A High Court judge ruled Oct. 28 that two British veterans pushed out under the military’s old LGBT ban can take their compensation case against the Ministry of Defence to a full hearing.
“I am persuaded this is a matter that warrants further consideration by the court,” Mrs Justice Eady said, GB News reported. That hearing is likely in January.
Steven Stewart and Mark Shephard both quit under pressure. The MoD’s LGBT Financial Recognition Scheme paid them £7,000 and £5,000. It refused them bigger awards because they were never formally dismissed or discharged, BBC News reported.
The ban ran from 1967 to 2000. People who were gay or trans, or thought to be, faced interrogation and dismissal. Eighteen years after it ended, the Royal Marines announced they would march at Pride in London for the first time.
Royal Military Police Corporal Steven Stewart Was Told He Faced a Court-Martial
Stewart was a corporal in the Royal Military Police from 1988 until 1995. That year, the court heard, he was “stripped of his duty pistol and escorted into the office of his commander” and told “incriminating letters” had been found. Investigators questioned him under caution. He resigned after being warned of a possible court-martial and jail time.
“Leaving under those circumstances was devastating,” Stewart said. “My military career ended overnight.”
He’d served in the Gulf War and in Northern Ireland, BFBS Forces News reported in April. He also had to pay £300 to be released from his contract.
“I didn’t leave of my own accord. I didn’t want to leave,” he told the outlet.
RAF Technician Mark Shephard Told His Commanding Officer He Was Gay
Shephard, from Taunton in Somerset, joined the Royal Air Force in 1995 as a senior aircraftman technician. In 1999, after persistent bullying, he broke down in front of his commanding officer and told her he was gay. He hadn’t known about the ban. He later applied to leave after being warned he’d otherwise be summarily dismissed.
He said he was “driven out of the career I trained hard to achieve and excelled at.” Only recently did he tell friends and family why he really left.
The scheme pays a flat £50,000 to people who were dismissed or discharged, plus “impact payments” of up to £20,000. Isabelle Agerbak, the men’s barrister, said that means someone dismissed can get up to £70,000. Someone who resigned after an ultimatum tops out at £20,000. She called the setup “irrational and unfair.”
“It is entirely unclear how and why the defendant arrived at an outcome whereby those who were compelled to resign would be eligible for tens of thousands of pounds less than those with similar experiences, but who were dismissed or discharged,” Agerbak wrote.
MoD Lawyer Cites £75 Million Already Paid Out
Amanda Jones, for the MoD, called the claim “not arguable.” She said the scheme had a “limited total budget” and that £75 million had been spent. Opening the top payment to people who resigned would cost “a very significant additional sum,” she said.
She said those who resigned got a positive reference and didn’t have to repay a £4,000 bonus.
Defence Secretary Wes Streeting told The Guardian last week the department wanted to resolve the case without legal action, GB News reported.
Peter Gibson runs the charity Fighting With Pride. “We consider this a grossly unfair gap in the rules,” he told Forces News in April.
Angela Jackman of Irwin Mitchell, the firm representing both men, put out a statement before the hearing. “Many LGBT veterans feel the scheme fails to recognise the reality of how they were driven out of military service and unfairly excludes them from the highest level of compensation,” she said.
Applications for the scheme close at 11:59 p.m. on Dec. 12, according to the government’s Affected by the Ban site.
