At the height of the Aids crisis in the 1980s, when hundreds of gay men were suffering slow, agonising deaths, the then-Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police (GMP), James Anderton, denounced gay people as “swirling in a human cesspit of their own making”.
His words were not mere rhetoric. Homophobia informed operational policing. GMP officers were directed to illegally harass gay venues, including the notorious raid by 23 police on Napoleon’s bar in 1984. The membership list, including names and addresses, was illegally seized, and patrons were lined up against the wall and unlawfully photographed. Some had their feet deliberately stamped on.
