UK - LGBT veterans reject badge until compensation paid

[Lori Dee]

LGBT veterans reject badge until compensation paid
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BBC News - Josh Parry, LGBT and identity reporter

LGBT veterans awarded a special badge to mark the injustice they faced say they will refuse to wear it until the government pays them compensation.
Representatives from the Army, the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force attended a ceremony in Westminster on Tuesday to receive the first of thousands of pin badges planned for those who served during 1967-2000, when it was illegal to be gay in the military.

But the group told Defence Secretary John Healey they would not wear the badges until all 49 recommendations of an independent report were enacted, including financial compensation for those affected.

The Ministry of Defence has declined to comment on the veterans' decision not to wear the badge.

Homosexuality was decriminalised in the UK in 1967 but a ban continued in the armed forces.
The badge was one of the recommendations Lord Etherton, who conducted an independent review into LGBT veterans' treatment under the ban, said the government should carry out to make reparations.

And the group told the defence secretary they hoped the recommendations would be carried out before 12 January 2025, the 25th anniversary of the ban being lifted.

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