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# Gay RAF veteran requests official apology
- URL: https://www.scenemag.co.uk/gay-raf-veteran-requests-official-apology/
- Published: 2021-02-24T08:30:24.000Z
- Updated: 2021-02-23T17:58:09.000Z
- Description: A gay ex-RAF member has said an official apology should be issued to those who were discriminated against.
- Author: Rachel Badham
- Tags: News, Queer Corner, gay rights, LGBTQ, LGBTQ+ rights, UK

![](https://www.scenemag.co.uk/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/lgbt-raf-600-400.jpg)

Following the [announcement](https://www.scenemag.co.uk/lgbtq-veterans-can-now-reclaim-lost-medals/) that LGBTQ+ veterans who were discharged from the forces due to their identity will now be able to reclaim medals, an gay ex-RAF member has said an official apology should be issued to those who were discriminated against. The medal scheme was recently set up by the **UK Ministry of Defence** (MoD) to correct ‘historical wrongs’, as prior to 2000, LGBTQ+ service personnel were removed from the forces if their sexuality or gender identity was made public.

However, one veteran believes this is not enough. 52-year-old **David Bonney**, who joined the RAF when he was 17, told [*Plymouth Live*](https://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/news/plymouth-news/plymouth-raf-veteran-jailed-being-5021244?ref=scenemag.co.uk) that service members were frequently spied on, and so he had to keep his brief relationship with a male red cross worker a secret. However he was then jailed and dismissed after a copy of *Gay Times* was found in his room. Bonney said: *“I was in my early 20s and like anyone else in their early 20s, I was entitled to a sex life, to have relationships, just like anyone else in the military or in the civilian world. But that’s not how they saw it, because I was gay. I was fined for the financial issues, but I was jailed for six months for being gay.”*

![](https://www.scenemag.co.uk/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/david-bonney-raf-1.jpg)

David Bonney

He said that LGBTQ+ veterans like himself deserve an official apology: *“It’s taken more than 20 years to get to the stage where they realise they were wrong and it’s still not over. I have to go to them – to my bully – and ask for my medals back. Why the hell should I have to go back and ask for forgiveness about my sexuality, so that I can have my medals? I earned them. They should also send us all an apology, not just a government spokesperson, but the military chiefs. We’ve heard nothing from them.”*

**Carl Austin-Behan**, another RAF veteran who now serves as LGBTQ+ advisor to the mayor of **Manchester**, recently discussed his experiences as a gay service member, telling the [*Manchester Evening News*](https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/i-kicked-out-raf-being-19861894?ref=scenemag.co.uk) he was discharged from the forces for his sexuality in 1997\. He said: *“I had gone from a job which I was to have for 22 years to nothing within minutes. I lost my career, I was homeless, I lost my friends and I lost my pension.”* He said LGBTQ+ veterans should be welcomed back into the forces: *“Getting the medals back is a good first step but what I really hope is that it’s the start of a whole new beginning for LGBTQ+ veterans. It’s time they feel like they are welcomed back to the armed forces family.”*

![](https://www.scenemag.co.uk/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/lgbt-armed-forces-600-400.jpg)