His sexuality helped
on the morality squad

Story by Jill Borra
Photo by Tony Fung

Article first appeared in
the August 1, 1996 issue
of XTRA!

Article first appeared in the June 4, 1998 issue of XTRA!

The next time retired police officer Dave Blaire goes to the exclusive Metropolitan Police Association club, his lover Warren will be on his arm. After 27 years on the Toronto force, Blaire, a gay cop, was one of the first people to obtain spousal benefits for his same-sex partner when he retired in March.

Believing he was entering uncharted waters, Blaire was ready for resistance and armed with a lawyer when he applied. He filled out the forms and waited. Nothing happened. The benefits went through without a hitch, and his partner, like all spouses of retired members of the force, became an associate member of the Metropolitan Police Association club.

Elated, Blaire made sure to let others on the force know about it. "It's there, and it's available," he says, "but certainly not advertised, and it's certainly not spoken of." Although the force has offered same-sex spousal benefits since 1992, Jeff Schofield of the labour relations unit says very few have inquired about it, and he's only aware of one claim (a woman in 1994 who had hospital expenses covered when her partner had a baby).

Blaire joined the force in 1969. Ten years later, he'd worked his way up from walking a beat to sargeant, with a platoon working under him. He spent half of his career on a specialty morality unit - as a detective doing under cover work in narcotics, gambling and prostitution. Blaire says being gay helped him.

"I think that [homosexuals] are a little keener on the senses and better at understanding kinesis [body language], which is important when you're doing undercover work."

Blaire says that the public rarely complains about prostitution and drugs. The challenge was in trying to infiltrate criminal activities that didn't have immediate victims. In all his years on the morality squad, Blaire says most of the prostitution he investigated was straight and he rarely came into contact with the gay community. His work on the force did curtail some of his social activities, however. "I wouldn't smoke up, even if I wanted to, or I wouldn't go to places where there was public sex," he says.

The 48 year-old, who was once married to a woman, came out 10 years ago: "When I came out, I didn't run around with a flag, but when I was asked about something I would reply in a gay-positive way."

Being out on the force, Blaire says he was subjected to some hassles, although much of it was more subtle. "I can't really put my finger on it. I think the opportunities would have been a lot better for me if I hadn't been gay, but I can't for sure say that it was because I was gay."

In the rough and tumble world of police enforcement, it could have been worse. Blaire says many of his co-workers were accepting of his sexuality. "You'd get this burly cop, who if you say him on the street you wouldn't think he had a lot of thought or feelings or emotions, and he would be standing at one of our parties talking about movies with someone dressed in leather," Blaire says, laughing. "It really became interesting."