'We had been hated by the highest levels of command'

It’s 25 years since the ban on gay men and women serving in the UK armed forces was lifted. Those in the firing line recall the trauma that thousands suffered. Damian Kerlin reports

- Damian Kerlin

Craig Jones was a small-town Yorkshire lad with a single ambition - to join the Royal Navy, just as his uncle had done after the Second World War. After impressing the interview board, he earned a spot on an elite fast-tracking course and on 12 September 1989 he walked through the gates of Britannia Royal Naval College. He was on his way to a new life, doing something that would have made his uncle proud, but as he walked towards his dream future, he also says he did so “leaving a part of me behind”. Craig Jones was one of an estimated 5,000 people in the army who were breaking the law by being there because they were gay.

On 12 January 2000, a historic ruling by the European Court of Human Rights transformed the lives of LGBT+ individuals in the UK. By declaring the military’s ban on gay and lesbian service personnel unlawful, the court forced the British Armed Forces to lift a policy that had, for decades, institutionalised discrimination, secrecy and fear. The ruling marked a turning point for LGBT+ rights in the UK and sparked a slow but significant cultural shift within one of the nation’s most rigid institutions.

For former lieutenant commander Craig Jones it would be lifechanging. Reflecting on the era of secrecy, he describes the immense pressure it placed on LGBT+ personnel. “You had to be absolutely meticulous,” he says. “One mistake could destroy everything – your career, your reputation, your sense of self. The stress was constant.”

In 1995, a leaked letter from Admiral Sir Hugo White to First Sea Lord Sir Jock Slater revealed how hard the fight was going to be to get it overturned. Senior Royal Navy officials were already preparing a robust defence to maintain the ban on homosexuals serving in the armed forces.

"It wasn’t just words. It was how deeply ingrained the prejudice was, from the very top down to the mess deck. That kind of rhetoric wasn’t uncommon, it was almost expected"