19 July 2023 , 13:35
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A Tory MP fought back tears today as he talked about the “damage” he suffered by hiding his sexuality while serving in the Army.
Former minister Crispin Blunt, 63, repeatedly paused as he spoke in a parliamentary debate about a report into the treatment of gay people in the armed forces.
Rishi Sunak formally apologised earlier to thousands of troops kicked out of the armed forces for being gay. The Conservative leader opened Prime Minister’s Questions by issuing the apology on behalf of the State.
While homosexuality was decriminalised in 1967, anyone who was gay in the UK military before 2000 faced being booted out or had to hide their secret. Thousands were jailed or dismissed for their sexuality and many were outed to their families and friends against their will before the ban was lifted 23 years ago. Many were also stripped of their medals.
The former minister was speaking as Defence Secretary Ben Wallace made a statement about the treatment of gay people in the armed forces (parliamentlive.tv)Sandhurst-educated Mr Blunt was commissioned as an Army officer into the 13th/18th Royal Hussars (Queen Mary's Own) and served until 1990. During the 1980s, he was stationed in Cyprus, Germany and Britain, serving as a troop leader, regimental operations officer and armoured reconnaissance squadron commander. He resigned his commission as a captain in 1990.
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The MP for Reigate, Surrey, came out as gay in 2010 as he split from his wife. Speaking in the Commons today, Mr Blunt said: “I found a way of accommodating myself, the laws at the time and the rules of society of the time. I then overtly followed a successful journey through my life and career.
“This report - an outstanding piece of work - is causing me to reevaluate the damage done to me, the price paid by those closest to me of making that accommodation. I am just profoundly grateful I now live in a society and under laws that allow me to be myself.”
Making a Commons statement, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace, a former Scots Guards captain, served in the military at the time of the ban. He said: “I was part of that Army, I was determined to give this statement today because I wanted to recognise that I had been part of that Army and thinking that I deeply regret.”
Mr Wallace said the report “makes for miserable and distressing reading”, with veterans’ testimonies “are truly harrowing”, adding: “They paint a shocking and shameful picture of defence that is hard to comprehend.
“The enforcement of the ban became something of a witch hunt.”
Those targeted were subject to “invasive searches and examinations, degrading tests, brutal bullying and in some cases sexual abuse”.
He said ministers were “accepting in principle the vast majority of the report's recommendations”. A full Government response will come in the autumn.
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