Until 2000 it was illegal for bisexual and gay people to serve in the UK’s armed forces. A little over a decade on the army, navy and air force monitor their staff on diversities including sexual orientation, and the figures have been published today in a House of Commons written answer.
Secretary of State Mark Francois stated:
“The Ministry of Defence gathers data on sexual orientation on a voluntary basis during phase 1 and 2 training using the Recruit Trainee Survey (RTS). It is our intention to extend monitoring in the future using the Joint Personnel Administration system to enable armed forces personnel to record their sexual orientation, should they wish to do so.
“The following tables provide a record of the data collected at all phase 1 and 2 training establishments over the last 12 months for Royal Navy ratings, soldiers, and airmen using the RTS. Personnel completing the confidential survey are, of course, entirely free to classify themselves as they wish, and those describing themselves as gay will be open, or not, with their sexuality to varying degrees. Data are collected in a similar way for officers using the Officer Cadet Survey; however, sample size for this cohort is low and not yet sufficiently mature to be considered statistically robust.”
| Armed forces RTS Phase 1 training | ||||
| Males | Females | |||
| Percentage | Number | Percentage | Number | |
| Heterosexual/straight | 96.0 | 8,770 | 83.4 | 736 |
| Gay man | 0.7 | 67 | 0.6 | 5 |
| Gay woman/lesbian | 0.1 | 7 | 8.2 | 72 |
| Bisexual | 0.6 | 52 | 5.3 | 47 |
| Do not know | 0.8 | 73 | 0.6 | 5 |
| Prefer not to say | 1.8 | 167 | 2.0 | 18 |
|
Armed forces RTS Phase 2 training |
||||
| Males | Females | |||
| Percentage | Number | Percentage | Number | |
| Heterosexual/straight | 95.5 | 4,812 | 80.6 | 512 |
| Gay man | 1.0 | 48 | 0.6 | 4 |
| Gay woman/lesbian | 0.2 | 10 | 9.6 | 61 |
| Bisexual | 0.6 | 30 | 3.9 | 25 |
| Do not know | 0.8 | 42 | 0.9 | 6 |
| Prefer not to say | 1.9 | 98 | 4.3 | 27 |
Those numbers show a significant gender gap – about one in five women in the armed forces identify as other than straight, while for men that falls to nearer one in twentyfive.
However for both recorded genders, there is a drop-off as they progress in the military for those identifying as straight.
We were told by service chiefs that gay and bisexual soldiers were not up to the job – and the 1997 Labour government went through the courts defending the ‘gay ban’ on that basis.
Turns out it’s just the opposite!
