Navy veterans' lives 'blighted' by gay ban

Former Sub Lt Roly Woods hid his sexuality while serving in the Royal Navy

"You were living a double life, always looking over your shoulder."

As Portsmouth finds itself at the heart of UK Pride this weekend, an iconic war vessel in the Hampshire city has been covered in rainbow colours to also mark 25 years since a ban on LGBT people serving in the military was lifted.

Portsmouth Historic Quarter and military charity Fighting with Pride came together last month to celebrate LGBTQ+ veterans, by wrapping Landing Craft F8 in rainbow colours.

Portsmouth navy veterans have been speaking to the BBC about their experiences serving in the military under the ban.

Until January 2000, the "gay ban" saw many LGBT people who served their country face dishonourable discharge, loss of medals and criminal charges because of their sexuality.

Landing Craft F8 has been wrapped in rainbow colours at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard

Roly Woods is a former Sub Lt in the Royal Navy who served on HMS Leeds Castle during the Falklands War.

He said he hid his sexuality so that he could continue his military career.

"At one stage during my naval career, I was challenged by my commanding officer, who heard rumours that I had been seen by officers with a man," he said.

"I was called up to his office, sat down, and plainly asked – 'are you gay?'.

"Right there and then I had to decide, 'do I throw everything away, or do I lie?'.

Choosing "in that split second" to lie, he said he "got away with it".

"But it was an extremely difficult situation to deal with, both professionally and personally, and I wrestled with it for many years," he said.

Roly Woods (left) stands with other members of Fighting with Pride in front of Landing Craft F8 at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard

He said when he joined the navy "all the services in the UK Armed Forces were institutionally homophobic".

"You were living a double life, always looking over your shoulder," he said. "I couldn't be out and open with my closest colleagues and friends.

"Not because I thought they would out me but I didn't want to put them in the position of having to choose - once they knew, they were culpable as well for not declaring it."

He said "bottling it all up for decades" is not something that can be switched off overnight.

"There are other veterans who are completely broken, whose lives were blighted by this ban - they were dismissed, lost their family, lost their income, many lost their homes, some took their own lives," he said.

'Degree of guilt'

When the gay ban was in place, the Royal Navy Special Investigation Branch (SIB) was responsible for investigating criminal offences within the navy, which included being homosexual.

Former Master at Arms in the Royal Navy Gavin Moulds served in the SIB from 1994 to 2003.

He said: "The ban, the way it was enforced, and to the level it was enforced, was never something I agreed with.

"However, I cannot help but still feel a degree of guilt for my involvement – an apology would not be enough."

But Mr Moulds said there was a "mental detachment and a professional requirement" in working for the SIB.

"In my experience, we behaved professionally towards any person that we dealt with," he said.

Mr Moulds said of the ban: "It was wrong. It's wrong today, it was wrong then and it should never have happened.

"The way some of those people were treated was horrendous."