The publication of the new Veterans Strategy this week is welcome, and we appreciate and acknowledge the references to LGBTQ+ Veterans, recognising the efforts made by Fighting With Pride to ensure visible inclusion of LGBTQ+ veterans.
The Strategy makes reference to the delivery of the LGBT Armed Forces Community Memorial, which was recently dedicated by His Majesty the King. We are pleased to note that Fighting With Pride delivered this memorial on time and under budget for the Office of Veterans Affairs, a strong example of the charitable sector working successfully to deliver projects and services on behalf of government. We are pleased that this joint approach underpins much of the new Strategy.
We note the credit given to Fighting With Pride Founders, Craig Jones and Caroline Paige for their efforts in highlighting this important part of the reparations, and which Lord Etherton included in his review and recommendations.
The Strategy makes reference to the £75M of funding for financial reparations, increased in December 2024 from a previously announced fund of £50M. We welcome the increased funding, and we pay tribute to those members of the Fighting With Pride team and our supporters who lobbied and campaigned for this increased fund.
We also acknowledge the commitment made by the current Armed Forces Minister, Al Carns (in his previous role as Minister for Veterans and People) that even if the £75M level is reached, no qualifying Veteran will be refused their financial awards. It would be remiss of us to not restate our continued campaign objective to ensure this money is delivered promptly and efficiently to affected Veterans, and we continue to engage to accelerate this process.
We will also continue to lobby for additional resources to support our work with Veterans in accessing the reparations and repeat our urgent call on to the Government to properly fund a nationwide advertising campaign, in conjunction with us, to find every LGBTQ+ Veteran before December 2026.
We will continue to lobby on behalf of pre-1967 Dismissed Veterans from all parts of the United Kingdom for inclusion in the Financial Reparations Scheme. Discrimination, whether of sexuality or gender identity has no place in the treatment of Veterans, and the anomaly of homosexual decriminalisation happening only in England and Wales in 1967 should not be the starting point of justice for Veterans, given that Veterans from Scotland and Northern Ireland are eligible for the scheme, despite the later decriminalisation of homosexuality in their jurisdictions.
We are also continuing to examine the position of those LGBTQ+ Veterans who were constructively dismissed during the period of the ban, in particular those who were ordered to resign under threat of court martial.
LGBTQ+ Veterans are specifically referenced and acknowledged in this new Strategy, a document which will guide Government in the years ahead delivering for the nation’s two million Veterans. The visibility of LGBTQ+ veterans is a consequence of the work of Fighting With Pride’s founders, many other campaigners, lobbying by affected Veterans, and of course the work of the late Lord Etherton. We will continue to ensure that LGBTQ+ Veterans are not overlooked and ignored; our LGBTQ+ veterans’ journey home has been long a road.
As the Armed Forces LGBTQ+ Charity, the focus of our work will always be the welfare of LGBTQ+ Veterans, serving LGBTQ+ personnel and their families. We will continue to scrutinise, lobby, and inform government of our views and concerns, to guarantee the ongoing delivery of services to support the LGBTQ+ Armed Forces Community.
Ed Hall Chair of Fighting With Pride Trustees
Peter Gibson Chief Executive Fighting With Pride
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