“Being able to march in a Pride in your uniform is something that I couldn’t even have dreamed of.”
This year marks a significant milestone: 25 years since the ban on LGBT+ personnel serving in the British Armed Forces was finally lifted. Until 2000, service members who were gay faced not just prejudice but punishment. Although homosexuality was decriminalised in civilian life in 1967, that same year new legislation entrenched discrimination within the military. For decades, LGBT+ personnel risked arrest, interrogation, medical humiliation, and dismissal—simply for being themselves.
That changed on 12 January 2000, when the European Court of Human Rights ruled the ban a violation of Article 8: the right to a private and family life. It was a turning point that has transformed countless lives.
To mark this anniversary, the RAF Museum—working with Fighting With Pride and the RAF LGBT+ Freedom Network—is gathering and sharing the personal stories of those directly affected.
Each month are sharing the perspectives of a selection of people who will discuss the impact of the ban and their treatment by the RAF at the time, which had a lasting effect on their lives.
One such story is Kevin Bazeley’s. A former RAF navigator who served during the Gulf War, Kevin was outed and discharged while stationed at RAF Kinloss. Today, he is dedicating himself to honouring LGBT+ veterans, having worked with Fighting With Pride and now developing a national memorial at the National Memorial Arboretum.
In this, our sixth video, he ponders at the progress that has been made by the Armed Services in adopting gay people into their ranks and how being able to march in a Pride in your uniform was something that he couldn’t even have dreamed of.
We are now inviting LGBT+ RAF veterans and serving personnel to help shape an ambitious new artwork that is being commissioned by the Museum. Led by David Tovey—a gay British Army veteran who left service in 1997 and is now a renowned multi-disciplinary artist.
The aim of this commission will be to amplify voices that were once silenced.
Be seen. Be heard. Be part of this legacy.
Please join the conversation now and share your story at: bit.ly/3HGXflU
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