Joy Murphy is a Victorian policewoman who managed to turn a hideous workplace outing into a positive experience not only for her, but for other gay and lesbian police who faced similar workplace discrimination. She was one of the founders of the Gay and Lesbian Police Employee Network, and in August was named the “Most Outstanding Female Leader” in the Australasia and Pacific Island Region.

“I feel a little bit humble actually,” Murphy says of her Same Same 25 accolade. “It was quite a pleasant surprise. I don’t feel like a role model, but it’s nice that other people think that I am.”

Back in 1992 Murphy was outed by some of her colleagues – it was an experience that she describes as scary and disappointing. “Whilst I think some people had an idea, I didn’t deny it but I didn’t confirm it either. It did get quite nasty. Where I felt that I was previously held in high esteem, all of a sudden everything I did wasn’t up to standard. It changed the way people looked at me almost overnight. It was hard, because I was the same person upholding the same standards, doing the same quality of work but people chose to look at things differently because they knew more about me.”

Murphy was the first to complain to the Equal Opportunity Commission about same-sex discrimination within Victoria Police. She didn’t do that until 1998 - six years later, after colleagues targeted her supporters and friends.

“That all started fifteen years ago. There have definitely been some changes since then and to some degree I think the action that I took kicked a little bit of that off. I wouldn’t say that it’s perfect though – I’d like to see it go a lot further. If a young person came to me today and asked, ‘should I be open about my sexuality at work?’ I’d have to caution them to some degree.”

Murphy’s influence has been instrumental and visionary when it comes to the way that police deal with issues including family violence, sexual assault, discrimination in the workplace or gay, lesbian and transgender people – both in the community and the police force as well. “The fact that I’m out and I’m not ashamed of it probably gives some people a little more confidence to come forward, people who may not have done so in the past,” says Murphy. “The introduction of Gay and Lesbian Liaison Officers within Victoria Police is a positive step, although we still don’t have enough.”

Murphy says that fundamentally, the ideology underpinning her work is a desire to be fair. “I just try to influence people to do their job the right way, and not have gender or sexual orientation be a consideration when it comes to how the job’s done. It’s about providing people with the service that they deserve, regardless of their personal circumstances. I try to treat people how I’d like to be treated myself.”

By Christian Taylor