As we celebrate Pride Month alongside Armed Forces Week, our special edition of “Salute!” features the reflections of Anna-Marie Tipping, London Regional Lead and Minority Groups and Families Projects Lead with the Veterans Covenant Healthcare Alliance.
Anna-Marie shares a heartfelt perspective on greater inclusion, visibility, and recognition for LGBT+ members of the Armed Forces. Her reflections honour the resilience, service, and spirit of a community.
Through powerful stories and lived experiences, this edition reaffirms our commitment to fostering dignity, equity, and belonging for all who serve.
Join us in celebrating the rich diversity of our Armed Forces community – because true strength comes from being seen, respected, and valued for who we are.
Pride Month is a time of celebration, remembrance, and continued advocacy for the LGBT+ community. Within the Veterans Covenant Healthcare Alliance (VCHA), it’s also a vital opportunity to reflect on the unique experiences and contributions of LGBT+ members of the Armed Forces community and their families.
In my role within the VCHA, I work to ensure that all aspects of the Armed Forces community are seen, heard, and included, particularly those who have historically been underrepresented or faced systemic barriers. This includes working with healthcare organisations to challenge environments where voices may be inadvertently overlooked, ensuring the language and imagery we use is inclusive, and engaging with the most current research and first-hand accounts to inform everything we do.
The Armed Forces has long mirrored wider society with all its strengths and its challenges. LGBT+ people have always served when they were explicitly banned from doing so. The legacy of the Ban, which prohibited LGBT+ individuals from serving openly in the UK military until the year 2000, continues to echo through the lives of many veterans and their families.
In both personal and professional contexts, I have witnessed the lasting impact of that period, not only on those who were dismissed or criminalised because of their identity, but also on those who served alongside them, or were placed in positions of enforcing discriminatory policies. The lifting of the Ban marked a turning point, and since then, both the military and the wider Armed Forces community have worked to rebuild trust and move forward. That journey is ongoing. It takes time, but the changes we’re seeing such as formal apologies, financial recognition schemes, and open inclusion in remembrance events reflect meaningful progress.
One of the most important elements of our work with healthcare organisations is raising awareness of the LGBT+ military community and the specific healthcare challenges they may face.
There’s a widespread assumption that military service and LGBT+ identity are mutually exclusive, but they are not. We challenge this by facilitating workshops, distributing educational materials, and encouraging engagement with standards such as the Pride in Veterans Standard, developed by Fighting With Pride.
Fighting With Pride (FWP) is a military charity established to mark the 20th anniversary of the full removal of the ban on LGBT+ individuals serving in the Armed Forces.
Some LGBT+ veterans live with complex trauma linked to their service, and some may be understandably wary of healthcare systems or uncomfortable in clinical environments. This is why education is so essential. Each year, during Pride Month, we distribute resources co-developed with Fighting with Pride to healthcare organisations, outlining the legacy of the Ban and providing context to improve cultural competency and considerations for trauma-informed care.
- Staff education is the foundation of inclusive, equitable healthcare.
The VCHA has recently launched a new training initiative designed to enhance understanding of the Armed Forces community, including their diversity which includes those related to sexuality, gender identity, religion, mental health, and disability.
We also promote network exchanges during Pride Month where Armed Forces staff networks are invited to present to LGBT+ networks, and vice versa. These moments of sharing help to build empathy, tackle misunderstanding, and encourage peer-based learning. They are a brilliant example of the collaborative spirit Pride and Armed Forces Week can inspire.
While many LGBT+ veterans have powerful and inspirational stories, some of the most moving contributions are also the most ordinary. I served alongside a young LGBT+ woman in the Navy just five years after the Ban was lifted.
We were both navigating a new environment, culture, language and people, together as a couple of teenagers. On reflection of this time, what has stood out to me most was how unremarkable her presence was, like everyone else’s, in the best possible way. She, like everyone else, did the training. The same expectations, the same language, the same silly evenings ironing kit. We were all the same. That, in itself, is progress: being allowed to serve without your identity becoming the story. As a mirror of society, not every person who serves in the military needs to be an inspiration, same as the LGBT+ community. It can just be a young woman training to serve her country regardless of her sexuality and to me, that is one of the greatest contributions a person can make.
In the past decade, we’ve seen initiatives like the Fighting with Pride march past the Cenotaph, the introduction of the Pride Poppy Pin by the Royal British Legion, and increased awareness through national remembrance and recognition events. These steps were unthinkable just 25 years ago, but there is still more to do. This Pride, I urge all healthcare staff to consider how they can make their services more inclusive for the Armed Forces LGBT+ community. Ask the question: Have you served? Don’t make assumptions based on appearance or identity. Signpost where you can. Make use of your Trust’s Armed Forces Leads and networks. Attend training and seek out information. It is there, and it is valuable.
The Armed Forces is as diverse as the country it serves. By recognising this and by making sure no one is left behind, we honour the full legacy of service. Pride Month is a time for joy, remembrance, and solidarity. It is also a time to recommit ourselves to equity, inclusion, and justice. This Pride, let’s remember all those who served, and continue to serve, with dignity and pride, regardless of who they are or who they love.
Words by Anna-Marie Tipping
To access information on support available to the Armed Forces community, click here.
If you have a story to share or any story suggestions, we’d love to hear from you – submit yours and be part of this growing collection of voices celebrating the Armed Forces community. Email us at rnoh.vcha@nhs.net.
