Usefully Employed

MI5 has hired Stonewall to advise it on recruitment of more staff from an LGBT background*. This is very sensible - some always react to this sort of news to ask why this sort of campaign is necessary if the employer is already practicing equal opps. In fact, it’s a very sensible move for any ‘establishment’ organisation to widen the field of suitable candidates and increase the quality of your hires - especially in a field such as this where the budgets will have gone up, but the amount of applicants may have stayed the same.

Also key is the amnesty (although it’s not called this) to gay current operatives. The key thing (as I understand it!) with security-cleared staff is that they’re no longer penalised or regarded with suspicion for their sexual orientation, but they are expected to confess all at their security interviews. As the Times article notes, those who have covered up their sexuality from a time when it was forbidden may still be covering it up to hide the fact that they have lied in the past. As the objective of the disclosure is to identify and prevent the possibility of blackmail or threats of exposure, allowing these people to come clean without repercussion was in important and sensible move.

This news follows on from the similarly positive news on the Army becoming a diversity champion.

And less we become complacent, read some of the idiotic comments at the foot of the Times article to see how dangerously small minded some have become.

*Footnote here - I am increasingly seeing the abbreviation LGBTQI, with the last two letters standing for ‘queer’ and ‘intersex’. Intersex as distinct from trans I can start to grasp, but how is queer different to L, G and B? No doubt someone out there can shed light on it, please let me know.

**EDIT:- One of the non-idiotic Times commenters points out Maurice Oldfield, who successfully became head of SIS / MI6 in 1973. Despite a distinguished career his security clearance was revoked when his homosexuality emerged.