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Homosexuals in military a non-issue in British forces

The officer, a squadron leader in the Royal Air Force, felt he had no choice. So he stood up in front of his squad of 30 to 40 people.

"I said, `Right, I've got something to tell you,'" he said. "`I believe that for us to be able to work closely together and have faith in each other, we have to be honest and open and frank. And it has to be a two-way process, and it starts with me baring my soul. You may have heard some rumors, and yes, I have a long-term partner who is a he, not a she.'"

Far from causing problems, he said, he found that coming out to his troops actually increased the unit's strength and cohesion. He had felt uneasy keeping the secret "that their boss was a poof," as he put it, from people he worked with so closely.

Since the British military began allowing homosexuals to serve in the armed forces in 2000, none of its fears -- about harassment, discord, blackmail, bullying or an erosion of unit cohesion or military effectiveness -- have come to pass, according to the Ministry of Defense, current and former members of the services and academics specializing in the military.

The biggest news about the policy, they say, is that there is no news. It has for the most part become a non-issue.

The British Ministry of Defense does not compile figures on how many gay men and lesbians are openly serving, and it says that the number of people who have come out publicly in the past seven years is still relatively low. But it is clearly proud of how smoothly homosexuals have been integrated and is trying to make life easier for them.

"What we're hoping to do is to, over a period of time, reinforce the message that people who are gay, lesbian and the like are welcomed in the armed forces and we don't discriminate against them in any way," a defense ministry official said in an interview, speaking on condition of anonymity in accordance with the ministry's practice.

Nonetheless, the issue is extremely delicate now. The military does not want to be seen bragging about the success of its policy when the issue still can cause so much anguished debate in the US. This is particularly true in light of tensions between the allies after a British coroner ruled in March that a British soldier who died four years ago was unlawfully killed by a US pilot.

For this article, the defense ministry refused to give permission for any member of the forces to be interviewed, either on or off the record. Those who spoke did so before the ministry made its position clear.

"We're not looking to have quotes taken out of context in a way to imply that we're trying to influence the debate in the United States," the British official said.

"There are some sensitivities over the timing of this. We have had communications from our counterparts in the United States, and they have asked us questions about how we've handled it and how it's gone on the ground. There does seem to be some debate going on over how long the current policy will be sustainable," he said.

The debate in the US was rekindled in March when General Peter Pace, who as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is the country's top-ranking military official, told the Chicago Tribune that he believed that homosexuality was immoral.

In January, General John Shalikashvili, who until his retirement in 1997 held the same post under the administration of Bill Clinton, when the Pentagon adopted its "don't ask, don't tell" policy, said in an op-ed article in the New York Times that he now believed that the military was ready to accept gay men and lesbians. A military already stretched thin, he said, "must welcome the service of any American who is willing and able to do the job."

At least 24 countries -- many of them allies of the US, and some of them members of the coalition forces fighting alongside Americans -- now allow gay soldiers to serve openly in their armed forces.

Until its policy changed, the British military had deep misgivings about allowing homosexuals to serve openly in its armed forces. But it had no choice. It was forced to by a European court, which ruled that its policy of excluding homosexuals violated the European Convention on Human Rights.

"There was a lot of apprehension among some senior personnel that there would be an increase in things like bullying and harassment based on sexual orientation, and some of them were almost predicting that the world was going to come to an end," the defense ministry official said.

"But all the problems the services thought were going to come to pass really haven't materialized," the official said.
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