At this year’s BMA ARM (annual representative meeting), our members welcomed the AFC’s (armed forces committee) motion to endorse the principles of the PiVS (Pride in Veterans Standard) to complement the BMA code of conduct, values and behaviour principles.
Organisations that join the PiVS, developed by Fighting With Pride, work proactively to deliver these commitments:
- Warmly welcome LGBT+ veterans, serving personnel and their families
- Ensure all staff, volunteers and members have an awareness of the different challenges faced by LGBT+ people, particularly those who were impacted by the Armed Forces ‘gay ban’
- Have a clear understanding of the needs of LGBT+ veterans and tailor support to meet their specific needs
- Understand that for some LGBT+ veterans, their experiences have impacted their mental health, so ensure any support in this area is tailored to meet their specific needs
- Promote inclusion, dignity and respect for LGBT+ people in everything they do
- Recognise the different groups in the LGBT+ community and understand their needs may be different.
Fighting With Pride is a respected LGBT+ military charity that was created on the 20th anniversary of the complete lifting of the ‘gay ban’, in which thousands of LGBT+ service personnel were removed or forced from service and abandoned after serving their country.
As a ‘lived experience’ charity, Fighting With Pride works to support organisations to build capacity for LGBT+ veteran support, recognise their service and help resolve challenges they face in their lives beyond military service.
Their work has led to the establishment of the Government’s Etherton review, published last year, which recommended that those most affected by the ban are to be compensated. This compensation, however, puts an arbitrary limit of £50 million without identifying how many individuals were eligible to claim, and the BMA wrote to the Government calling for this cap to be lifted.
BMA council chair Phil Banfield
Following the motion being carried at the ARM, the BMA has now completed the process to sign up to the PiVS and is the first trade union body to have joined the group of PiVS organisations.
BMA council chair Phil Banfield said: ‘Only 20 years ago veterans, who were prepared to give their lives to protect the values of our country by land, sea, or air, were forced out of service because of their identity. Degrading and brutal investigations into personal lives, blackmail, humiliating medical examinations, the stripping away of service medals and the destruction of careers remain in living memory. Shockingly, the inadequate settlement that caps compensation for those who still bear the emotional and financial impact of what became known as the “gay ban” means that this issue is far from resolved.
‘As the first trade union to sign the Pride in Veterans Standard, we stand with all members of the armed forces who faced such turmoil in their careers,’ he added.
‘The BMA will do all we can to campaign for a better settlement for everyone impacted by a narrow, divisive and shameful policy – a policy that has had severe repercussions for so many military veterans. The Government must, with deeds not words, commit to properly compensating those who suffered such appalling treatment. By doing so it can help to restore pride in the values so many join the armed forces to protect.’
The AFC will be leading on the BMA’s progress against these commitments to provide the best possible support to doctors who are LGBT+ veterans and serving personnel in the armed forces, and set the highest standards for LGBT+ inclusion for our organisation, staff and members.
On joining the PiVS, AFC chair Sandy Wood said: ‘The armed forces committee is immensely proud to join Fighting With Pride in taking forward our work with LGBT+ veterans on behalf of the BMA. Thousands of doctors served in the armed forces whilst being gay, lesbian or transgender was considered incompatible with this service and hundreds of LGBT+ doctors will have been affected by the ban.
‘Our adoption of the Standard stands up for the inclusion of veterans in the community of armed forces doctors and renounces any complicity of doctors in the homophobic culture of the gay ban.’
He added: ‘Those most affected by the ban were stripped of their jobs, rank, medals and livelihoods, and pensions. The BMA’s initial steps as new signatories to the Standard will therefore include continuing to lobby the Government to remove the arbitrary and insufficient cap on compensation for survivors of the ban.’
Welcoming the BMA as a PiVS organisation, Fighting With Pride chief executive Caroline Paige MBE said: ‘Fighting With Pride is delighted and proud to welcome the BMA as signatories to the Pride in Veterans Standard. As one of the most powerful voices on healthcare advocacy and representing doctors and medical students across the UK, the BMA recognises the impacts of the ban on the health and wellbeing of LGBT+ veterans, including healthcare professionals, and its membership greatly inspires the need for understanding, inclusive and accessible healthcare.’