Transgender police officer raises LGBTQ rainbow flag for the first time
A police force in Australia has celebrated its LGBTQ workplace by raising a rainbow flag in an inaugural ceremony.
In a moving moment on Tuesday, transgender Constable Mairead Devlin raised the flag outside Queensland police headquarters in Brisbane for the first time in history.
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"I felt humbled and proud," Devlin told the Courier Mail. "I'm very glad to have been given the opportunity to have raised it today. From the day I came out, [police] management have been very supportive."
The flag-raising ceremony is to show the police force's support for inclusion and diversity to the public. It is also a gesture to make the LGBTQ community feel protected in their community.
"As an organisation and as a state, we have come a long way over the past few decades. It is important to ensure people have both the confidence to be themselves and the confidence that their police will look out for them," Acting Deputy Commissioner Mike Condon said in a statement.
It is the latest in a bunch of initiatives by the Queensland police, with members also marching in their uniforms in Brisbane's Pride Festival last year and the setting up of an LGBTQ support network within the force.
The move follows various Australian states apologising to the LGBTQ community. New South Wales government and police force said sorry for their ill treatment of people attending Australia's first Mardis Gras parade. While in February, the state of Victoria apologised for historic laws that criminalised homosexuality.
Onwards and upwards, Australia, one flag at a time.
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