EUROPEAN COURT RULES
British military must end anti-gay discrimination
By Sarah
Sloan
On Sept. 27 the European Court of Human Rights voted 7-0
that Britain's ban on gays in the military violates Article 8
of the European Convention on Human Rights. The court found
that investigations into a person's sexuality, including
searches of possessions and detailed interrogations, are
intrusive. The judges said the ban is not justified "any more
than similar negative attitudes towards those of a different
race, origin or color."
Homosexuality was legalized in Britain 30 years ago, at
which point the Defense Ministry forbade gays and lesbians from
serving in the military. Since the ban, there have been 600
documented cases of dismissal. This means there were thousands
more that were not documented.
Four of those thousands of people who were discharged from
the military for homosexuality--Graeme Grady, Jeanette Smith,
Duncan Lustig-Prean, and John Beckett--appealed their
dismissals to British courts. They were rejected by the court
of appeal in November 1995.
In 1996, they took their cases to the European court, which
took them on last year. At the court, Britain defended its
policy.
Britain, along with 40 other countries, had signed onto the
European Convention on Human Rights, which binds it to accept
the court's rulings. The court cannot force changes in
Britain's laws, but it can pressure the government.
So far the British government has accepted the court's
ruling but has done nothing to change the law. It has, however,
discontinued current investigations into people's
sexuality.
It is an extension of basic democratic rights for lesbian,
gay, bisexual and transgender service people to have the right
to stay in the military if they wish to--and without having to
hide their sexual orientation. The struggle to end
discrimination in the military deserves support from the
progressive movement. Any gains made in accepting lesbian, gay,
bisexual, and transgender people into the military have been
won through the independent struggle of the movement on many
fronts.
On the other hand, the British military, like the U.S.
military, is an instrument of oppressive class rule, serving to
protect the economic interests of the capitalist class on a
global scale. This repressive class rule benefits from
divisions within the working class. It is part and parcel of
the capitalist system to promote this division through racism,
sexism, and lesbian/gay/bi/trans oppression.
The best way to end this oppression, along with racism,
sexism and war, is to smash the imperialist militaries and the
class that they represent. The progressive movement needs to
expose the anti-gay policies of these imperialist militaries
and deepen the struggle against them.
This article is copyright under a Creative Commons License.
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