Formerly the Lesbian and Gay Police Association (LAGPA), formed in 1990 by a group of gay police officers in the Met, the Gay Police Association (GPA) is the only national staff association that specifically represents the needs and interests of gay police employees in the United Kingdom.

The work of the GPA includes educating the police service about issues connected with sexual orientation. These include the investigation of homophobic hate crime, victim care and family liaison. This challenging work also cultivates improved relations between the police service and the gay community.

The GPA activity directly and indirectly supports 16,000 police staff and improves service delivery to over 5.8 million members of the public who are gay. This represents the largest minority group employed by the police service and respectively living in the population.

Full membership is available to all serving and retired police officers, Special Constables and civilian support staff employed or previously employed by any UK police service.