Steven Stewart: It’s time for LGBTQ+ veterans to get the justice we deserve

I was on duty when my world fell apart. After seven years of service I was called in to see the officer commanding. When I went in, a warrant officer from the Special Investigation Branch arrested me for alleged homosexuality.

I joined the Royal Military Police in 1988 when I was 18, but in many ways the army had always been an important part of my life. My father was a royal marine, so growing up we spent years moving around with the military. It was an environment where I felt like I belonged.

But being gay in the army was a crime until 2000. As a young serviceman struggling to understand my sexuality, I reached out to two gay men after finding their details in a magazine, searching for guidance that I couldn’t find elsewhere. I never imagined that those private letters would be used against me to force me out of a career I loved.

On that day in 1995, those letters were weaponised against me. As soon as the army found them, I was immediately banished from my unit and put on administrative duties. A few months later I was told that I would be found guilty of homosexuality, sent to prison and dishonourably discharged from the army. It felt like everything I had worked for would be taken away, along with any chance of future employment.

That’s when I was offered an alternative. I was told that I could avoid all that if I chose to leave voluntarily. But it wasn’t a free choice. No-one faced with that situation would choose to go to prison and have their future destroyed.

So I accepted this deal. I didn’t want to leave the army, but I had no choice. I left that meeting in tears, and left the career I loved against my will.

When the Ministry of Defence announced its compensation scheme for LGBTQ+ veterans in 2024, I thought I was finally going to get some of the justice I deserved. But instead I was refused the payment of up to £70,000 because I had accepted the offer of resignation over dismissal.

John Healey, Secretary of State for Defence, told the House of Commons that this Labour government will “right the historic wrongs” to LGBTQ+ veterans. But for people like me, the fight still continues.

For over 30 years I’ve carried the secret about what really happened to me. I was too ashamed and humiliated to tell anyone the truth – the harassment I suffered at the hands of homophobic servicemen was enough to convince me that everyone would view me in the same negative way they did.

Coming forward now has meant that I’ve had to go through this trauma again with my family, friends, current work colleagues and former military colleagues. It’s one of the most painful things I’ve had to do, but those I feared losing were the most supportive, and I will be grateful to them for the rest of my life. I’ve spoken to others like me who were forced out of the army, and it’s given me the strength to fight for justice.