They don't have to parade around shirtless or wear little pink triangles on their hats, but the Metropolitan Police in the UK can now voluntarily reveal their sexual orientation so that the number of gay officers can be counted. The coordinator of the Gay Police Association (don't you love that there is such a thing in Britain?) said:

Currently police services monitor gender and ethnicity, and this shows they value that work force. They recruit in the gay press but they don't count them afterwards. An inclusive monitoring system allows the individual to identify themselves as they may wish to do - long gone are the days when gay people were in the closet. If gay people are ok about themselves, everyone else should be.

And we thought the only way to tell a gay policeman was if you found him in the Rambles with a smile instead of a frown.

Officers will be able to 'out' themselves [LSE via Garibaldi]