying Pride and Progress flags and handing out Pride stickers to the public", The Telegraph reports.

Amid growing national and global tension over transgender rights, driven by a mix of political polarisation and fundamental disagreements over biological sex versus gender identity, Mr Gardner suggested that the display had implied that "the police support trans causes".

"Pride is a political cause and Wiltshire Police should not be supporting it," he added. "They need to be called to account for this unlawful conduct."

Superintendent Conway Duncan insisted in a previous interview that the force only attended the event as part of an "official policing response".

He told local media: "A policy decision was made that on-duty attendance at the Swindon and Wiltshire Pride march was only permitted for officers and staff where it forms part of the official policing response. Our officers were rightly undertaking their roles - including community engagement - in a visible capacity both inside and outside the event."

A spokesman for Wiltshire Police said: "We are responding to a claim regarding our involvement in Swindon and Wiltshire Community Pride events. As this is an ongoing legal challenge, it would be inappropriate to comment further at this stage."