Full e-Booked Meets G.Turawa - I Hated Being Black. I Hid Being Gay. Then Everything Changed

About this episode

Gamal 'G' Turawa shares his journey of identity, race, and sexuality, detailing his struggles and breakthroughs throughout his life and career in the police force.

Before Gamal 'G' Turawa ever put on a police uniform, he lived a life that would take most people a lifetime to make sense of. Raised by a white foster family in Kent, removed from the only home he knew at just eight years old, and subjected to years of abuse at the hands of his biological father — G's early years were defined by displacement, confusion, and survival. At sixteen, he was tricked onto a plane to Nigeria — a country that was supposed to be part of who he was, but felt entirely foreign. What followed were years of homelessness on the streets of Lagos, witnessing things that would shape him in ways he's only recently begun to fully understand. A remarkable encounter eventually brought him back to British soil. But returning home didn't mean finding peace. What does it mean to spend forty years hiding from yourself? For G, the answer came through 26 years in the Metropolitan Police — years marked by racism, being used as the public face of diversity while privately struggling to belong, and a truth about his sexuality buried so deeply it cost him everything. A breakdown became a breakthrough. And standing on a Pride stage at forty, G finally said the words he'd been…

People in this episode

Host: Andrew

Guest: Gamal 'G' Turawa

Topics covered

• identity
• race
• sexuality
• homelessness
• police experience
• personal growth

Keywords

• identity
• race
• sexuality
• homelessness
• Metropolitan Police
• personal growth
• Pride
• Gamal Turawa

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Metropolitan Police

Places: Nigeria, Kent