UK LGBTQIA+ and military groups call on PM to debate reparations for LGBTQIA+ veterans

Several UK LGBTQIA+ and military organizations published a letter Monday to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak demanding the government address its commitment to discuss reparations owed to LGBTQIA+ veterans, days after the UK government announced that the planned debate in the House of Commons regarding the issue will no longer be going ahead. Previous Defence Minister, Ben Wallace, initially promised to hold a parliamentary debate on the topic in response to an independent report on the service of LGBTQIA+ veterans who served prior to 2000. The LGBT Veterans Independent Review detailed “the existence, enforcement and consequences of an official policy current in HM Armed Forces between 1967 and 2000,” the period in which no LGBTQIA+ person was allowed to serve in the Armed Forces, despite homosexuality being legal in the UK. The ban was lifted in 2000. Many LGBTQIA+ veterans gave testimonies for the review, illustrating the homophobia, bullying, blackmail, sexual assaults and “disgraceful medical examinations” that occurred as a result of the ban, as well as their effects on veterans’ mental health and living situations. When the review was published in July 2023, Sunak gave a speech in parliament, apologizing on behalf of the nation for this “appalling failure” of...