News - Military news

This paragraph is an abstract from a detailed interview given by Prime Minister Blair to attitude magazine in the April 2005 (election) issue

attitude: one symbol of how far we've come is the treatment of gay men in the armed services. When you came to office, gay men were hounded out of the army and the navy. Now, the armed services are actually advertising in the gay press and trying to get more and more gay people to join up.

Prime Minister Tony Blair: "Yes that's true as well. And I remember that was an issue for us, and it was an issue for Bill Clinton in his first term too. I think this was one of the most important changes because it sent a strong signal about the stereotypes about gay men, and it showed that they aren't true. I think it's important in relationship to things like sport as well, so that people really do not think it either strange of difficult that people of a different sexuality are moving into those areas, or being open about it."

"There's something else interesting about the changes in the armed forces, and it's one of the things I've learned in politics. Very often, you'll do something and everybody will react as if the world is going to fall in, but it's amazing how quickly everything settles. I think the public is far more sensible about this and far less prone to prejudice than people have imagined.