We are delighted and honoured that TheVeteran.UK Publishing Platform is working with Fighting With Pride Executive Chair Craig Jones MBE and Chief Executive Caroline Paige MBE to produce Fighting With Pride’s first major publication designed to highlight and promote the charity’s remarkable campaign and care work on behalf of LGBT+ members of the Armed Forces Community.
Following a digital preview edition for release in April, focusing primarily on the many partnership organisations that have pledged support services, the main print and digital editions will be published in time for June’s Pride Month which, on its last weekend, overlaps with Armed Forces Day.
The publication will contain the definitive narrative of the charity’s campaign for justice and reparations for LGBT+ personnel affected by the so-called “Gay Ban” on serving in the Armed Forces – both before and after the ban was lifted in January 2000.
To date this culminated last year with the Government’s historic acceptance of the conclusions and recommendations of the Independent Review produced by Lord Etherton.
This resulted in official apologies in the House of Commons by both Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and (then) Secretary of State for Defence Ben Wallace for the acute suffering caused by the Ban and related egregious behaviours it generated towards LGBT+ personnel.
But Fighting With Pride’s campaign presses on to ensure final restorative justice is attained in all its many aspects for all those affected – as does the charity’s work to build specialist health and wellbeing referral capacity with organisations which pledge to welcome, help and support LGBT+ Veterans by signing the charity’s Pride In Veterans Standard.
Containing many well-known military charities and other organisations, including SSAFA, Help For Heroes, Forces Employment Charity and, Tesco, the country’s biggest private sector employer of Veterans, the list is ever-increasing: check it out at www.fightingwithpride.org.uk/pride-in-veterans-standard and sign-up.
Meanwhile, those seeking further information about the publication, its content and opportunities to demonstrate their support for Fighting With Pride and its work, please contact:
alan.spence@theveteran.uk or caroline.paige@fightingwithpride.org.uk
