UK unveils first memorial honoring LGBTQ+ veterans who served under anti-gay banhttps://www.lgbtqnation.com/2025/10/uk-unveils-first-memorial-honoring-lgbtq-veterans-who-served-under-anti-gay-ban/ 🔗Faefyx Collington (27 Oct 2025)
King Charles III has dedicated a memorial to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender military service members at the United Kingdom's National Memorial Arboretum. The memorial recognizes both current LGBTQ+ members of the armed forces and those who suffered under the military's LGBTQ+ ban.
The memorial, "An Opened Letter," combines words taken from evidence that was used in investigations against servicemembers while the ban was still in place. The text closes with a call to "embrace our diversity & fight for our country."
The memorial's website says it "serves as a place of reflection, recognition and remembrance, ensuring that the stories of those who served, and those who suffered, are never forgotten."
While homosexuality was decriminalized in the United Kingdom in 1967, the military held a ban against LGBTQ+ personnel until the year 2000. During that time, LGBTQ+ people in the military, or those suspected of being LGBTQ+, were subject to intensive investigations filled with invasive questions about their private lives. The investigations often resulted in people being dismissed without pay or pension, and some even faced prison time.
