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Michael Pitchford, a 78-year-old veteran from Rottingdean, is seeking a £50,000 payout from the Ministry of Defence (MoD) after claiming he was subjected to humiliation, interrogation, and threats of imprisonment due to his sexuality while serving in the British Army. Despite his severe illness, Pitchford says the government has denied him financial reparations. He recounts being pressured into paying £250 to end his army contract prematurely, a move that disqualified him from receiving the official Dismissed and Discharged Payment allotted to veterans affected by the armed forces’ ban on homosexuality, which lasted until 2000.
Pitchford, who served with the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, struggled deeply with his identity during his military career. Though homosexuality was decriminalised in the UK in 1967, service members faced ongoing discrimination. At age 23, Pitchford began relationships with men, but the stress of concealing his sexuality while committed to three more years in service became unbearable. After repeated failed attempts to leave the army, he disclosed his sexuality to a military doctor hoping to be medically discharged. Instead, he was formally charged with homosexuality and faced severe ostracism including isolation, verbal abuse, and removal from his engineering training, while enduring months of distressing interrogation.
He describes how the army publicised his sexuality to the base, leading to bullying and social exclusion, and falsely informed his family that he was working as a male prostitute, which ultimately caused him to lose contact with them. In addition to the threats of three years in prison unless he revealed names of former partners, Pitchford was compelled to pay to end his contract, although he remained on as a poorly paid military reservist. Despite these hardships, his military records reportedly omit key details of this ordeal, complicating his pursuit of justice through current recognition schemes.
The MoD has expressed regret over the unacceptable treatment of LGBT personnel and has extended a financial recognition scheme aimed at compensating those dismissed or pressured to resign due to their sexuality. This initiative offers payments of £50,000 and additional sums for those impacted by further misconduct, such as abusive interrogation or criminal records related to their dismissal. However, Pitchford’s claim was rejected because he was not officially dismissed or discharged in the conventional sense. He is currently appealing this decision while battling serious illnesses, urging recognition of the injustice he suffered and highlighting ongoing challenges faced by LGBT veterans seeking redress for historic discrimination
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