* Any views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.
The British government must publish its report into the harm done by the former ban on LGBTQ+ personnel serving in the Armed ForcesJames Needham is chief executive of Help for Heroes.
There is a group of veterans who suffered immense harm at the hands of our Armed Forces that the UK has not done enough to redress: LGBTQ+ veterans who served between 1967 and 2000, when a criminal ban on homosexuality was still in place. It is estimated that 20,000 people were forced out of the Armed Forces owing to the pre-2000 ban.
They experienced an almost unique set of injuries due to this discriminatory policy, including wrongful imprisonment and dismissal, loss of career prospects and pension rights, as well as being cast out from the wider veteran community.
However, the evidence so far available from an independent review into the pre-2000 ban, chaired by retired judge Lord Etherton, has demonstrated the harm to veterans' health and their emotional and financial wellbeing is far greater than first thought.
In some cases, there is evidence that people were subjected to pseudo-medical 'conversion therapy' practices, such as electric shock therapy, and administered anti-psychotic drugs as a method of changing invasive thoughts of same-sex attraction, causing physical and long-lasting psychological harm and PTSD.
We are supporting the campaign led by Fighting with Pride, the UK’s only LGBTQ+ veterans' charity, to provide justice for this underrepresented group of veterans.
The key demands of this campaign are for an official apology from the government and financial compensation. If we are to represent all veterans, we cannot be silent about an injustice that caused so much harm to those who chose to serve our country.
I am surprised Lord Etherton’s final report was not published when expected last month. The veteran community had expected the MOD to publish the report, along with its response to it, in early June, at an event held at the Imperial War Museum. The event went ahead, but neither the report nor a summary of its recommendations was made public as veterans had anticipated. This is despite the report being delivered to the government more than a month ago.
One attendee of the event said how angry she felt in being invited to what had been billed as the launch of the report, only to be offered nothing more than drinks and canapes, but no answers.
No date has been set for publication and I am concerned that the longer it is left, the less likely it is to receive appropriate attention in parliament, especially if it comes before or during the summer recess.
In response to a recent question in parliament by Labour MP Rachel Hopkins on timings, Defence Minister Dr Andrew Murrison replied: “I’m afraid she’s going to have to be a little bit more patient, but I suspect we will be publishing this report and the response very soon indeed.”
I think I speak for many in the Armed Forces community in saying that, 23 years after the ban was lifted, we have been patient enough.
