By Conor Sharkey

A meeting aimed at boosting confidence in the North's policing institutions is to take place between the Policing Board and Strabane and Lifford's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Group this Sunday.

The meeting is one of a series being held by the Policing Board's LGBT Reference Group which is aiming to gauge the gay community's opinion on policing in the North.

Head of Strabane's LGBT group Stephen Birkett said it is vital that members use the opportunity to voice any concerns they had.

"This is a really important meeting because the LGBT community have a tendency not to go to the police in situations when heterosexuals would do. In September 2006 the Strabane and Lifford LGBT Group took part in a focus group on this subject and most of the people there said they would not report attacks related to their sexuality to the police.

"Older people remember the time when any male homosexual behaviour was an imprisonable offence. Many still fear that if they admit to the police that they are gay, the police will treat them like a criminal. Some people have long memories. Back in the seventies there appeared to be a concerted effort by the RUC to close down Northern Ireland gay groups by prosecuting the leaders of the three main groups. There had been no complaints against the men involved but the RUC made a case using confiscated private letters as evidence that they had been sleeping together! This lead to a case in the European Court of Human Rights which forced the law change here.

"Of course younger LGBT have no knowledge of the days when the very fact that you were gay made you a criminal in police eyes so you might wonder what stops them going to the police?

"It's not that local reluctance to cooperate with the police but a genuine fear of the consequences of doing so. Many gay people still believe that individual officers will look upon them as inferior because of who they are. A much greater fear is that if the police take action on their complaint they will be exposed as gay to people who don't know they are or made the focus for further homophobic attacks.

The police have improved enormously since the bad old days of the RUC anti-gay campaigns and the PSNI is making a real effort to reach out to the LGBT community. However it's not perfect and there is no doubt that some individual officers do still need education about the sensitivities of our community.

"Hopefully this will reassure local LGBT and reduce reluctance to go to the police with homophobic incidents," Mr Birkett explained.

Co-chairs of the Policing Board Reference Group John O'Doherty and Gillian Condell added: "The aim of these meetings is to inform members of the LGBT community and their friends and family of the work of the reference group and ascertain public opinion on the work of the Board and PSNI.

"We look forward to bringing back their opinions and experiences so the Board can take these into consideration when setting targets for the PSNI."

Sunday's meeting gets under way at 3pm.