Worcester veteran says LGBT military ban apology returns his dignity

Kevin Bazeley says after the change in the law, the RAF "became model employers for inclusion and diversity"

A veteran who was forced to resign from the military because he was gay has said an apology from the prime minister has "returned his dignity".

Kevin Bazeley, from Worcester, served as an RAF navigator before being arrested in 1994 when his sexuality was revealed to Armed Forces police.

It was illegal for LGBT people to serve in the UK military until 2000.

Rishi Sunak said the ban was an "appalling failure" and apologised for the treatment of LGBT veterans.

He was speaking in the House of Commons on Wednesday after an independent report into the ban looked at the experiences of personnel between 1967 and 2000 who lost their careers due to their sexuality.

Mr Bazeley told BBC Hereford and Worcester: "We've been waiting decades for this apology, it's very welcomed",

"It's that vindication, the return of my honour, my dignity and my integrity that the state made me doubt."

Mr Bazeley served as a navigator on VC10s during the first Gulf War, in 1991

He added: "For some veterans it will be too late, they will never hear that apology from the country they chose to serve.

"For others, no apology will ever be good enough."

Mr Bazeley joined the RAF in 1985 aged 18 and graduated as a navigator in 1988 before serving in VC10s and Nimrods and getting married to a woman, with whom he had two children.

When he lost his wallet in August 1994, his membership card for the Gay Bikers Motorcycle Club was found by RAF police, leading to his arrest and being asked to resign.

Mr Bazeley says his arrest and forced resignation was "based purely on prejudice"

Mr Bazeley said what followed was "that whole humiliation of being walked off the aircraft past my friends and colleagues".

"That crushing knowledge that this is it, it's the end of everything I've worked for."

After fighting his expulsion from the RAF for 13 months, he eventually gave in and was discharged.

The prime minister issued the apology during PMQs on Wednesday

Mr Bazeley said: "It was based purely on prejudice; it was considered by the senior military that being homosexual was incompatible with service life.

"My sexuality had no bearing whatsoever on my ability to do my job, if anything the fact that I was forced to hide myself meant that I couldn't perform to my full capacity because I was always having to look out for the witch hunt."

The LGBT Veterans Independent Review highlighted 49 recommendations to the government.

These include affected veterans being given an "appropriate financial reward" capped at £50m overall and the restoration of medals that had to be handed back on dismissal or discharge.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said: "I am pleased that this review has shone a much needed light on a shameful and unacceptable historical chapter in our Armed Forces history.

"It is heartbreaking that the very tolerance and values that we expected our soldiers, sailors and aviators to fight for, were denied to many of them.

"I am pleased we now have the opportunity to right those historic wrongs so that LGBT Veterans can once again take pride in their service."