"There were people pointing the finger, making accusations of being gay which you had to argue and fight against. You couldn’t say ‘Yes I am, what are you going to do about it?’ Because you knew damn well what they were going to do about it."
Paul Schubert's forces career may have begun more than a decade after homosexuality was decriminalised in the UK, but as a serving soldier, he was still breaking the law simply by being himself.
Now, the former Royal Military Policeman, who left the forces in 1990, is speaking out about his experiences as part of the Imperial War Museum North’s new exhibition – Military Pride – which celebrates the country’s gay and lesbian service personnel and the long fight to bring them justice.
Last year marked 40 years since the battle for gay rights in the armed forces began. In 1967, when the Sexual Offences act was brought in, it stated that ‘private’ homosexual acts between men over 21 would no longer be illegal. However, the law remained unchanged for the armed forces.
Homosexuality would remain a criminal offence for service personnel until the mid-90s, and even when it was legalised, it was still a sackable offence.
Patrick Lyster-Todd, who joined the Royal Navy in 1972, recalls: "One of the ironies with being gay was that you could be blackmailed. Of course, if you were allowed to be gay then you wouldn’t be blackmailed in the first place. I did lie when being vetted. I did not lie willingly, but in full consideration of one question. ‘Was I blackmailable?’ And I was 100% sure that there was nothing which could make me be a traitor to my country and my fellow men and women. I was resolute in that, I could not be blackmailed. And if they could not get their bloody policy right, then I’d tell the lie until they did."
To combat the MoD’s unjust policy, the Stonewall Group, set up in 1989, had the stated aim of eradicating the barriers that prevented homosexual service personnel being treated equally. A support group called Rank Outsiders was also set up for gay and lesbian service personnel who had been dismissed from duty.
Through Stonewall, troops who had been unfairly treated because of their sexuality were able to fight their case in the High Court. In 1995, a test case was allowed to proceed to the European Commission of Human Rights, and by 1998, the ban was finally lifted.
Although they no longer have to hide their sexuality from their employers, troops today still have to deal with discriminatory behaviour from colleagues. Craftsman Richard J Cann recalls: "One time, I walked into my room after a break and it had been trashed. I found something that made it clear it was a targeted attack; a stupid note, stating that this person didn’t like the fact that I was gay. I ripped the note up and put it in the bin. You know, I’m made of stronger stuff."
But despite the actions of one thoughtless colleague, Richard, like most of the other contributors tot the Military Pride exhibition, is proud to be a soldier.
He explains: "I am a serving British soldier who just happens to be gay and it is literally seen as that. It’s testament to the professionalism of soldiers today. Go back 20 years, though, and I suspect it would have been a totally different story."
