Personnel Share Military Experiences Of Before And After LGB Ban

Veterans and serving personnel have been sharing their experiences, 20 years after the ban on lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) military personnel was lifted.

The current and former personnel, some of who were instrumental in the fight to remove the ban, have come together to talk about their experiences and support a new charity, 'Fighting With Pride'.

One of those affected by the ban on LGB people serving in the armed forces was Sub Lieutenant Ed Hall.

At an event in London, he described how he was interrogated for two days as a young man without any legal representation, before being dismissed from the Royal Navy for being gay.

The traumatic experience inspired Sub Lieutenant (Ret'd) Ed Hall to fight the ban.

"It took six years to win, but it was part of a strange process, a strange world where there were 100, 200, 300 of us who had been sacked and were in touch with each other and were angry," he said.

"[We] were trying to find a way to get rid of a ban that we thought was profoundly wrong."

The fight with the Ministry of Defence took Ed and the rest of the campaign group 'Rank Outsiders' all the way to the European Court of Human Rights.

In 1999, the group won their battle.

Today, the charity Fighting With Pride wants to see equal treatment for veterans dismissed because of their sexual orientation.

Just before the ban was lifted, Royal Air Force fighter pilot Caroline Paige became the first transgender officer to serve openly in the armed forces, but not before she had spent years in service hiding her true identity.

"I was always looking over my shoulder. It was a scary, scary time because I was really scared someone would out me," Flt Lt (Rtd) Paige said.

As the co-chair of Fighting with Pride, she wants to make sure those forced out under the ban are properly supported by the veterans' community.

"What the charity is trying to do is to reach back to those individuals who were dismissed, who fell on hard times, who have been suffering, who haven't had the support," she explained.

Fighting With Pride say they want to make sure LGBT voices are not forgotten.