{"id":337714,"date":"2025-10-28T05:49:15","date_gmt":"2025-10-28T05:49:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/337714\/"},"modified":"2025-10-28T05:49:15","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T05:49:15","slug":"king-charles-iii-unveils-uks-first-memorial-for-lgbtq-troops","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/337714\/","title":{"rendered":"King Charles III unveils UK’s first memorial for LGBTQ+ troops"},"content":{"rendered":"

LONDON (AP) \u2014 King Charles III<\/a> on Monday dedicated Britain\u2019s first national memorial to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender troops, 25 years after the U.K. ended a ban<\/a> on homosexuality in the armed forces.<\/p>\n

The king, who is the ceremonial head of the armed forces, laid flowers at the monument in the National Memorial Arboretum in central England at a service attended by scores of serving troops and veterans. The sculpture takes the form of a crumpled bronze letter bearing words from personnel who were affected by the ban.<\/p>\n

Between 1967 and 2000, soldiers, sailors and air force personnel who were \u2014 or were thought to be \u2014 gay or transgender were labeled unfit to serve and dismissed or discharged from the forces. Some were stripped of medals or lost their pension rights, and many struggled with the stigma for decades.<\/p>\n

The government lifted the ban after a 1999 ruling from the European Court of Human Rights.<\/p>\n

In 2023 then-Prime Minister Rishi Sunak formally apologized for what he called \u201can appalling failure of the British state.\u201d A compensation program<\/a> was established, with veterans who were dismissed from the military because of their sexual orientation or gender identity receiving up to 70,000 pounds ($93,000) each.<\/p>\n

LGBTQ+ military charity Fighting with Pride said the new monument represents a \u201cpowerful step forward in recognizing and honoring the service and sacrifices\u201d of the gay and transgender troops.<\/p>\n

Claire Ashton, who was forced to leave the Royal Artillery in 1972, when she was 21, said it was \u201ca moment I never believed would happen, a moment full of meaning and, finally, of pride.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m in my 70s now and have forever lived with the psychological scars of being kicked out \u2013 \u2018medically discharged,\u2019 as it was labeled on my records,\u201d she said. \u201cIt means so much to be with others who\u2019ve been through similar nightmares to me and, like me, are making peace with the past.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brig. Clare Phillips told the ceremony that as \u201ca gay woman who has served in the British Army for 30 years \u2026 my career has taken me from a life of secrecy, fear and darkness to a career of pride, openness and joy.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the serving community, today\u2019s unveiling of this incredible memorial is about remembering that we stand on the shoulders of giants \u2013 those people who fought discrimination and persecution so we can now serve openly and proudly,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The event followed an appearance by the king at Lichfield Cathedral, where he was heckled about Prince Andrew<\/a> \u2018s friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A heckler asked the king how long he had known about Andrew and Epstein, and if he asked police to cover up for his brother.<\/p>\n

The king did not answer and the man was shouted down and pulled out of sight. Some in the crowd then chanted \u201cGod Save the King.\u201d<\/p>\n

Andrew recently agreed to stop using<\/a> titles including Duke of York, but Buckingham Palace and the British government have been under pressure to formally strip him of his princely title and royal mansion after new revelations about his relationship with Epstein. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LONDON (AP) \u2014 King Charles III on Monday dedicated Britain\u2019s first national memorial to lesbian, gay, bisexual and…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":337715,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[166849,166850,57,15053,45981,5603,50,73563,145495,45980,376,96,103,107],"class_list":{"0":"post-337714","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-claire-ashton","9":"tag-clare-phillips","10":"tag-general-news","11":"tag-jeffrey-epstein","12":"tag-king-charles-iii","13":"tag-lgbtq","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-prince-andrew","16":"tag-rishi-sunak","17":"tag-royalty","18":"tag-united-kingdom","19":"tag-war-and-unrest","20":"tag-world","21":"tag-world-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115450227216887104","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=337714"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337714\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/337715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=337714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=337714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=337714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}