Veteran contemplated suicide after being forced to leave military due to her sexuality
This article and the video above contain references to suicide which viewers may find distressing.
A veteran who felt suicidal after being forced to leave the military in 1987, for being the "most hated of people – a gay woman", has been speaking of her experience.
Elaine Chambers appears in Forced Out, a new Sky documentary focusing on serving personnel who were told that, because of their sexuality, they must resign or were dismissed without support, with, they all say, detrimental consequences to their mental health and careers.
The veteran, who joined the Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps as a student nurse in March 1982, spoke with BFBS The Forces Station about how close she came to taking her own life after being told she must leave the Armed Forces, saying: "It was the lowest ebb I've ever been at and it's the only time in my entire life I was very, very close to contemplating suicide.
"It was only someone knocking on my door when I was incredibly drunk and about to take a load of Temazepam that saved my life.
Despite homosexuality in England and Wales being decriminalised in 1967, it took a further 33 years for the long-standing ban on LGBT+ serving in the Armed Forces to be lifted.
Ms Chambers said: "You've got people who aren't even conscripted, who are voluntarily signing the line to potentially put their lives at risk for the rest of the nation, to protect everybody else's rights and freedoms to be themselves, and yet you, yourself, are not allowed those same rights.
"At the time of my investigation, I was still seeing men and trying to be straight and trying to fit in and convince myself that what I felt was a phase or a crush or I was bisexual – anything to not be this most vilified and hated of people – a gay woman."
Some were imprisoned, given criminal records, had medals removed and their service pensions revoked by the institutions they desperately wanted to serve.
The nearly two-hour Sky programme features testimonies from several LGBT+ veterans whose sexuality led them to face intrusive investigations, ruthless interrogations and in some cases, incredibly personal physical examinations by the Royal Military Police.
Elaine's story
Ms Chambers' nursing career progressed quickly and, by 1986, she was a staff nurse and had been promoted to a Junior Sister with the rank of Lieutenant.
Before joining the Armed Forces, the aspiring nurse never thought her sexuality would eventually get her in trouble with the law.
She said: "I found out very quickly after I joined that it wasn't just illegal but effectively it deems you a criminal if you even thought you might be gay never mind acted upon those feelings."
During her basic training, Ms Chambers met a woman and their blossoming relationship confirmed to her that what she had felt as a teenager was in fact very real.
However, this fellow recruit was more 'savvy' than Ms Chambers so warned that their relationship must remain a secret, saying it was "very, very dangerous" to reveal her sexuality.
Ms Chambers said: "That was really difficult because, on the one hand, I was just so relieved and felt 'oh my God, this feels so right and so normal and natural for me' that I wanted to kind of sing it from the rooftops and let people know how happy I was.
"But then that was obviously completely not allowed and I had to, you know, hide everything I was feeling and that was really tough."
Eventually, Ms Chambers was posted to Germany and served during the height of the Cold War.
However, thanks to a rumour started in 1987 by a "senior closeted lesbian officer" who was "like a terrier with a rag" trying to "keep her 'straight credentials' in order", it was revealed that Ms Chambers was a lesbian.
The Royal Military Police investigated and interrogated her for several hours.
She said: "Being anything other than heteronormative was basically viewed as a crime and deemed you, therefore, a criminal."
Following a lengthy investigation in which Ms Chambers admitted she was a lesbian, the Royal Military Police forced her to resign from the British Army.
She said: "It was a Hobson's choice of 'you must resign or we'll make you resign anyway', so I thought, 'OK I'll resign', so I resigned my commission in January 1988."
In the wake of her career being cut short, Ms Chambers co-founded the campaigning and support group Rank Outsiders – which supported many veterans in their fight for justice – with fellow unfairly dismissed veteran Robert Ely, a former Bandmaster with the Parachute Regiment, who had been forced out after 19 years.
She said: "We were lucky enough to take part in a documentary, Heart Of The Matter with Joan Bakewell, and that went out prime time on BBC and that got massive interest, so we set up a membership organisation of Rank Outsiders."
The organisation played a crucial role in getting the ban on LGBT+ people serving in the Armed Forces lifted in 2000.
The small group of brave veterans took on an unprecedented campaign to change the law.
Together they faced what felt like an impossible task – proving to the MOD, to politicians and to the nation, that being gay should not be a barrier to serving their country.
The lasting effects of the ban are still felt strongly today as eyes turn towards an imminent independent Government review of past treatment of LGBT+ veterans and how to address the impact of the ban.
Ms Chambers told BFBS she still feels the pain of her dismissal and continues to campaign for compensation for veterans who were forced out due to their sexuality.
In response to the documentary, the Ministry of Defence said: "We are incredibly grateful to all our LGBT+ military and civilian personnel and the significant contributions they make to ensure our security and support our international allies and partners.
"The historical policy prohibiting homosexuality in the Armed Forces was abhorrent and we deeply regret that LGBT+ members serving in defence suffered injustice as a consequence.
"Defence continues to demonstrate that the military and defence is a positive place for all who choose to serve by reviewing and addressing historic injustices and discriminatory policies."
If you want to listen to the full BFBS the Forces Station interview with Elaine Chambers click here.
You can watch Forced Out, the stories of the service personnel who were dishonourably discharged from the UK Armed Forces and who dared to fight for the 'gay ban' to be overturned, on Sky Documentaries.
Cover image: British Army veteran Elaine Chambers' story features in Sky documentary Forced Out (Picture: Sky UK Ltd / Dragonfly Film and Television Ltd).
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