A number of interviews have been conducted by currently
serving personnel with gay lifestyle press and military publications. A
selection is reproduced on this site. It is intended to maximise the exposure
to the serving community of these interviews and personal accounts. If
you are aware of any others not listed below please contact the webmaster.
Dec 06
diva magazine - at your service ma'am
"Life has vastly improved for lesbians serving in the British Military since
the ban on homosexuality was lifted in 2000, but there's
still room for improvement." "The policies are
in place. It’s up to people like myself to educate others. But
that takes time. It’s going to take another generation for it to
become second nature." One area that many lesbians agree needs improving
is communications. Unless you work in an area responsible for the dissemination
of information,
it seems difficult to find what your entitlements are, or what the new
policies regarding homosexuality entail. Equally, heterosexual members
of the Armed Forces seem less informed than their civilian counterparts
about lesbian and gay issues. [more
...]
Sep 05
attitude magazine - Lt Cdr Craig Jones
"The first couple of years [after the lifting of the ban] were
an intense experience. I knew how Custer felt when he was waiting
for the
cavalry to
appear.
There were very
few people who were out at that time, and to an extent I kind of felt
that I carried the aspirations for the policy to succeed on my shoulders."
[more
...]
Sep 05
attitude magazine - Fg Off Andy Wasley
"lt's accepted now that you can't run the military effectively without giving
attention to morale and welfare, and respecting people's sexuality is a big part
of that ... I don't anticipate that there would be any more homophobic incidents
in the services than there would be in the private sector. lf anything,
we have more robust rules about equality and diversity than most companies
do.." [more
...]
Sep 05
attitude magazine - Capt Gary New
"I through a period of confusion, much like a lot of people, and only came
out much later in life. .. when I told my commanding officer, he was just so
matter
of fact about
it which was fantastic. Sexuality on an operational tour is the last thing on
people's minds. You're there to do a job and you get on with it. When you're
stuck in
a muddy trench it doesn't matter what gender or sexual persuasion you
are!" [more
...]
Jul 05
Gay Times - POPT Mark Probee
"The vast majority of my friends were Service people. Some were quite offended
that I’d never told them before ... I recognise now how much I’ve
lost through not being able to love and be loved, but I can now have a relationship
openly ... I [was posted to the Marines] and
the
guys
were
fantastic.
They
didn’t give a monkey’s" [more
...]
Jul 05
Gay Times - OM1 Alan Crawford
"I joined in May 2001 and didn’t tell anyone about my sexuality. I
wanted them to know me for me. I came out in Dec 01 and a lot of the reactions
were very supportive .. one of the guys said, You may be
a gay guy. but you’re our gay guy" [more
...]
Jun 05
Focus - Lt Cdr Craig Jones
"The RN Sexual Orientation
Working Group is a mechanism for officers and ratings
to meet up over a few beers and offering mutual support and friendship.
The group is very valuable to people who could otherwise
feel quite isolated. There is that “I’m the only gay in the
village feeling,” which can quite easily happen in a warship at
sea." [more
...]
Sep 04
defenceNet - POPT Mark Probee
"when people do find out these days it tends to lead to a whole host of
questions, testament to the fact that most people just want to understand and
are far from the realms of being bigoted. ... If I am in any way able to present
the acceptable face of my sexuality then that must be a good thing and hopefully
it will make people realise that you can’t actually tell who is straight
or gay once you remove the sticker from their forehead. " [more
...]
Feb 04
Washington Blade &c - Lt Cdr Rolf Kurth
"Kurth served as an openly gay officer in joint operations
with US forces in Operation Iraqi Freedom. The policy change was a “resounding
non-event” and the integration of gay men and lesbians in the
UK armed services has been “a remarkable success.”" Claims made
in a new study that openly gay soldiers who served in multinational units with
American forces in Iraq did not harm unit
cohesion. [more
...]
2003
defenceNet - Lt Cdr Craig Jones
"The AFCSC protects our private lives
where it is appropriate to do so, however the reality is that we know a great
deal more about
our colleagues than civilians because we invariably choose to be more open. The
fact that many gay men and lesbians are mostly not open about their sexuality
invariably reflects sensible caution rather than an inherent desire for privacy. " [more
...]
Oct 03
CSSMM - Lt Cdr Rolf Kurth
"This discussion is based on an interview between the then Lieutenant Rolf
Kurth and Sameera Dalvi, Ph.D, Department of Political Science and International
Relations, University of Southampton, 3 October 2003. It is an abstract from
Multinational Military Units and Homosexual Personnel by the Center for the Study
of Sexual Minorities in the Military." [more
...]
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