RAF veteran, banned for being gay, seeks £50,000 compensation from MOD

An RAF veteran thrown out of the force for being gay is calling on the MOD to extend reparations for those thrown out of the armed forces for their sexuality.

80-year-old Chris Dennis joined the RAF as a radar technician straight out of school at 16, in 1961.

Chris was dishonourably discharged five years into his career at the RAF because of his sexuality.

A £75,000,000 scheme set up by the UK government in 2024 has paid out £50,000 sums to those thrown out of the armed forces because of their sexuality between 1967 and 2000, but Chris missed out on his payment by a matter of months.

The reparations provide an additional £20,000 available for those who suffered further negative impacts, such as investigations, harassment, or imprisonment.

But because Chris was thrown out of the RAF at the end of 1966, he’s not eligible for the scheme, and the veteran is now calling on the Ministry of Defence to revise the rules, allowing those outside the ‘arbitrary’ cutoff date to be offered the same compensation packages.

In addition to not being paid reparations, Chris says he is not allowed to fully participate in Remembrance Day parades, making him feel as unwelcome as when he was thrown out for his sexuality.

‘I enjoyed my job. It was great. Then, in 1966, I was arrested, interrogated by the SIB (Special Investigations Branch) and charged with, essentially, being a homosexual,’ he said.

‘I think the actual wording was ‘an act of gross indecency with another man’. I was discharged with ignominy – a dishonourable discharge. A year later, the civilian law changed to decriminalise male homosexuality.’

The armed forces eventually changed the rules in 2000, making homosexuality legal in the military, but the damage had been done to thousands of soldiers like Chris.

As well as losing the job he loved, he was also unable to work on government contracts when he got work as a commercial engineer.

He also claimed that SIB officers had indicated he could receive an ordinary discharge if he gave the names of other gay servicemen, which he refused to do.

‘You are suddenly kicked out, and you lose the support, the job, everything. It was a big shock,’ he said.

‘The next biggest shock came when I lost my next job. I got a job with a private company as a radar engineer and worked with them for around three weeks.

‘But they said, ‘We can’t get security clearance for you’. Any company that has a government contract has to submit details of its employees. They said, ‘Can you tell us the reason we can’t get clearance for you?’. I told them, and they were quite helpful.’

Non-financial reparations offered to LGBTQ+ veterans include a rainbow pin, known as the Etherton Ribbon, as well as berets and the restoration of medals and rank.

But despite the Etherton Report extending these reparations, both financial and non-financial, to LGBTQ+ members of the armed forces who served between 1967 and 2000, Chris was denied these due to his being kicked out before that date.

‘The government accepted the report that you could only claim if you were discharged between 1967 and 2000,’ he said.

‘So I missed out by a matter of months. I still applied and got this letter back saying: ‘You don’t qualify’. It was another kick in the teeth. You see the military people wearing their berets and medals, but I am not allowed to do that. I couldn’t claim them back, the badges and medals.’

Chris said he’s pleased that other LGBTQ veterans have received reparations, but he still feels like an ‘outcast’.

‘People ask me if I’m angry, but there’s no point in getting angry. I am too old for that,’ he added.

‘I am disappointed, as much as anything, that it has come to this. [The RAF] is a brilliant life. If I could wind the clock back, knowing what I know now, I would still join up.’

Though £50,000 would ‘help in his pocket’, being denied the non-financial reparations is even more hurtful, Chris said.

‘The emotional side of, ‘You are now accepted back’ – that’s more important. Back in the day, it was difficult being gay. You had to be on your toes all the time, thinking: Do they know? Will they find out? Should I tell them?’

Mr Dennis and his partner of over 30 years got a civil partnership at a ceremony at the British Embassy in Hanoi, Vietnam, when they were both living in Hong Kong in 2012.

Peter Gibson, Chief Executive of LGBTQ+ Veteran charity Fighting With Pride, said Mr Dennis not getting his reparations lacks ‘any sense of justice’.

He said: ‘It is grossly unfair that the MOD will not simply extend even the non-financial reparations to people like Chris. To not provide him with his beret and an Etherton Ribbon is simply mean and unkind, and lacks any sense of justice and fairness.’

A MOD spokesperson said it does not comment on individual cases, but added: ‘We deeply regret the treatment of LGBT serving personnel between 1967 and 2000, which was wholly unacceptable and does not reflect today’s Armed Forces.

‘LGBT veterans have the same right to wear their medals and berets as other veterans.’