The limits of inclusion: Stories from the margins of the Swedish police

Abstract

This chapter explores gay and lesbian police officers’ stories of marginalization and the limits of inclusive diversity policies in the Swedish police. The analysis aims to go beyond the level of policy and formal training and consider mechanisms of exclusion and marginalization on the level of personal stories based on lived experience. Drawing on an interview study of gay and lesbian police officers in Sweden, this chapter argues that the limits of inclusion can be found in the stories told by these members. While the formal policy of the Swedish police does not set up any obstacles for inclusion of gays and lesbians, the stories told by the officers provide insight into other mechanisms of exclusion and marginalization. This analysis of the stories—which are divided into “old” stories from the 1980 and 1990s and “new” stories from the 2000s—indicates that explicit silencing and exclusion characterized the old stories, while the new stories were characterized by stigmatization, marginalization and an increase in voice.