LGBT veterans who were given a special badge to mark the injustice they faced have refused to wear it until the UK government pays them compensation. The badge was awarded to commemorate the years between 1967-2000 when it was illegal to be gay in the military, and Tuesday’s ceremony was attended by representatives from the Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force. But according to the group, all 49 recommendations of an independent report must be followed through before they will wear the award.
The Ministry of Defence has yet to comment on the veterans’ refusal to wear the badge. Homosexuality was decriminalised in the UK in 1967, but a ban remained in the armed forces. The badge was one of the recommendations made by Lord Etherton, who led an independent review into treatment of LGBT veterans during the ban, to make reparations.
The report, named the LGBT Veterans Independent Review, began in 2022 and heard about the experiences of 1,145 veterans. Recommendations included a cap of £50m on compensation to be paid to those affected by the ban, a LGBT veterans memorial, the clarification of pension rights, and the return of medals and berets. Other memoirs contained shocking instances of homophobia, bullying, blackmail, sexual assaults, “disgraceful” medical examinations, and conversion therapy.
Former soldier Stephen Close, one of the first veterans to receive the ribbon-shaped badge, said, “These things need to be addressed and the wrongs put right – and then I’ll be quite happy to wear the ribbon.” Mr Close was dismissed from the Army in the 1980s after officers found out he had kissed another man while he was stationed in Berlin. His convictions were disregarded in 2013 as part of a scheme in England and Wales to allow past convictions for same-sex offences that are no longer criminal to be wiped out
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