Negotiating Diversity: Discrimination Experience of Queer Police Officers and Their Struggle for Justice in the Police Force
Against this background, this study not only analyzes the formal institutional efforts to promote gender equality and diversity, but also the subjective experiences of discrimination within the police, revealing how these experiences contrast with well-sounding organizational mission statements.
Methodologically, guided and narrative interviews are used which are analyzed with the Grounded Theory Methodology. Theoretically, this study draws on Pierre Bourdieu’s praxeological theoretical framework to analyze inequality and discrimination against the background of power struggles within a given social field as well as in relation to other social fields, e.g. the government, law and media. Neo-institutional concepts are used to enrich this theoretical embedding.
Preliminary findings indicate that discrimination persists in more covert, less visible forms. However, this development challenges both the identification of such discrimination by affected individuals and efforts to sensitize colleagues, thereby complicating attempts to foster a truly inclusive, diverse police force.
Queer police officers, in particular, navigate unique tensions between their identity within the LGBTQ+ community—historically in conflict with law enforcement bodies—and their professional loyalty. This tension is exacerbated by the police's framing of internal criticism and activism as threats to the institution, limiting queer officers' ability to advocate for meaningful change.
This research contributes to a critical understanding of justice by interrogating whose knowledge and experiences are prioritized within state institutions. In the context of the Anthropocene, where social, environmental, and institutional sustainability are intertwined, examining these power dynamics offers insights into the barriers to achieving justice in both human and institutional relations.