OUR LATEST ISSUE
Trooper came out to the British army before telling his parents
Soldier Magazine
UK's Soldier magazine has gay on cover
This month's edition of Soldier, the official publication of the British army, has a gay serviceman on the cover for the first time. Trooper James Wharton, 22, of the Household Cavalry Regiment, who served in Iraq on long-range desert patrols, told Soldier how he came out.
"I came out to the army before I told my parents, so that says a lot for the armed forces. I told the army in March 2003, after all my initial training was over - I was 18. I have always known I was gay but it wasn't until then that I told anyone."
Although he can recall just two incidents regarding his sexuality in his six years of service, neither of them serious enough for him to question his career, he says that despite the army's progress in diversity issues there is still work to be done, with potential recruits sometimes deterred by ill-informed personnel.
"A lot of people express their worries about being gay at recruitment and some awful things have been said to them, like 'you're not allowed to be gay in army time' or 'you shouldn't be gay'. I think there is room for improvement as far as the army is concerned because there are still people who can't accept the changes - but it's 1000 times better than 10 years ago."
Liverpool FC fan Wharton ("People tend to think gay people don't like sport and that they just sit and file their nails - that is not he case. I love playing and watching sport and I don't own a nail file") met his boyfriend Ryan at last year's London Pride, the first time members of the armed forces were allowed to march in uniform.
As the magazine points out, just 10 years ago it was illegal to be gay in the UK armed forces, but a 2000 ruling by the European Court of Human Rights found the MoD's position unsustainable. Soldier says that homosexual men and women are now able to proudly serve - without hiding their sexuality, and that trooper Wharton's openness is evidence that instead of being oppressed, gay and lesbian army personnel are now given full support.
Soldier magazine was given the go-ahead by Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery (who never married) as a moral-booster for British troops fighting in Europe, with the first edition printed in March 1945. A revealing incident in Montgomery's life was related in Max Hastings's Armageddon, his 600-page work about the closing months of the second world war in Europe.
"One of the field-marshal's young liaison officers returned to duty after recovering from wounds, and found himself summoned to Montgomery's caravan. He was ordered to remove his clothes. The bemused young man stood naked at attention before his commander, who observed that he wished to ensure that he was fully fit for duty again. 'Right!' said Montgomery after a few moments, in his usual clipped bark. 'You can dress and go now!'"
Yet here is Noel Coward's diary entry for June 23 1965: "There has been another high-flown debate about suggested (idiotic) amendments to the Homosexual Bill, in the course of which Lord Montgomery announced that homosexuality between men was the most abominable and bestial act that any human being could commit! The poor old sod must be gaga."
