US EditionFinancial redress for LGBT veterans must be sped up, MPs to urge ministers
UNITED KINGDOM, JUL 8 – The UK Government committed to speeding payments in a £75 million scheme after only 84 of 1,300 eligible LGBT veterans have received financial redress so far, charity data shows.
- MPs will urge ministers to speed up compensation payments for LGBT veterans affected by the military ban ending in 2000.
- The ban criminalised LGBT service members until 2000, resulting in thousands being dismissed, interrogated, or jailed for their sexuality.
- A £75 million redress scheme launched in December offers up to £70,000 per veteran, but delays and slow communication have triggered criticism.
- The Veterans Minister, Al Carns, announced intentions to double the staff handling payouts and introduce an automated payment system, noting that 84 out of 1,300 applicants have been paid so far.
- The call for faster payouts reflects concerns that many veterans are elderly, in poor health, and need financial support before it is too late.
18 Articles
18 Articles
LGBT+ veterans left in limbo after government payment pledge
Warning: this article contains references to homophobic abuse and distressing content. Until the year 2000, being LGBT+ in the British military was a crime. Thousands of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender personnel were dismissed, interrogated, and in some cases, criminalised simply for being themselves. In 2023, then-prime minister Rishi Sunak formally apologised in parliament, calling the ban “appalling treatment”. Rishi Sunak formally apo…
LGBT veterans compensation to be sped up after fury at 'painfully slow' process - The Mirror
Around 20,000 armed forces personnel were jailed, dismissed or outed against their will before the rule on service was lifted in 2000, described by Veterans Minister Al Carns as a 'truly dark era'
Sussex Express
Chichester ObserverPolitical opinion: Jess Brown-Fuller MP holds debate on LGBT Veterans Compensation rollout
Chichester MP Jess Brown-Fuller has called on the Government to urgently accelerate the delivery of compensation to LGBT veterans who were dismissed from the UK Armed Forces due to their sexuality prior to the year 2000.
Evening Standard
Financial redress for LGBT veterans must be sped up, MPs to urge ministers
Ministers must ensure all LGBT veterans who suffered historical mistreatment in the armed forces get compensation swiftly, MPs are to warn in a parliamentary debate.
On This Gay Day | Britain repealed the controversial 'Section 28' laws
In 2003 Britain’s House of Lords voted in favour of repealing a controversial law ‘Section 28’ which had been introduced in 1988 by the Thatcher government. The laws had been brought in as the number of gay men dying as a result of the AIDS crisis was rapidly growing and anti-LGBT sentiment was rife in British society. In the year before the laws were introduced polls showed that 75% of Britons that homosexuality was “always or mostly wrong”. T…
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