{"id":153730,"date":"2024-10-14T17:44:15","date_gmt":"2024-10-14T17:44:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/10\/14\/lgbt-veterans-compensation-scheme-to-launch-in-january\/"},"modified":"2024-10-14T17:44:15","modified_gmt":"2024-10-14T17:44:15","slug":"lgbt-veterans-compensation-scheme-to-launch-in-january","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/10\/14\/lgbt-veterans-compensation-scheme-to-launch-in-january\/","title":{"rendered":"LGBT+ veterans compensation scheme to launch in January"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Compensation for LGBT veterans who faced mistreatment in the military will begin in January, a defence minister has announced.<\/p>\n

The government will start a \u00a350m financial redress scheme for victims of the pre-2000 “gay ban” in the military next year, Veterans Minister Al Carns said.<\/p>\n

The announcement follows Lord Etherton\u2019s report<\/a> last year, which revealed decades of bullying, assaults and expulsions of LGBT military members – often leaving them without income or pensions.<\/p>\n

Carns told the House of Commons “the treatment of LGBT veterans was completely and utterly unacceptable”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Homosexuality was decriminalised in the UK in 1967, but a ban continued in the armed forces until 2000.<\/p>\n

The Ministry of Defence said at the time that justification for the policy included “maintenance of operational effectiveness and efficiency”.<\/p>\n

But Lord Etherton’s report said there had been an “incomprehensible policy of homophobic bigotry” in the armed forces.<\/p>\n

Lord Etherton, Britain’s first openly gay senior judge, found there was a culture of overt homophobia in the forces – enforced through bullying, blackmail and sexual assault.<\/p>\n

Many gay service personnel were dismissed, lost out on job opportunities, and were shunned by families and friends.<\/p>\n

On the release of Lord Etherton’s report in July 2023, then prime minister Rishi Sunak apologised in Parliament, calling the ban \u201can appalling failure” of the British state.<\/p>\n

The report made 49 recommendations to the government including:<\/p>\n