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Hello, my name is Lisa and I am currently studying health and social care at Newbury College. As part of our course we need to complete a research project on a health or social care based topic of our choice.
My research question is “What are army members’ attitudes or experiences regarding homosexuality in the military?” I chose this topic because I come from a military family and I am hoping to join the QARANC’s.
I would be very grateful if anyone would like to help me by sharing any experiences or feelings, positive or negative. All names will remain confidential.

Lisa its going to be a very short paper.

The answer is no one cares what your sexuality is, its all about whether you can do the job or not.

If you dont wander around proclaiming your different then no one is going to blink an eye

Simple as that

When I was in the forces I never met any, any way we were to busy on active service for any silly recreational pursuits

Danielchristopherlee wrote:I recall that pompous Infantry officer who'd served in the Balkans and then appeared on the telly afterwards. I don't recall his name. But I do recall an interview on the telly where he was asked about the subject.

Oh ! while I think about it, I think his name was James Stewart ! A Colonel.....is that right ? I hope I'm not wrong about that !

He said he had two soldiers under his command who were openly gay and the attitude of the other soldiers were that they wantd to, I quote, "Fundamentally lynch them !"

But that was in the nineties....

I doubt it Nineties or not

Col Bob Stewart sat on TV and stated that some of his men wanted to lynch
Homosexuals????

You honestly expect me to believe a high ranking Officer would commit Career suicide on TV.

Please this person is about to write a paper on this, if its not factually correct and you cannot substantiate the claim, please dont put it down!

Please post links to Bob Stewart advocating torture (just seen the post to which you refer ) The interview was after he retired

THere is a big difference from bad for morale to Lynching

Again there is no advocation of torture, he does however agree that at the critical moment it could be used.

This interview was also done after he had retired, I still fail to believe he would go on TV whilst serving and say some of his troops want to lynch homosexuals

I read this the other day which may be if interest Lisa:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... ision.html

Also 'Soldier Magazine' may well have done some articles on the subject. It may be worth your while getting in touch with them to see if they can help.They do a section called 'Final Word' where they get oppinions from serving soldiers and I'm pretty sure they did one on this subject.

I personaly never came across any openly homosexuals in my short time with the regulars or my stint with the TA back in the early 90's. However, I'm pretty sure they would have had a hard time from the lads back then.

Good luck with the paper though, I can imagine there's going to be a mixed bag of oppinions to sort through.

the clip I watched was the one you posted.

Whilst I have to agree that the Army has never been whiter than white when it comes to Race/Sexuality/religion those problems are a throw back to the 70s and 80s soldier. it was endemic within the civilian world and came across from there.

Homosexuality is no longer a big thing, the days of gay/paki/mick bashing has long been left behind although there is a small minority that will still do it.

there have been homosexuals in the Army since the beginning anyone who says differently is very short sighted.

I've worked with at least one person who I know was homosexual, I won't say openly, because it wasn't flaunted, for some reason it just came up in conversation one day. Have to agree, I don't care what someone's sexual orientation may be, and honestly don't even think about it 99.9% of the time, (Who here can actually say that their first thought on meeting someone new is "I wonder if they're straight?") and I don't see how it affects their ability to do the job.
If any new person joining the squadron told one of my colleagues they were gay, the response would most likely be "That's nice for you, now get the kettle on, it's your turn to make the brews..."

I have a very close friend who left the Army due to bullying - for being gay - and this was about 5 years ago. His room was trashed on several occasions and at the worst point someone tried to strangle him in his room. I think its disgusting that people are so small minded to think that being gay is a disease or what not. (not going to go into abig debate about it) but I don't think attitude towards homosexuality is any different in the Army as it is in civilian life. As was said earlier, most people will just say "nice for you" but there are people everywhere who are so ignorant that they will think it's a bad thing.

True Skidders, and I have to say (regretfully, and not meaning any offence to anyone) that the Army doesn't seem to be quite as good on Equality & Diversity as the other 2 Services. Just my experience of working at tri-service establishments, and from talking to other people.

I dont believe we are any worse than any other organization our size. It s just the publicity that goes with it that makes it seem that way.

Please dont get me started on Equality and Diversity thats a whole other topic

There is a website called Proud2serve which acts as a support group for LGBT in the Armed Forces. Best to get in touch with them as they prolly know more than anyone else about this issue.

Although a worthwhile charity I think it would be a little one sided really,