Craig Jones | |
|---|---|
 Craig in 2008 | |
| Born | 17 July 1968 |
| Nationality | British |
| Alma mater | University of Portsmouth |
| Occupation(s) | Author, Equality Campaigner and formerly Lt Cdr RN |
Craig Jones MBE (born 17 July 1968) is a former Royal Navy Officer and LGBT+ equality advocate in the UK armed forces. [1] Jones was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire in the 2006 New Years Honours List for services to Equality and Human Rights in the Armed Forces. [2] [3]
Jones was born on 17 July 1968 in Bingley, West Yorkshire. His father was a storeman and his mother a dinner lady. [4] He was educated at Bingley Grammar School prior to joining the University of Portsmouth. He was a member of Southampton University Royal Naval Unit in the rank of Midshipman Royal Navy Reserves between 1986 and 1989 and trained in HMS FENCER. Mid-way through his degree studies he was offered a Commission in the Royal Navy. [5]
Jones joined Britannia Royal Naval College Dartmouth in 1989 and passed out in April 1990. [6] [7] He completed his Fleet Time in HMS UPTON, HMS ARIADNE and HMS ALACRITY, before joining the Fleet as a Lieutenant in HMS CORNWALL in 1992. He was the Royal Navy's first Helicopter Fast Rope Boarding Officer and led operations to clear stranded shipping from the Shatt Al Arab after the 1st Gulf War. He was an executive officer in the border regions of Northern Ireland during "the troubles" conducting counter-terrorism boardings and searches in the coastal regions. Later he was Deputy Navigator of the aircraft carrier HMS INVINCIBLE during Operation Bolton.
After completing the Principal Warfare Officers Course, he was the Operations Officer of the Amphibious Flagship HMS FEARLESS. [8] In 2004 he was the Fleet Signals Intelligence Officer at Northwood HQ and his final role was at the Ministry of Defence as the Maritime Signals Intelligence Procurement Officer. From the day of the lifting of the gay ban on 12 January 2000 and until leaving the Service in 2008, Jones led the LGBT+ community in the British Armed Forces and negotiated with Service Chiefs the unravelling of the impact of decades of prohibition. [1] [5] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13]
Homosexuality was decriminalised under the Sexual Offences Act 1967 , but this did not extend to members of the armed forces where men & women serving were dishonourably discharged if their sexuality was discovered.
Warrant Officer Robert Ely, a bandsman who joined the army at seventeen and served for twenty years before being dismissed for his homosexuality, set up Rank Outsiders in 1994 with Lt Elaine Chambers, a Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps nurse who had endured a harrowing dismissal from a much loved career. Royal Navy Officer Edmund Hall later joined Rank Outsiders and set up the Armed Forces Legal Challenge Group in 1995 and is credited with winning the support of Stonewall to drive the British Government into lifting the ban. [14]
In 1998, the campaign worked with Stonewall on behalf of Jeanette Smith, who had been thrown out of the Royal Air Force, and Duncan Lustig Prean, a Royal Navy commander who was being dismissed. They asked Stonewall to arrange legal representation, leading to a long battle through the courts with Graham Grady and John Beckett also joining the case. Although the judges in the High Court and Court of Appeal said that they felt the ban was not justified they could not overturn it and Stonewall had to take the case to Strasbourg and the European Court of Human Rights before winning it. [15] [16]
On 12 January 2000 the long-standing ban on homosexuals in the British Armed Forces was finally lifted. Announcing the change to Parliament, the Secretary of State for Defence, Rt Hon Geoff Hoon acknowledge that "There will be those who would have preferred to continue to exclude homosexual, but the law is the law. We cannot choose the decisions we implement. The status quo is simply not an option." [15] [17]
As the "gay ban" was lifted [15] [18] Jones came out in an ill-prepared Armed Forces which had opposed the lifting of the ban for decades. [8] By his own admission he forcefully petitioned Service Chiefs to unravel the impact of decades of prohibition, and is widely credited with driving change at a pace which was counter to the MODs intent. [8] [19] [20] [21] [22] In 2005 the Royal Navy was the first armed service to sign up to Stonewall's Diversity Champions programme. [13] [22] [23] [24]
In 2006, then a relatively junior officer, he was exceptionally given leave by the MOD to speak in the United States Congress tacitly advocating for the repeal of "Don't ask, don't tell" (DADT) with members of Congress and Staffers.
Jones continued to receive criticism at the Ministry of Defence for speaking openly about the resistance of some service chiefs to change, notably about the MOD not allowing members of the armed forces to march in uniform at Pride. In 2006 the Royal Navy was given permission to march in uniform at Pride followed by the Royal Air Force in 2007 and Army in 2008. [25] [26] [27]
He returned to Washington in 2009 for discussions at Brookings as the Pentagon prepared for their own policy change. [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] [33] [34] [35] [36] [37] In 2008, Jones was engaged as a consultant to the Equality and Human Rights Commission during their compliance investigation of the alleged harassment of women in the Armed Forces. The enquiry found that the Armed Forces were making steady progress and working towards greater compliance. [38]
Jones was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2006 New Year Honours for services to Equality and Human Rights in the Armed Forces, [3] and completed his service career in 2008.
To mark the 20th anniversary of the lifting of the British Armed Forces 'gay ban' Jones edited and published Fighting with Pride, a charity anthology book which brings together LGBT+ servicemen and women who have served in every conflict since WW2 to the present. [39] Minister of State for the Armed Forces, Anne-Marie Trevellyan MP read extracts from Fighting with Pride at a 20th anniversary reception at the House of Commons hosted by Johnny Mercer MP. [40]
Fighting with Pride was launched as a charity, supporting LGBT+ veterans on 12 January 2020 with Craig as the Chief Executive, joined later in the year by Caroline Paige MBE. He was subsequently appointed as Executive Chair and in April 2024 leading the charities reparations campaign.
In June 2021 Craig Jones MBE and Caroline Paige MBE gave evidence to the Select Committee on the Armed Forces Bill about the hardships faced by LGBT+ veterans. They were strongly supported by all parties and amendments were tabled to the Bill in Consequence. [41] . Following this and further campaigning by Fighting with Pride the Conservative government pledged to commission an Independent Review into the “impact that the pre-2000 Ban on Homosexuality in the armed forces has had on LGBT veterans today”. [42]
The LGBT Veterans Independent Review, chaired by the Rt Hon Lord Etherton, examined the experiences of personnel perceived to be LGBT between 1967-2000 who were impacted by the ban on homosexuality in the Armed Forces. The Review heard statements of those who were victims of the 'gay ban' some victims have died a natural death since the Ban was removed. Others have taken their own lives. Many of those still living have attempted to die by suicide or have thought about doing so. Those statements give shocking evidence of a culture of homophobia, and of bullying, blackmail and sexual assaults, abusive investigations into sexual orientation and sexual preference, disgraceful medical examinations, including conversion therapy, peremptory discharges, and appalling consequences in terms of mental health and wellbeing, homelessness, employment, personal relationships and financial hardship. [43]
The Report, published in July 2023 made 49 recommendations, stating that the policy was wrong and unjust. The Government accepted all of the Reviews recommendations, which aimed to reduce the enduring impact of the 'gay ban' upon the lives of those affected and recognise the service of veterans who served in the years of the ban. [44] [45] One of the 49 recommendations made in the Final Report of the LGBT Veterans Independent Review was that £50M should be set aside to make reparations payments. Leading the LGBT Veterans Coalition, Jones campaigned strongly for greater financial resource. On 23 October 2024 an open letter asking the Government to look for further funding signed by the Chief Executives of the Members of the Coalition was sent to the Prime minister. [46] [47] On the 12th December 2024 the Financial Recognition Scheme and other restorative measures were announced and debated in the House of Commons. [48] [49] [50] The sum of £75M was announced for financial reparations and the application process opened the following day. [51]
To mark the 25 year anniversary of the lifting of the 'gay ban' Jones published a second anthology book Serving with Pride [52] which brought together 30 stories of LGBT+ individuals who served under the gay ban.
Jones is currently a member of the MOD Veterans Advisory and Pensions Committee [1] [3] [9] [12] [53] and Head of Campaign and Trustee for Fighting with Pride. [54]
Jones, Craig (2019). Fighting with Pride LGBT In the Armed Forces. Pen & Sword. ISBN 9781526765253.
Jones, Craig (2024). Serving with Pride. Pen & Sword. ISBN 1036123944.
Summerskill, Ben (2006) The Way We Live Now: Gay and Lesbian Lives in the 20th Century. Continuum ISBN 9780826487858
"Don't ask, don't tell" (DADT) was the official United States policy on military service of non-heterosexual people. Instituted during the Clinton administration, the policy was issued under Department of Defense Directive 1304.26 on December 21, 1993, and was in effect from February 28, 1994, until September 20, 2011. The policy prohibited military personnel from discriminating against or harassing closeted homosexual or bisexual service members or applicants, while barring openly gay, lesbian, or bisexual persons from military service. This relaxation of legal restrictions on service by gays and lesbians in the armed forces was mandated by Public Law 103–160, which was signed November 30, 1993. The policy prohibited people who "demonstrate a propensity or intent to engage in homosexual acts" from serving in the armed forces of the United States, because their presence "would create an unacceptable risk to the high standards of morale, good order and discipline, and unit cohesion that are the essence of military capability".
The Stonewall riots were a series of spontaneous riots and demonstrations against a police raid that took place in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn, in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City. Although the demonstrations were not the first time American homosexuals fought back against government-sponsored persecution of sexual minorities, the Stonewall riots marked a new beginning for the gay rights movement in the United States and around the world.
Stonewall Equality Limited, trading as Stonewall, is a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBTQ) rights charity in the United Kingdom. It is the largest LGBT rights organisation in Europe.
The gay liberation movement was a social and political movement of the late 1960s through the mid-1980s in the Western world, that urged lesbians and gay men to engage in radical direct action, and to counter societal shame with gay pride. In the feminist spirit of the personal being political, the most basic form of activism was an emphasis on coming out to family, friends, and colleagues, and living life as an openly lesbian or gay person.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) personnel are able to serve in the armed forces of some countries around the world: the vast majority of industrialized, Western countries including some South American countries, such as Argentina, Brazil and Chile in addition to other countries, such as the United States, Canada, Japan, Australia, Mexico, France, Finland, Denmark and Israel. The rights concerning intersex people are more vague.
The rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland have developed significantly over time. Today, lesbian, gay and bisexual rights are considered to be advanced by international standards, while transgender, gender-nonconforming and non-binary rights face some of the highest levels of discrimination of any modernised country.
Technical Sergeant Leonard Phillip Matlovich was an American Vietnam War veteran, race relations instructor, and recipient of the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star. He was the first gay service member to purposely out himself to the military to fight their ban on gays, and perhaps the best-known openly gay man in the United States of America in the 1970s next to Harvey Milk. His fight to stay in the United States Air Force after coming out of the closet became a cause célèbre around which the gay community rallied. His case resulted in articles in newspapers and magazines throughout the country, numerous television interviews, and a television movie on NBC. His photograph appeared on the cover of the September 8, 1975, issue of Time magazine, making him a symbol for thousands of gay and lesbian servicemembers and gay people generally. Matlovich was the first named openly gay person to appear on the cover of a U.S. newsmagazine. According to author Randy Shilts, "It marked the first time the young gay movement had made the cover of a major newsweekly. To a movement still struggling for legitimacy, the event was a major turning point."
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people in Turkey face legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBTQ residents, though the overall situation is considered to be less repressive when compared to most other Muslim-majority countries.
The NYC Pride March is an annual event celebrating the LGBTQ community in New York City. The largest pride parade and the largest pride event in the world, the NYC Pride March attracts tens of thousands of participants and millions of sidewalk spectators each June, and carries spiritual and historical significance for the worldwide LGBTQIA+ community and its advocates. Entertainer Madonna stated in 2024, "Aside from my birthday, New York Pride is the most important day of the year." The route through Lower Manhattan traverses south on Fifth Avenue, through Greenwich Village, passing the Stonewall National Monument, site of the June 1969 riots that launched the modern movement for LGBTQ+ rights.
Pride is the promotion of the rights, self-affirmation, dignity, equality, and increased visibility of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people as a social group. Pride, as opposed to shame and social stigma, is the predominant outlook that bolsters most LGBTQ rights movements. Pride has lent its name to LGBTQ-themed organizations, institutes, foundations, book titles, periodicals, a cable TV channel, and the Pride Library.
Atlanta Pride, also colloquially called the Atlanta Gay Pride Festival, is a week-long annual lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBTQ) pride festival held in Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1971, it is one of the oldest and largest pride festivals in the United States. According to the Atlanta Pride Committee, as of 2017, attendance had continually grown to around 300,000. Originally held in June, Atlanta Pride has been held in October every year since 2008, typically on a weekend closest to National Coming Out Day.
Canadian military policy with respect to LGBT sexuality has changed in the course of the 20th century from being intolerant and repressive to accepting and supportive.
The United States military formerly excluded gay men, bisexuals, and lesbians from service. In 1993, the United States Congress passed, and President Bill Clinton signed, a law instituting the policy commonly referred to as "Don't ask, don't tell" (DADT), which allowed gay, lesbian, and bisexual people to serve as long as they did not reveal their sexual orientation. Although there were isolated instances in which service personnel were met with limited success through lawsuits, efforts to end the ban on openly gay, lesbian, and bisexual people serving either legislatively or through the courts initially proved unsuccessful.
Gay and lesbian citizens have been allowed to serve openly in His Majesty's Armed Forces since 2000. The United Kingdom's policy is to allow lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) personnel to serve openly, and discrimination on a sexual orientation basis is forbidden. It is also forbidden for someone to pressure LGBT people to come out. All personnel are subject to the same rules against sexual harassment, regardless of gender or sexual orientation.
Sexual orientation and gender identity in the Australian military are not considered disqualifying matters in the 21st century, with the Australian Defence Force (ADF) allowing LGBT people to serve openly and access the same entitlements as other personnel. The ban on gay and lesbian personnel was lifted by the Keating government in 1992, with a 2000 study finding no discernible negative impacts on troop morale. In 2009, the First Rudd government introduced equal entitlements to military retirement pensions and superannuation for the domestic partners of LGBTI personnel. Since 2010, transgender personnel may serve openly and may undergo gender transition with ADF support while continuing their military service. LGBTI personnel are also supported by the charity DEFGLIS, the Defence Force Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender and Intersex Information Service.
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In the past most lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) personnel had major restrictions placed on them in terms of service in the United States military. As of 2010 sexual orientation and gender identity in the United States military varies greatly as the United States Armed Forces have become increasingly openly diverse in the regards of LGBTQ people and acceptance towards them.
James Wharton is the author of Out in the Army: My Life as a Gay Soldier and Something for the Weekend': Life in the Chemsex Underworld and an LGBT activist. Wharton was born in Wrexham on the first of January 1987, and grew up in the nearby village of Gwersyllt. In 2009, he garnered attention by featuring on the cover of Soldier Magazine – the official monthly publication of the British Army – as an openly gay trooper in the Blues and Royals. Wharton came out as gay to his regiment in 2005, aged 18 and just six years after the army's discrimination against gay people was declared a breach of human rights by the European Court of Human Rights. Before 2000, Wharton could have been court-martialled.
This overview shows the regulations regarding military service of non-heterosexuals around the world.
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