Manchester police insulted, harassed, bashed & outed LGBTs for decades
London – 17 September 2025
Andy Burnham
Mayor of Greater Manchester
Office of the Mayor
Dear Mayor Burnham,
Request for a Mayoral apology for Greater Manchester Police’s historic persecution of LGBT+ people
Further to our previous correspondence on 16 April 2025:
We are writing to you with deep disappointment concerning the refusal of the Chief Constable of Greater Manchester, Stephen Watson, to apologise on behalf of his force for its past homophobic witch-hunts.
See attached our reply to Stephen Watson over his refusal to say sorry.
It took the Chief Constable almost two years and two reminders to even reply to our letters. He only responded at all after we publicly raised the issue with your office and the Manchester media in April. Even then, his eventual response that month refused to apologise and instead misrepresented what we had asked for.
We never sought to condemn all police officers, nor to diminish the service many have given. Nor did we complain about police enforcing the law; only that some officers victimised LGBTs with insults, outings and unlawful threats and violence – with impunity and no rebuke by successive Chief Constables.
Our sole request has been a formal apology for the abusive and illegal actions of GMP officers, such as under the leadership of James Anderton in the 1980s. They terrorised LGBT+ communities.
An apology has been made by 21 other Chief Constables across the UK. If they can acknowledge the truth, why can’t Greater Manchester Police?
The facts are clear and cannot be denied:
- Chief Constable Anderton publicly smeared gay men dying during the AIDS crisis as “swirling in a human cesspit of their own making.”
- GMP officers raided and harassed gay venues, including the notorious Napoleon’s raid in 1984, where patrons were unlawfully photographed, intimidated, assaulted and in some cases outed—costing them their jobs and safety.
- The New Union, the Rembrandt Hotel and Clone Zone were repeatedly raided, with police openly boasting: “We’ve been trying to close these queer places for years.”
These were not isolated incidents. They were examples of a deliberate pattern of police prejudice that was either tolerated or actively encouraged by successive GMP Chief Constables. It has left deep scars that continue to shape LGBT+ distrust of the police to this day.
The Chief Constable’s refusal to apologise—coupled with his demand that victims provide “evidence” before he would even consider it— is tantamount to a form of victim-blaming. The evidence of homophobic police witch-hunts is a matter of public record. Full stop.
Other forces have demonstrated humility and accountability by consulting local LGBT+ archives and community organisations. GMP has chosen obstruction instead.
Mayor Burnham, in your role as the elected leader of Greater Manchester, with overall responsibility for policing, we ask you to show the moral courage and leadership the Chief Constable has lacked.
On behalf of those who suffered and continue to carry this trauma, we urge you to either require the Chief Constable to apologise, or yourself issue a formal apology as Mayor, for GMP’s historic persecution of LGBT+ people.
Apologies matter. They are acts of justice, not symbolism. They rebuild trust, affirm dignity, and demonstrate that Manchester today rejects the witch-hunts of the past. We ask you to stand with us in saying clearly: what was done was wrong, and the leadership of Manchester is sorry.
Yours sincerely, with appreciation,
Peter Tatchell