THE British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak apologizes for government’s ‘horrendous’ treatment of veterans militarycommunity members LGBT+ who suffered sexual abuse, violence, intimidation and harassment while serving in the armed forces before the ban on homosexuality was lifted in 2000.
Britain lifted this ban only after the European Court of Human Rights rejected the argument that the ban was necessary to protect morale and fighting strength in the ranks of the British military, with the Court ruling that the policy violated human rights.
Prior to this decision, many homosexuals in the ranks of the British army tried to hide their sexuality as they risked being expelled from the armed forces.
An independent report began last year, examining testimonies from LGBTI+ veterans who served between 1967 and 2000. The report was released today.
“Horrible failure”
In a packed House of Commons Prime Minister Sunak stated that the ban was a ‘horrendous failure of the British state’.
“As today’s report makes clear, during this time many suffered the most horrific forms of sexual abuse and violence, homophobic bullying, while bravely serving this country.”, emphasized the British Prime Minister. “Today, on behalf of the British state, I apologize,” he said.
The report said a public call for evidence brought more than 1,120 responses, including about 300 from veterans who were discharged because of their sexual orientation.
British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said the report shed light on “a shameful and unacceptable historical chapter in the history of our Armed Forces”.
Speaking in Parliament, Wallace said the report made 49 recommendations to the government, including strengthened health care provisions for LGBTI+ veterans as well as to give “adequate financial compensation” to these veterans.
The government has accepted the vast majority of these recommendations in principle and will provide a comprehensive response after Parliament’s summer recess, the British minister said.
Homosexuality was decriminalized in 1967 in England and Wales and throughout the United Kingdom in the early 1980s.
In his conclusions, the author of that report, Lord Etherton, asked the head of government to apologise.
In early 2021, the Ministry of Defense announced that servicemen dismissed from the military because of their sexual orientation or gender identity would be able to recover the medals they were stripped of.
People from the LGBTI+ community had indeed been discharged and lost their medals after demobilization.
This change came after a legal battle by Falklands War veteran Joe Usalis, who in 2020 succeeded in having his medal returned to him after he was forced to leave the Royal Navy because of his sexual orientation.
The 70-year-old veteran from Southampton, a former radio operator who also served in the Middle East and Northern Ireland during his 18-year tour of duty, had been stripped of his long service and good conduct medal after being court-martialed in 1993 for being bisexual.
Source: News Beast
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