{"id":229080,"date":"2025-10-28T00:01:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-28T00:01:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/229080\/"},"modified":"2025-10-28T00:01:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T00:01:07","slug":"king-charles-lays-flowers-at-national-memorial-to-lgbt-armed-forces-veterans-lgbtq-rights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/229080\/","title":{"rendered":"King Charles lays flowers at national memorial to LGBT armed forces veterans | LGBTQ+ rights"},"content":{"rendered":"

The king has laid flowers at the UK\u2019s first national memorial commemorating LGBT armed forces and met veterans who spoke of the trauma inflicted by the military\u2019s former \u201cgay ban\u201d.<\/p>\n

Charles was joined by dozens of serving and former members of the armed forces at the dedication of the memorial, titled An Opened Letter, at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire on Monday. It was his first official engagement in support of the LGBT community.<\/p>\n

Among those attending were some who had their military careers cut short before the ban was lifted in 2000. Thousands were investigated, discharged or forced to leave their careers because of their actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity. They faced lifelong consequences, including being vilified by family and friends, and losing access to their military pensions.<\/p>\n

Brig Clare Phillips spoke at the dedication ceremony, telling the 300 guests: \u201cI am a gay woman who has served in the British army<\/a> for 30 years. For hundreds of LGBT veterans, their experiences have been catastrophic \u2013 their lives and careers shattered.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the serving community, today\u2019s unveiling of this incredible memorial is about remembering that we stand on the shoulders of giants \u2013 those people who fought discrimination and persecution so we can now serve openly and proudly. It is about being able to say to our veterans: you belong and you always did.\u201d<\/p>\n

The visit was Charles\u2019s first official engagement in support of the LGBT+ community. Photograph: Phil Noble\/AP<\/p>\n

Charles laid flowers at the memorial along with other guests, including the chief of the defence staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Rich Knighton.<\/p>\n

The LGBT military charity Fighting With Pride, which is behind the memorial, said the sculpture represented a \u201cpowerful step forward in recognising and honouring the service and sacrifices\u201d of the LGBT armed forces community after their historic mistreatment.<\/p>\n

It takes the form of a crumpled bronze letter made up of words taken from personnel who were affected by the ban, which was in place from 1967 until 11 January 2000.<\/p>\n

In 2023, the then prime minister Rishi Sunak apologised on behalf of the British state for the \u201chorrific\u201d historical treatment of LGBT people who served in the military, after an independent review set out 49 recommendations including financial reparations<\/a> and a public memorial.<\/p>\n

The memorial has been funded by a \u00a3350,000 grant from the Office for Veterans\u2019 Affairs at the Ministry of Defence, having been designed by the Abraxas Academy collective of artists.<\/p>\n

Peter Gibson, the chief executive officer of Fighting With Pride, said it was a \u201cdeeply emotional moment\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe devastation and destruction caused by people expressing their love cut short successful careers and, in some cases, ended lives,\u201d said Gibson. \u201cToday is a klaxon call that signals shame can be cast aside and everyone who wants it is welcomed back into their military family.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carol Morgan, from Surrey, who attended, joined the army in the late 1970s but was thrown out after four years of service. Her room was ransacked, she was interviewed for six and a half hours and sent to a psychiatrist because her sexuality was seen as a mental illness, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hid my sexuality for over 36 years. It destroyed me completely,\u201d Morgan said. \u201cThis memorial means everything to us. Generations are going to know that we did exist and we weren\u2019t just a dirty little secret.\u201d<\/p>\n

The former RAF firefighter Carl Austin-Behan joined in 1991 at the age of 19 and was dismissed six years later for being gay. He said: \u201cThe significance of the LGBT+ memorial blows me away. An Opened Letter takes me back to letters I wrote and received at a time of intense secrecy with hidden words and changed identity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Austin-Behan, from Manchester, was given a Royal Humane Society medal after he attempted to save a pilot from a Hawk aircraft at RAF Chivenor, in Devon, in 1992.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn April 1997, the air force found out I was gay and within 10 minutes I was escorted off camp,\u201d said Austin-Behan, adding he \u201clost everything\u201d and was made homeless. \u201cMy life was completely changed over night because of my sexuality.\u201d<\/p>\n

Claire Ashton, who served in the Royal Artillery, said her \u201cdream career\u201d was ruined when she was forced out of the army in 1972, aged 21.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m in my 70s now and have forever lived with the psychological scars of being kicked out \u2013 \u2018medically discharged\u2019, as it was labelled on my records,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The king has laid flowers at the UK\u2019s first national memorial commemorating LGBT armed forces and met veterans…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":229081,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":{"0":"post-229080","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229080","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=229080"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229080\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/229081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=229080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=229080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=229080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}