ANALYSIS
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For UK Armed Forces, Gay Isn't a Dirty Word
Official magazine puts homosexual soldier on cover for first time
By W. McCahill
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Posted Jul 27, 09 6:30 PM CDT
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(Newser)
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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.”