The British Army’s top brass has made military history by addressing a conference on homosexuality.
The chief of the general staff, General Sir Richard Dannatt, speaking at the Fourth Joint Conference on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transexual Matters, said that the Army welcomes homosexuals to serve within their ranks.
This is an about-turn for the general who only last year banned Army soldiers from marching in uniform in gay Pride parades.
At the conference in London, Dannatt said that respect for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transsexual officers and soldiers was now “a command responsibility” and was vital for “operational effectiveness.”
He said: “We have made real progress in our understanding of equality and diversity in the military context, and there is a desire to achieve more. My recent Equality and Diversity Directive for the Army sets the standard that we all must live by, and, importantly, it communicates that standard to everyone in the chain of command.”
One of the Army’s core values is “Respect for Others,” and a drive to make this value more transparent in the organisation seems to be behind Dannatt’s change of face.
He added: “Respect for others is not an optional extra, it is a command responsibility and an essential part of leadership, teamwork and operational effectiveness. We must get dealing with each other in the Army right, so that we also get it right when dealing with other populations on operations, when we often have men and women from other nations under command.”
Prior to 2000, homosexuals were banned from serving in the armed forces. The European Court of Human Rights determined this discrimination to be a “grave interference” into the private lives of individuals and forced the ban to be lifted.