For UK Armed Forces, Gay Isn't a Dirty Word

Official magazine puts homosexual soldier on cover for first time

By Will McCahill, Newser Staff

Posted Jul 27, 2009 6:30 PM CDT

(Newser) – The UK’s official military publication features an openly gay service member on its cover for the first time ever in its current issue—a milestone in the integration of homosexual service members, Terri Judd notes in the Independent, and one that has US officials intently, if quietly, studying how the British have made the transition. “I still can’t get my head around the US’ ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy,” the soldier tells the Telegraph.

“I can’t express how fantastic it is to know they are able to be themselves. I regret that I lost out,” says a soldier forced out before a 2000 court decision mandating homosexual integration. “I was a good soldier. I could have been useful to the Army.” Adds cover boy James Wharton: “I came out to the Army before I told my parents, so that says a lot for the Armed Forces.”

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[Quotes (1)]

The current issue of "Soldier," the publication of the UK armed forces, featuring an openly gay service member. (Soldier Magazine)

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I would say whoever goes on a tour to a place like Iraq can't really be described as a pansy—so the gay stereotype doesn't really apply. - James Wharton, the first
openly gay British service member to appear on the cover of Soldier

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For UK Armed Forces, Gay Isn't a Dirty Word