A few weeks later, at the end of my tour in Northern Ireland I walked into my first gay bar and sat on a stool next to a man who has been my partner for 27 years. I think of that moment as military efficiency in dating. | ✍️ Craig Jones writes.
We will raise a glass together with serving officers from all of our Armed Forces – the toast will be to ‘absent friends’
On that day my life turned from monochrome to technicolor but it also brought to me the risk of arrest, detention and dismissal, simply for being who I am. On the eve 12 January 2000, hours after the ban was lifted, he joined me at the Wardroom bar of HMS Fearless and told tales of nights out in the gay village in Manchester with his wife.
Generations of LGBT+ veterans will be grateful to him for a moment in which he reminded the Government of the Armed Forces Covenant, the nation’s promise to those who have served that in their hour of need their service will be remembered.Those who, like me, were able to serve openly will be forever grateful to the brave women and men from the Armed Forces Legal Challenge Group who fought through the 1990s for our Armed Forces to reflect the values of our nation and are overdue recognition.
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