Edinburgh Castle has been lit with the colours of the rainbow to mark 20 years since the landmark ruling allowing military personnel to serve as openly lesbian, gay or bisexual (LGB). Elsewhere in the UK, the Ministry of Defence has lit military landmark buildings with Pride colours to celebrate the anniversary of overturning the ban. The Ministry of Defence Building

The Wellington Barracks – London

Victory Building at HM Naval Base Portsmouth

Speaking at a parliamentary reception to mark the 20th anniversary of the ban being lifted, Minister for Defence People and Veterans Johnny Mercer apologized for the “unacceptable” persecution of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender personnel serving in the British Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force.

He said “We have come a long way and today is a celebration of that. But we cannot do that without acknowledging the true extent of those times on many of you.”

“Change is never easy. Change is hard-fought-for by some stoic individuals for whom I have supreme respect. Their experiences of serving in the armed forces were completely different to my own, and nowhere near what I would have wanted them to be. Volunteering to serve is an act of bravery in itself; to volunteer for the chaotic, challenging nature of service life and yet within that community, which so many of us are so proud of, experience discrimination of this sort is unacceptable. It was unacceptable then, and it is unacceptable now. And as the Minister for Defence People and Veterans, I wanted to personally apologise to you for those experiences.”

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