Today we acknowledge the 22nd anniversary of the lifting of the ban on LGBT+ personnel in the UK Armed Forces. Transgender personnel had been allowed to serve openly from January 1999. Much has been accomplished in the last year, but we still have a long way to go before LGBT+ Veterans and families impacted by that ban finally receive the reparation and recognition that has shamefully already taken too long to be addressed.
On 4th January 2022 the Government announced an extension of the range of offences relating to homosexuality which will be eligible for disregard or pardon, this follows a year-long campaign by FWP. This new bill increases the number of gay veterans who will now be able to apply for disregards for offences which have no place in modern law. Whilst this is a big step forward, the majority of LGBT+ Veterans were dismissed with incomplete or misleading records that make military criminal offences hard or even impossible to recognise as being attributable to their sexual orientation or gender identity. Further work is needed to achieve justice for all. FWP expects further announcements from the Government about their Veterans Strategy Action Plan soon.
These announcements must include a pathway to recognise the disgraceful treatment of LGBT+ Veterans. FWP is committed to working with the Office for Veterans Affairs (OVA) to ensure that the additional challenges faced by LGBT+ veterans are recognised in full and that appropriate reparations are made.
