The King has laid flowers at the United Kingdom’s first national memorial commemorating LGBT armed forces veterans, in a ceremony at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire. The memorial, titled An Opened Letter, honours those whose careers were cut short by the military’s former ban on homosexuality, in place from 1967 until January 2000.
Joining dozens of serving and former members of the armed forces, Charles attended the dedication as his first official engagement in support of the LGBT community. Among the guests were veterans who had been investigated, discharged or forced to leave their careers because of their actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity, many of whom faced lifelong consequences including loss of pensions and vilification by family and friends.
Brig Clare Phillips, who served for 30 years in the British Army, told the 300 guests: “I am a gay woman who has served in the British army for 30 years. For hundreds of LGBT veterans, their experiences have been catastrophic – their lives and careers shattered.” She added that the memorial allows the serving community to stand on the shoulders of giants and say to veterans: “You belong and you always did.”
The sculpture, a crumpled bronze letter formed from words contributed by affected personnel, was designed by the Abraxas Academy collective and funded by a £350,000 grant from the Ministry of Defence’s Office for Veterans’ Affairs. The event was organised by the LGBT military charity Fighting With Pride, which described the memorial as a “powerful step forward” in acknowledging the historic mistreatment of the community.
Several veterans shared their personal experiences. Carol Morgan, who was discharged in the late 1970s after four years of service, said she hid her sexuality for over 36 years and that the memorial means “everything to us. Generations are going to know that we did exist and we weren’t just a dirty little secret.” Carl Austin-Behan, dismissed from the RAF in 1997, said he was escorted off camp within ten minutes of his sexuality being discovered, losing everything and becoming homeless. Claire Ashton, forced out of the Royal Artillery in 1972, described the lifelong psychological scars of being “medically discharged”.
In 2023, the then prime minister Rishi Sunak apologised on behalf of the British state for the “horrific” historical treatment of LGBT people who served in the military, following an independent review that recommended financial reparations and a public memorial. Fighting With Pride’s chief executive, Peter Gibson, called the day “a deeply emotional moment” and “a klaxon call that signals shame can be cast aside and everyone who wants it is welcomed back into their military family.”
