Marching Slowly Towards Contrition: An Article For LGBT+ History Month

Marching Slowly Towards Contrition:

An Article For LGBT+ History Month

By Simon Clark

Until the year 2000, homosexuals were not allowed to serve in the army. Yes, 2000. Remember how enlightened we all thought we were in the 90s? Scary to think that against the backdrop of a decade that gave us the Red Ribbon symbol for AIDS awareness, the homosexual age of consent being lowered in line with heterosexual acts, and the first openly gay politician elected to the House of Commons (Stephen Twigg) – we were still, not only excluding gay people from the army, but actively seeking out and removing them from service, often following dehumanising questioning. This removal came with a tainted record and the stripping of any medals earned and won whilst serving your country.

Whilst Ginger, Posh, Sporty, Scary and Baby were warbling their Girl Power message…we were treating individuals (many of whom were in active service; putting their lives on the line for each and every one of us) like second-rate citizens. Are you starting to feel uncomfortable? Are you unhappy with past ‘mistakes’ or ‘wrongdoings’? If it makes you feel more comfortable, the Americans were busily issuing the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. This will at least allow the apologists to say, “oh, that’s just how it was”, “we didn’t know better” and other similar utterances. Well, we did know better. People knew it was wrong then and they still know it’s a heinous route to have chosen, and that we were too slow to do a U-turn, and even slower in making amends, which will come sadly too late for too many.

Why am I telling you this? Earlier in the week the Ministry of Defence (U.K.) announced that medals would be returned to the veterans who were discharged because of their sexuality. This is a good thing. A step forward. Is it a big enough step? No, it’s not. I can hear the voices now saying, “oh, what more do they want?” as if having your hard-earned medals returned is all you should need. It would be. Except they are not simply returning the medals – you have to apply to have your case reviewed and if successful (IF) you will receive a new medal from the MoD. That’s the system. That's their process for progress. That’s the stride they decided to take.

A case review, really? A case? It should no longer be considered ‘a case’. It’s an injustice that could summarily be managed without the need to apply. A letter of apology, showing genuine contrition, along with return of the medals without the need for proving your innocence against the perceived crime of homosexuality, may have sufficed. A public declaration of remorse, enriched with the honest shame and guilt (a mere fraction of the shame and guilt felt by those affected) of an institution willing to change, would go some way to laying the first brick of a long overdue bridge. After all it has taken 21 years to get here. 21 years since the rule change. 21 years. That’s also 13 years since all 3 of the armed services marched at London Pride (2008). Since which time (and earlier for some) they have also happily used this platform as a recruitment exercise.

One of the many questions I have, as you will have guessed, is: why the need for the application process? Answer: there’s no strong, overwhelming desire to move too far away from the homophobia that has engrained itself over the generations. This same application process (reminiscent of the pardons – we’ll get to that) also presumes that the innocent must be once again investigated and a decision made about their ‘crime’, alleged though it may be. That’s before any appeal process would kick-in. It will take a very long time for this process to be unnecessarily managed-through with what will no doubt be layer upon layer of red tape disguised behind paragraphs of ambiguous jargon, if history teaches us anything.

Johnny Mercer (Veterans Minister) says that the announcement of the programme “addresses a historic injustice”. It does, but in a manner that will potentially allow (or worse, endorse) the perpetuation of homophobia. The institution has excused itself of this ‘historic injustice’ (along with the help of the media) by suggesting individuals were removed because of their sexuality. The truth is that their sexuality had little to do with it. The hatred, fear, ignorance and phobic persuasions of those decision-makers led the charge. Their sexuality wasn’t wrong. The behaviours, choices and judgements to discharge, or strip of medals, was wrong.

The aforementioned Veterans Minister continued by saying the announcement “demonstrates that the military is a positive place to work for ALL who choose to serve”. [Emphasis added.] It doesn’t lobby anywhere near hard enough, loud enough or proud enough if this course of progress is anything to go by. The strategy employed is flawed.

After all, the system was quick enough to rip the medals from the breasts of those found guilty and, for the many who were subject to a court martial, imprisoned.

Carl Austin-Behan said, “Some people literally had it ripped off their chest”. These people wanted to serve their country and protect its people and the wider world. Austin-Behan vividly recalled, whilst talking to Reuters, the day that his military career was so abruptly ended. The date that his commanding officer summoned him into a meeting with the RAF police was April 15, 1997. (Yes, 1997. The year after the Spice Girls told us what they “wannabe”. ) He said, “They just asked me, 'SAC Austin, do you have homosexual tendencies? They asked again, and I just burst into tears because it made me realize that I had to be true to myself. I was 24 years old. I'd been living a double-life for the last six years, and I just felt that I had to be me. I realized that my whole career now was just ended. My life changed completely. I lost all my friends. I didn't know how my family would react. I'd lost my job. Everything just changed that one day."

They kindly didn’t send him to prison but only thanks to his outstanding record, a fact that he was, of course, reminded of. A record, lest we forget, that included service from the tender age of 19, working to become a corporal and potentially signing up for another 22 years. Austin-Behan also received a Commander-in-Chief’s Commendation on the Queen’s birthday honours list the previous year. Yet it was his sexuality that stood out. It was his sexuality that destroyed his career. It was his sexuality that these people were so afraid of and fixated by, at the same time.

Then we get to Mr David Bonney (in 1993 he became the last British serviceman to be sent to prison because they disproved of his sexuality – see the difference?) who said of the announcement in an ITV interview, "I have to go to my bully, which is the RAF, and ask them to forgive me and give me my medals back." Imagine that pain; the pain of crawling back to someone who mistreated you; it’s like crawling back to the playground tormenter who stole your lunch-money and asking for it back, but only if they thought you were worthy of its return.

If an organisation, an institution, has the bare-faced front to recruit and parade it’s LGBT+ credentials at an event such as Pride, has, albeit a little uneasily, accepted LGBT+ persons into the forces – then it’s about time they showed their mettle and stand by and up for their colleagues, their brothers in arms.

This really is a poor show. It’s not good enough. It is a step forward, but not the giant leap that’s urgently needed. In much the same way as the government offered pardons to living men convicted of homosexual acts in 2016 via application, rather than the automatic pardoning given to the deceased – this doesn’t go far enough. After all a pardon does presume an acceptance of guilt, or at least of their having been a crime from which to be pardoned. The same is true now…the presumed crime of loving some one of the same sex/gender (not even acting on those thoughts but merely being gay) was enough to be removed from a career, and yet are still required to genuflect and ask for their medals to be returned…if it’s deemed acceptable. This time even the family of the deceased must apply. I’ll say it a little louder for those at the back...THIS DOESN’T GO FAR ENOUGH!

This year, 2021, will see the UK census have the first national count of LGBT+ people. This should (there's no guarantee) help the voices of LGBT+ people to be heard, as it is harder to ignore those you have invited in, isn’t it? Oh. I’ll just hope that the past isn’t anything to go by.

Isn’t it a shame that the hope for the census is that it will change perceptions across all governmental bodies, and that it will seep into every segment of our lives? Wouldn’t it be great if the MoD got their handling and position right on their own? Wouldn’t it be good if they became a leader on this, and marched hand-in-hand with LGBT+ people into battle rather than shouting "sorry" through the letterbox of change, then running away?

© Simon Clark

Click here for more information on Carl Austin-Behan