Somethg for the weekend: One of the UK's first openly gay soldiers discs his addictn to sex and dgs | The Inpennt | The Inpennt

Contents:

• I SERVED AS A GAY SOLDIER THREE YEARS AFTER THE ARMY MA LEGAL. THE CLIMATE HAS CHANGED NOW, BUT THE ARMY N’T BE PLACENT
• JAM WHARTON: THE FORMER GUARD NOW FIGHTG DISCRIMATN AGAST GAY SOLDIERS
• JAM WHARTON, GAY BRISH SOLDIER, MAK COVER OF ARMY MAG
• GAY FORMER SOLDIER JAM WHARTON: ‘WE NEED TO CLEAN UP GAY SNAS’
• GAY SOLDIER REUNTS HOW PRCE HARRY STEPPED TO PROTECT HIM OM HOMOPHOBIC ABE
• OUT THE ARMY: MY LIFE AS A GAY SOLDIER HARDVER – MAY 13, 2014
• OUT IN THE ARMY: MY LIFE AS A GAY SOLDIER HARDVER – ILLTRATED, 18 JUN. 2013
• JAM WHARTON’S “OUT IN THE ARMY – MY LIFE AS A GAY SOLDIER”
• SOMETHG FOR THE WEEKEND: ONE OF THE UK'S FIRST OPENLY GAY SOLDIERS DISCS HIS ADDICTN TO SEX AND DGS
• JAM WHARTON: PRCE HARRY DEFENDS GAY MAN THE MILARY AND SETS AN EXAMPLE
• TROOPER JAM WHARTON OM SUMMERHILL, WREXHAM, MAK HISTORY APPEARG AS OPENLY GAY SOLDIER ON ONT OF SOLDIER MAGAZEA SOLDIER OM SUMMERHILL, WREXHAM, HAS BEE AN UNLIKELY CELEBRY AFTER BEG THE FIRST GAY SOLDIER TO APPEAR ON THE ONT OF SOLDIER MAGAZE.CHTERCHRONICLEBOOKMARKSHARENEWSBYCHHIRE LIVE00:00, 6 AUG 2009UPDATED22:49, 23 JUL 2013BOOKMARKIT'S MORE IMPORTANT THAN EVER TO STAY RMED - GET THE EE CHHIRELIVE NEWSLETTER DIRECT TO YOUR BOXMORE NEWSLETTERS SUBSCRIBEINVALID EMAILSOMETHG WENT WRONG, PLEASE TRY AGA LATER.MORE NEWSLETTERSWE E YOUR SIGN-UP TO PROVI NTENT WAYS YOU’VE NSENTED TO AND IMPROVE OUR UNRSTANDG OF YOU. THIS MAY CLU ADVERTS OM AND THIRD PARTI BASED ON OUR KNOWLEDGE OF YOU. MORE THANK YOU FOR SUBSCRIBG!WE HAVE MORE NEWSLETTERSSHOW ME SEE OURPRIVACY NOTICE SEE OURPRIVACY NOTICE&TIM;GROUP 28 IT'S MORE IMPORTANT THAN EVER TO STAY RMED - GET THE EE CHHIRELIVE NEWSLETTER DIRECT TO YOUR BOXINVALID EMAILSOMETHG WENT WRONG, PLEASE TRY AGA LATER.SIGN UPNO THANKS, CLOSEWE E YOUR SIGN-UP TO PROVI NTENT WAYS YOU’VE NSENTED TO AND IMPROVE OUR UNRSTANDG OF YOU. THIS MAY CLU ADVERTS OM AND THIRD PARTI BASED ON OUR KNOWLEDGE OF YOU. MORE &TIM;GROUP 28THANK YOU FOR SUBSCRIBG!
• JAM WHARTON’S “OUT IN THE ARMY – MY LIFE AS A GAY SOLDIER”

I SERVED AS A GAY SOLDIER THREE YEARS AFTER THE ARMY MA LEGAL. THE CLIMATE HAS CHANGED NOW, BUT THE ARMY N’T BE PLACENT

Until 2000, the Brish Mistry of Defence (MOD) banned gay people servg the Armed Forc. When the ban lifted, Jam Wharton beme one of the first openly gay people to serve the Brish Army. I absolutely knew I was gay when I joed the army.

It was okay to say you were gay on paper, but I felt like wasn’t all okay practice. That’s bee there was a lot of obv homophobia, wh homophobic words still very much a mon I joed up at the age of 16, I cid I jt wasn’t gog to be g out at that pot. What’s tertg about those who dished out, if you sat them down now – or then – they’d ny they were homophobic.

But bee was so monplace to e homophobic language, and to scribe me, they’d partmentalised .

JAM WHARTON: THE FORMER GUARD NOW FIGHTG DISCRIMATN AGAST GAY SOLDIERS

A big moment early on was when I got chatted up the bar by another gay soldier.

JAM WHARTON, GAY BRISH SOLDIER, MAK COVER OF ARMY MAG

This h talent is a nveyor belt, a procs, wh new ias and progrsn g all the Wharton has joed the ary’s pri march (Photo: Tristan Fewgs/Getty Imag)There were trans people the ary I met at gay pri, but the climate has changed now. Jam Wharton’s book, Out In The Army: My Life as a Gay Soldier, is available to buy here. For ee real time breakg news alerts sent straight to your box sign up to our breakg news emailsSign up to our ee breakg news emailsIt has always been a source of wonr to me how the Queen's Guard n manage to keep a straight face stg on their hors, their magnificent uniforms, while hors of tourists take their well as needg "huge rerv of patience" to stay alert for a whole hour before change-over, soldiers velop tricks to help them, playg mental gam such as "untg the chim", reveals Jam Wharton, the poster boy for the Army's changg stance towards homosexualy durg 10 years of service as an openly gay man.

Wharton says the Rabow List is vally important for the way which regnis everyone om the famo, such as Olympic swimmer Tom Daley – "the most fluential person this untry the LGBT muny this past year, for what he did and the reactn had, people were talkg about for weeks" – through to "people who are dog everyday jobs while beg thentic about who they are and fightg the e" 27-year-old beme the first openly gay soldier to appear on the ver of the Army's magaze, Soldier, 2009. His civil partnership to hband Thom (although the uple have very recently separated), was the first to be celebrated wh great fanfare the Hoehold Cavalry's barracks uple beme a symbol of how far the ary had evolved after the law to allow homosexuals to the servic me to force January Wharton, left, married his partner Thom McCafey at Marylebone Town Hall 2010 (David Sandison)"It was 10 years sce the law had changed and acted for me as a real benchmark of how far the Army had e, " says Wharton.

GAY FORMER SOLDIER JAM WHARTON: ‘WE NEED TO CLEAN UP GAY SNAS’

"As well as Daley, Wharton would like to see Steph Keeble and Dave Vey om the Birmgham LGBT Centre, on this year's list for their work the muny, Profsor Tom Welton om Imperial College London, an openly gay scientist "very active wh workg for equaly" and Greg Ussher, the head of the Metro Centre, the equaly and diversy chary south-east London.

Wharton is talkg ahead of the lnch of an update to his bt-sellg memoir Out the Army: My Life as a Gay Soldier, which tapulted him back to the headl when released last summer bee of revelatns about the time he served wh Prce Harry the book, Wharton revealed Litenant Wal had rcued him om six soldiers threateng to "batter" him a homophobic attack along wh tailg acunts of nversatns they shared about sex, cludg how Prce Harry lost his virgy.

GAY SOLDIER REUNTS HOW PRCE HARRY STEPPED TO PROTECT HIM OM HOMOPHOBIC ABE

Wharton tells me that is "ironic" that he is now sgle as was part bee he wanted to spend more time wh his hband that he qu the "started to go downhill" a year before breakg up around the time the two beme very volved the mpaign for gay marriage, which put "tolerable prsure" on them both. "I am still 100 per cent sure gay marriage is what is required and what is relevant, " Wharton says. "Although Wharton is by workg as a diversy nsultant, PR, wrg a lumn for the gay magaze Wq and workg for the chary Stonewall, he do harbour polil feels that ary personnel "have no real reprentatn, or voice" Wtmster and his tert polics om a sire to "put the welfare of people the ary" at the heart of cisn-makg.

Prce Harry fends him om homophobic attack by fellow soldiers. 2009 Is the first gay soldier to appear on the ver of the Army's Soldier Magaze – ne years after the Army lifted ban on homosexualy. Publish his tobgraphy Out the Army: My Life as a Gay Soldier.

OUT THE ARMY: MY LIFE AS A GAY SOLDIER HARDVER – MAY 13, 2014

Amongst his fellow guardsmen, he prid himself on beg the tought, the ftt and the most not only lghed at homophobic jok - he was the "straightt of the straight" amongst the young officers. When one of his platoon admted to beg gay, he immediately started the discharge realised that behd the excsively macho behavur was a young man who lived fear that his own homosexualy would be disvered. "I scurried away like a ightened rat, " he explaed yterday, bter regret still evint his exprsn more than a month, for the first time s history, the ver of the Brish Army's official publitn Soldier magaze shows Trooper Jam Wharton - openly gay - clad his drs uniform, plete wh Iraq medal, next to the headle "Pri".

OUT IN THE ARMY: MY LIFE AS A GAY SOLDIER HARDVER – ILLTRATED, 18 JUN. 2013

It is the most obv sign that almost a after the ary lifted the ban on homosexualy is fally fortable wh s new cloth. Brish servicemen and women now march at Gay Pri uniform, all three servic have bee Stonewall diversy champns and a few months ago the head of the Brish Army, General Sir Richard Dannatt ma history when he beme the first army chief to addrs a Lbian, Gay, Bi-sexual and Transgenr nference.

Perhaps most tellgly, senr officers om the US have been quietly holdg talks wh their Brish unterparts on how Ameri n change s "don't ask, don't tell" police which has seen more than 12, 500 members discharged sce s ceptn 16 years Mr Wakelg, the news that Trooper Wharton n genuely live openly as a gay man wh a boyiend another ancient and prtig regiment, the Hoehold Cavalry, generat such obv turmoil that he has to pse to pose himself. I uld have been eful to the army, " explaed Mr legal change allowg the gay to openly serve took place January 2000 after a two year legal battle volvg three gay men and a lbian, who had been discharged om the Royal Navy and RAF after beg found to be se went all the way to the European Court of Human Rights, which - spe the Government's argument that the ary should be treated as a special se bee of the "close physil and shared livg ndns together wh external prsur such as grave danger and war" - led that the MoD policy was not staable. Overnight service personnel who had been expected to rm on anyone they spected of beg gay were told they mt now rpect the rights of their lleagu.

JAM WHARTON’S “OUT IN THE ARMY – MY LIFE AS A GAY SOLDIER”

Rtricted guidance signed by the chiefs of staff and sent to mandg officers gave answers to a long list of possible queri such as: "How should I protect young people the Service om predatory homosexuals?

" (the rponse: "It would be wrong to assume homosexuals were predatory") and, "Will homosexuals be able to brg their partners [to ms functns]? It was only amongst the olr Senr Non-Commissned and Warrant Officers that had met signifint the troductn of civil partnerships 2005, married quarters were renamed Service Fay Acmodatn and homosexual upl were given the same prry as their heterosexual unterparts alongsi pensn and pensatn change has not been whout problems.

"There has been no overt homophobic hate wave. A recent se of a junr non missned officer who plaed his brothers, also soldiers, were beg bullied after he me out was traced and the suatn alt wh through the mandg om simply acceptg the change, the last few years has seen a ary hierarchy choosg to be vol and visible on the subject, advertisg the gay prs for recs and seekg to openly nnect wh a muny that still treats wh some 2005, the Royal Navy joed the Stonewall diversy champns programme for employers, followed 12 months later by the RAF and fally last year, by the army.

SOMETHG FOR THE WEEKEND: ONE OF THE UK'S FIRST OPENLY GAY SOLDIERS DISCS HIS ADDICTN TO SEX AND DGS

In siar sequence, each service has allowed s soldiers to march (to great applse) at the Gay Pri event. Several personnel are now listed the Inpennt's Pk List of the most fluential gay and lbian people them is Mark Abrahams, the RAF's most senr servg openly gay officer who was promoted to Wg Commanr this month. "The ary do not have figur for the number of gay staff, statg is a private matter.

But Stonewall timat that mirrors the natnal average of eight per cent, which equat to about 14, 000 gay service personnel.

The 37-year-old, who is now an acplished actor nng his own drama pany, still has one last barrier to break is workg on a film entled To Die for Your Country - the story of two gay Special Forc soldiers Afghanistan. Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery (1887-1976)The bt known general of the Send World War urged the Hoe of Lords not to legalise gay sex 1967, clarg: "This sort of thg may be tolerated by the French, but we're Brish - thank God. " But several bgraphers have claimed that he had a "predilectn for the pany of young men" and enjoyed platonic love Edward (T E) Lawrence (1888-1935)The soldier whose heroic role as a Brish liaison officer durg the Arab Revolt of 1916-18 earned him the tle Lawrence of Arabia has often been scribed as gay but there is no ncrete evince he had an timate relatnship wh anyone, male or female, and willgly chose celibacy Marshal Horat Herbert Kchener (1850-1916)His sexualy is hotly ntted by historians.

JAM WHARTON: PRCE HARRY DEFENDS GAY MAN THE MILARY AND SETS AN EXAMPLE

Those who claim he was gay pot out that Capta Oswald Fzgerald was his nstant pann until their aths.

They were never rned and he never had Warton: 'You're gay. "You're gay?

TROOPER JAM WHARTON OM SUMMERHILL, WREXHAM, MAK HISTORY APPEARG AS OPENLY GAY SOLDIER ON ONT OF SOLDIER MAGAZEA SOLDIER OM SUMMERHILL, WREXHAM, HAS BEE AN UNLIKELY CELEBRY AFTER BEG THE FIRST GAY SOLDIER TO APPEAR ON THE ONT OF SOLDIER MAGAZE.CHTERCHRONICLEBOOKMARKSHARENEWSBYCHHIRE LIVE00:00, 6 AUG 2009UPDATED22:49, 23 JUL 2013BOOKMARKIT'S MORE IMPORTANT THAN EVER TO STAY RMED - GET THE EE CHHIRELIVE NEWSLETTER DIRECT TO YOUR BOXMORE NEWSLETTERS SUBSCRIBEINVALID EMAILSOMETHG WENT WRONG, PLEASE TRY AGA LATER.MORE NEWSLETTERSWE E YOUR SIGN-UP TO PROVI NTENT WAYS YOU’VE NSENTED TO AND IMPROVE OUR UNRSTANDG OF YOU. THIS MAY CLU ADVERTS OM AND THIRD PARTI BASED ON OUR KNOWLEDGE OF YOU. MORE THANK YOU FOR SUBSCRIBG!WE HAVE MORE NEWSLETTERSSHOW ME SEE OURPRIVACY NOTICE SEE OURPRIVACY NOTICE&TIM;GROUP 28 IT'S MORE IMPORTANT THAN EVER TO STAY RMED - GET THE EE CHHIRELIVE NEWSLETTER DIRECT TO YOUR BOXINVALID EMAILSOMETHG WENT WRONG, PLEASE TRY AGA LATER.SIGN UPNO THANKS, CLOSEWE E YOUR SIGN-UP TO PROVI NTENT WAYS YOU’VE NSENTED TO AND IMPROVE OUR UNRSTANDG OF YOU. THIS MAY CLU ADVERTS OM AND THIRD PARTI BASED ON OUR KNOWLEDGE OF YOU. MORE &TIM;GROUP 28THANK YOU FOR SUBSCRIBG!

You're gay'.

"I got back to Knightsbridge [barracks] one day and somebody opened a wdow seven floors up and yelled 'Are you gay? Neverthels, four years ago he was badly beaten by a dnken soldier a homophobic attack. "Mandy McBa: 'We n't get rid of all prejudice'One of the harst parts of beg gay the ary, Litenant Commanr Mandy McBa explaed, was that you had to go through the emotnal turmoil of g out yet aga wh each new was even harr when she was posted recently to the multi-natnal Eufor offic Sarajevo to work wh personnel om other ari, such as the Amerins, who do not accept openly gay servicemen or women as well as ls-liberal-thkg even that was a world away om the time 10 years ago when she was reported and vtigated for beg a lbian.

In the fal months before the ban was lifted, she was forced to lie to a manr she rpected bee to adm she had a girliend would have meant stant she heads the Royal Navy's lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr fom, although she admted that some people on her database still live fear of beg disvered. But sce settg up the fom a year ago, only two people have plaed of difficulti at the Navy has put recment ads the Pk prs, she learned of one recer who rmed a potential ndidate that he uld not be openly gay the Royal Mar. RelatedhomosexualyBrish ArmyArmed Forc.

JAM WHARTON’S “OUT IN THE ARMY – MY LIFE AS A GAY SOLDIER”

Jam Wharton is a gay rights activist and former soldier. In 2008 he was threatened wh a homophobic attack by soldiers om another regiment, but was saved by the terventn of Prce Harry. He was the first gay person to appear on the ont ver of Soldier magaze, the Brish Army's official publitn, which also clud an -pth article about him.

↑ Out In The Army: My Life As A Gay Soldier' by Jam Wharton, Beback Publishg, 2013, ISBN 9781849545402.