Speaker’s LGBT+ History Month event hears moving testimony

A senior soldier in the Armed Forces and an MP in the House of Commons told an LGBT+ History Month event at Speaker’s House of their relief that they no longer have to hide their sexuality.

Until January 2000, thousands of LGBT+ forces’ personnel were dismissed or forced from service – and abandoned - after serving with pride.

Clare Phillips, an openly gay brigadier who has served for 30 years in the Army – including five years during the ban - spoke movingly about how she was forced to describe her girlfriend as ‘a friend’ and to ‘carefully omit names and details’ to avoid being penalised.

‘For years, that was my reality and that of all of our LGBT veterans – editing our lives to protect our careers, due to the blanket ban on LGBT personnel serving in the UK Armed Forces,’ she said.

‘For hundreds of LGBT veterans, their experience was catastrophic – raids, investigations, blackmail, discharges; their lives shattered.

‘The ban contradicted the very peace, respect, and freedom our Armed Forces uphold, with LGBT service personnel treated as outsiders; despite serving with the same courage, commitment, and sacrifice as everyone else.

‘For me, LGBT History Month is about remembering that I stand on the shoulders of giants – those who fought discrimination and persecution, so I can now serve openly and proudly.’

Brigadier Phillips added: ‘Diversity is not a compromise – it is our greatest asset.’

Labour MP Antonia Bance, who was elected in the 2024 General Election, said she felt ‘great pride’ that she could speak out so openly about her story.

She said her younger self would never have believed that ‘the girl who got sacked, who went to a school where you couldn’t say “gay”, who thought marriage was for other people, would one day be stood here, legally equal, an out-lesbian MP, mamma to a six-year old’ would be given such a platform in Parliament.

‘Our history matters. Telling young people that LGBT people existed, lived, loved – matters,’ she added.

Conservative MP Paul Holmes said while he had never experienced ‘persecution’ as a gay man, Parliament had been one of the places where ‘courageous campaigners pushed forward the fight for equality.’

He said the equalisation of the age of consent, the repeal of Section 28, the introduction of civil partnerships and same sex marriage, ensured ‘that love and commitment are recognised equally under the law – and love does mean love.

‘Parliament has played a crucial role in shaping a fairer society.’

Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle, who instigated the LGBT+ History Month event, said it was important to host it in Parliament, because of the role it had played in the history of the community through legislation and the efforts of openly gay trailblazers, like former MPs Chris Smith and Justine Greening.

Addressing audience members who were dismissed from the Forces for being gay, Mr Speaker, a long-time champion of the Armed Forces, said: ‘On behalf of everyone in this room, I want to thank you for your service to your country - and for your fight for change for those that have followed.’

He added he was ‘proud to lead a House of Commons that is one of the gayest in the world’ and ‘proud that my office is the gayest in Parliament and an enriched workplace because of its diversity.’

Comedian and presenter Sandi Toksvig; comedian, actor and activist Suzy Eddie Izzard, and BBC Radio Lancashire presenter Graham Liver were among guests at the annual event, which also featured an exhibition dedicated to computer pioneer and Enigma codebreaker Alan Turing.

Mr Turing, who committed suicide in 1954 following his conviction for gross indecency, was posthumously pardoned in 2013.

The term ‘Alan Turing law’ is used informally to refer to the 2017 law that retroactively pardoned men cautioned or convicted under historical legislation that outlawed homosexual acts.