aricbcool
02-22-2005, 00:00
Found this link on Drudge. :mad:
Comments anyone?
http://www.iht.com/bin/print_ipub.php?file=/articles/2005/02/21/news/brits.html
Open minds on open seas
By Sarah Lyall The New York Times
Tuesday, February 22, 2005
LONDON Five years after Britain lifted its ban on gays in the military, the British Royal Navy has begun actively encouraging gay men and lesbians to enlist and has pledged to make life easier for them when they do.
The navy announced Monday that it had asked Stonewall, a group that lobbies for gay rights, to help it develop better strategies for recruiting and retaining gay and lesbian sailors. It said, too, that it would most likely advertise for recruits in the employment sections of gay magazines and newspapers.
"To start off, we worked very much on the 'don't ask, don't tell' method, but we realized anecdotally that that wasn't sufficient for some people," Commodore Paul Docherty, direct of naval life management at the British Royal Navy, said. "While some gays were confident to come out, others didn't feel that the environment was necessarily accepting of them."
The partnership with Stonewall, Docherty said, will help "make more steps toward improving the culture and attitude within the service as a whole, so gays who are still in the closet feel that much more comfortable about coming out."
The moves are a sign of how much the official attitude in the British Navy, notorious for "rum, sodomy and the lash," as Winston Churchill is commonly cited as saying, has changed. Until a European court ruled in 1999 that the British ban on gays in the military violated European human rights laws, the navy, along with the rest of the military, followed a stern policy of dismissing service men and women who were found to be gay or lesbian, often after long and intrusive investigations.
In response to the ruling, in 2000 the services abruptly changed their policy, stopped monitoring a recruit's sexuality, and began allowing gays to serve. Gay men and lesbians have since fought in Iraq alongside heterosexuals, as well as alongside Americans, without it being an issue, military officials say.
The change in the law followed a long and agonized debate here, similar to that in the United States, over the possible consequences of allowing gays and lesbians to serve. But when it took place, it was an anticlimax.
"I would say that before the European court ruling, it was difficult to see this policy happening or working," said Lieutenant Commander Craig Jones, a gay naval officer who speaks publicly, with the navy's approval, on gay rights issues.
"People were quite hot under the collar about it," Jones said. "The admirals, generals and air marshals were really concerned. I'm quite sure that these folks look now and think, 'What was all that fuss about?"'
The announcement on Monday comes at a time when gays have benefited from a number of new laws in Britain, including one that makes it illegal for employers to discriminate against workers on the basis of their sexuality. Last year, Parliament passed the Civil Partnership Act, which gives marriage-style rights to British gays who have registered as couples.
Although the navy is so far the only branch of the armed services to announce an active effort to make the job easier for gays, the entire military is subject to the new legislation. Starting in the fall, gay couples from all three armed services who have registered under the act will be allowed to apply for housing in quarters previously reserved for married couples.
Stonewall advises about 90 employers in Britain, some of them big companies, in how better to recruit and retain gays and lesbians. It is this program that the navy has signed up for.
"Increasingly, organizations are recognizing that having well-trained and highly committed staff who feel comfortable in the workplace is highly important," Alan Wartle, a spokesman for Stonewall, said.
Wartle said Stonewall would advise the navy on practical matters with the underlying intention of changing the atmosphere within the service. "It's about having a range of policies and also about the more intangible element, the cultural change," he said. "We're very encouraged that senior leadership is supporting this. It sends a message down the organization that they're serious."
Docherty said that one likely step for the navy would be to begin advertising in gay publications, as part of a general recruitment effort.
"We advertise in a lot of magazines," he said. "For instance, we advertise in cycling and swimming magazines, not because we're after cyclists and swimmers particularly, but because it's part of our target audience."
Gays in the British military are subject to the same rules of sexual conduct as heterosexuals: no touching, no kissing, no flaunting of sexuality. Since 1991, naval women have been allowed to serve with men on ships, which operate under strict "no sex rules," and sailors in such close quarters have relied on what one naval official said was "common sense and good manners."
Despite the change in policy, relatively few gay men and women in the military, whether because of fear of being intimidated or because of personal choice, have come out and announced that they are gay. The services do not keep statistics on the number of gays, holding by the principle, said Jones, the lieutenant commander, that "sexuality is a private matter for the individual."
Jones called the announcement Monday "a huge step forward."
"You get folks like me who choose to be out and there are others who don't - it's up to them," he said. "We've come a very, very long way in five years, but we don't want to be complacent."
Docherty, the commodore, said that the navy was trying to send a clear message, from the top down.
"The fact that we are making this high-level commitment will hopefully show people that it's not just empty words when we talk about diversity and opportunity," he said.
Comments anyone?
http://www.iht.com/bin/print_ipub.php?file=/articles/2005/02/21/news/brits.html
Open minds on open seas
By Sarah Lyall The New York Times
Tuesday, February 22, 2005
LONDON Five years after Britain lifted its ban on gays in the military, the British Royal Navy has begun actively encouraging gay men and lesbians to enlist and has pledged to make life easier for them when they do.
The navy announced Monday that it had asked Stonewall, a group that lobbies for gay rights, to help it develop better strategies for recruiting and retaining gay and lesbian sailors. It said, too, that it would most likely advertise for recruits in the employment sections of gay magazines and newspapers.
"To start off, we worked very much on the 'don't ask, don't tell' method, but we realized anecdotally that that wasn't sufficient for some people," Commodore Paul Docherty, direct of naval life management at the British Royal Navy, said. "While some gays were confident to come out, others didn't feel that the environment was necessarily accepting of them."
The partnership with Stonewall, Docherty said, will help "make more steps toward improving the culture and attitude within the service as a whole, so gays who are still in the closet feel that much more comfortable about coming out."
The moves are a sign of how much the official attitude in the British Navy, notorious for "rum, sodomy and the lash," as Winston Churchill is commonly cited as saying, has changed. Until a European court ruled in 1999 that the British ban on gays in the military violated European human rights laws, the navy, along with the rest of the military, followed a stern policy of dismissing service men and women who were found to be gay or lesbian, often after long and intrusive investigations.
In response to the ruling, in 2000 the services abruptly changed their policy, stopped monitoring a recruit's sexuality, and began allowing gays to serve. Gay men and lesbians have since fought in Iraq alongside heterosexuals, as well as alongside Americans, without it being an issue, military officials say.
The change in the law followed a long and agonized debate here, similar to that in the United States, over the possible consequences of allowing gays and lesbians to serve. But when it took place, it was an anticlimax.
"I would say that before the European court ruling, it was difficult to see this policy happening or working," said Lieutenant Commander Craig Jones, a gay naval officer who speaks publicly, with the navy's approval, on gay rights issues.
"People were quite hot under the collar about it," Jones said. "The admirals, generals and air marshals were really concerned. I'm quite sure that these folks look now and think, 'What was all that fuss about?"'
The announcement on Monday comes at a time when gays have benefited from a number of new laws in Britain, including one that makes it illegal for employers to discriminate against workers on the basis of their sexuality. Last year, Parliament passed the Civil Partnership Act, which gives marriage-style rights to British gays who have registered as couples.
Although the navy is so far the only branch of the armed services to announce an active effort to make the job easier for gays, the entire military is subject to the new legislation. Starting in the fall, gay couples from all three armed services who have registered under the act will be allowed to apply for housing in quarters previously reserved for married couples.
Stonewall advises about 90 employers in Britain, some of them big companies, in how better to recruit and retain gays and lesbians. It is this program that the navy has signed up for.
"Increasingly, organizations are recognizing that having well-trained and highly committed staff who feel comfortable in the workplace is highly important," Alan Wartle, a spokesman for Stonewall, said.
Wartle said Stonewall would advise the navy on practical matters with the underlying intention of changing the atmosphere within the service. "It's about having a range of policies and also about the more intangible element, the cultural change," he said. "We're very encouraged that senior leadership is supporting this. It sends a message down the organization that they're serious."
Docherty said that one likely step for the navy would be to begin advertising in gay publications, as part of a general recruitment effort.
"We advertise in a lot of magazines," he said. "For instance, we advertise in cycling and swimming magazines, not because we're after cyclists and swimmers particularly, but because it's part of our target audience."
Gays in the British military are subject to the same rules of sexual conduct as heterosexuals: no touching, no kissing, no flaunting of sexuality. Since 1991, naval women have been allowed to serve with men on ships, which operate under strict "no sex rules," and sailors in such close quarters have relied on what one naval official said was "common sense and good manners."
Despite the change in policy, relatively few gay men and women in the military, whether because of fear of being intimidated or because of personal choice, have come out and announced that they are gay. The services do not keep statistics on the number of gays, holding by the principle, said Jones, the lieutenant commander, that "sexuality is a private matter for the individual."
Jones called the announcement Monday "a huge step forward."
"You get folks like me who choose to be out and there are others who don't - it's up to them," he said. "We've come a very, very long way in five years, but we don't want to be complacent."
Docherty, the commodore, said that the navy was trying to send a clear message, from the top down.
"The fact that we are making this high-level commitment will hopefully show people that it's not just empty words when we talk about diversity and opportunity," he said.