| Attitude
talks to:
Lieutenant Commander Craig A Jones.
Commander in Chief Fleet, National
Command Centre
Yeah, I guess, more or less. I think I kind of acknowledged it to myself
when I was 19 or 20 at university. But I wanted to join the Navy and
that's what I set out to do. lt didn't seem particularly sensible to
change that on account of being gay.
Were you not worried about possible repercussions?
I guess it was a concern, but that was before I joined up, so at that
stage you have a limited appreciation of what a service community is
like. Also, I think the strongest factor was that I wanted to be a
naval officer; it was the strongest drive in my life at that time.
Were you asked about your sexuality at your initial interview?
Well, that's a long time ago but I'm pretty sure I was. I had a very
private interview with a lady lieutenant and one of the questions was
about relationships. She said something like, have you ever had a relationship
with someone of the same sex? At the time I would have had no difficulty
saying no.
Did you think being gay would be an issue at some point?
I think so. Within the first two or three years of joining I began to
come to the conclusion that at some stage the two forces in my life
would meet in the middle and there would be a crash. But I grew to
realise that I was missing out on something quite important in my life,
particularly having a partner. I knew I had to do something about it
or it was going to be a lonely old life.
Did you understand why gay personnel were banned, or the concept behind
it?
As a gay man, the concept has never made much sense to me, but I recognise
that the rules at that time to a certain extent reflected the concerns
of people serving in the armed forces. I can see perhaps why admirals
and generals and air marshals might have been concerned about implementing
a policy which they saw as probably being high risk.
But why would they think gay men would 'damage morale and fighting efficiency'?
I can't easily answer that. I wonder whether maybe - and this is history – that
it was a flag of convenience? | don't know. But certainly it's been my
observation of the passing of the last five years that sexual orientation
is very genuinely an irrelevance.
What about the so-called 'problem' of sleeping and showering together
in confined environments?
You learn in your basic training to afford people as much space as you
can. lf you're a person that would rather live on a desert island and
not mix with anybody then you're probably not the sort of person who
should be thinking of joining the armed forces.
Are there a lot of closeted sailors?
I think that the concept that the Navy has more gay men than in other
workplaces isn't the case. lt's just a bit of traditional humour along
the sort of 'hello sailor' lines, and I think it's a bit tongue in
cheek. I don't think it's true.
Generally how are you treated? As an officer it must be different.
Well, I've been around for a while and have a slightly unique experience.
I came out the day before the ban was lifted but only because of my
long involvement with Stonewall so I knew about the changes early on.
The first couple of years 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.
Did you announce your sexuality freely or were you forced to come out?
I did announce it freely. The policy was won by a pretty tenacious and
quite brave group of people. I wanted to be part of the process of
change and I couldn't do that within the closet. I must admit, it was
tough. I lost a few nights sleep over the first couple of years wondering
about how people would react. But everyone on my ship made a tremendous
effort to look after myself and my boyfriend.
Do you feel like you've had more to prove?
The only response I felt was that I wanted people to feel comfortable
acknowledging me as a member of the team. That's been very important,
the recognition that you're the same as everybody else and therefore
you're okay and can be part of that unit. I can't say that there's
been an additional pressure on me to excel or succeed. Nobody likes
to feel excluded or made to feel different. In the types of teams we
work in, being different is difficult.
In the madness and danger of a war zone, sexuality can't be an issue
can it?
Absolutely. Universally I think we employ high quality folks and it's
important that they have a degree of honour and integrity whatever their
role. I don't see where sexual orientation has any impact on that.
ln the great scheme of things, are gay men that different than straight
men? Isn't the whole military edifice designed to make you feel different
anyway?
Military life is different to civilian life. Each one of us relies on
each other, whether it's in a foxhole in the desert or a ship at sea,
and we rely on certain occasions with each other on our lives. I think
to suggest that homosexuality was an issue to people working in such
circumstances was a disservice both to the heterosexual folks and the
gay ones.
What advice would you give to a gay man thinking of joining the Navy?
What should he be aware of?
First and foremost, it's a great career. lt brings the opportunity for
foreign travel, there's an element of excitement in everything we do.
As I said before, service life requires a certain robustness of character
and I think it would be a particular type of gay man and woman that comes
forward to the recruiting office.
Are you in a relationship at the moment?
Yes, with the same guy for a long time and it's been relatively uncomplicated.
Slightly unusually for a gay man I've only had one partner, Adam, who
I've been with for 11 years. He's had to manage the situation for a
very long time, before the rules changed. For instance, when I used
to go away for six months there was no possibility of finding out my
deployment. Even telephone calls from abroad on the military system
were very, very difficult. I used to have to call him 'mate' which
really, really irritated me.
What's the reaction of other gay men when they find out you're in the
services?
It's curious how time moves on so quickly, but for most people who don't
have much to do with the services, many of them don't even realise that
there ever was a ban. I think people are fairly non-plussed.
 this
article appeared in the September 2005 attitude magazine
page: Royal Navy :: 200508-attitude-forces4change-jones.htm
updated:
24 Aug 05
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