Up until 2000 it was illegal in Britain to be LGBTQ+ and serve in the armed forces. If suspected of being gay, service personnel would be interrogated, imprisoned, dismissed in disgrace and stripped of their livelihoods, medals and ultimately their dignity

Over 20 years on what was the impact of this ban on LGBTQ+ people in the armed forces? And what is being done to bring justice and support to those veterans who were suffered criminalisation and shame as a result of their sexuality?

In this special LGBT+ History Month episode we talk to Lieutenant Commander Craig Jones, Joint Chief Executive of Fighting with Pride, a charity that supports the health and wellbeing of LGBT+ veterans, service personnel and their families.

Craig discusses the pre-2000 ban on homosexuals in the British Armed Forces and his own experiences as a gay man serving in the Royal Navy. A time filled with anxiety, he grappled with the reality of 'living in the shadows' to avoid being arrested, criminalised and 'dismissed in disgrace', something that he saw many of his comrades subjected to.

We also discuss his book, Fighting with Pride, and its inclusion of a letter from renowned military historian and founder of the Department of War Studies, Sir Michael Howard, who campaigned for the rights of LGBT+ service personnel himself. We then take a look at Craig’s campaign which has pushed the government to launch an independent review into the treatment of LGBT veterans, and whether justice might finally be served.

Find out about the charity Fighting with Pride: https://www.fightingwithpride.org.uk/

Read the book: https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Fighting-with-Pride-Hardback/p/16874