11/11/11

Today is Armistice Day. I come from a family steeped in remembrance. Even in her last year, riddled with cancer, my mother put a cross and poppies on the graves of her father and uncle, both of whom served on the Somme. And although she never talked about it, my step-grandfather was lost on the hospital ship Britannic in 1916.

LGBT servicemen have always played their part in war. They also gave their lives to serve their country, fighting for the freedom that they, as gay men and women, couldn't have. The most potent example is Alan Turing, grandson of the vicar of Edwinstowe. His work helped to break the Nazi war codes during World War II, but his most significant contribution is the theory of computer science whereby the modern computer was created. Before this happened Turing was convicted of homosexual activity. It broke his spirit and he committed suicide by eating a poisoned apple (hence the logo of an apple with a bite out of it). Having fought to defeat the Nazis, Turing was destroyed by discrimination at home.

Nottinghamshire is proud to be the site of the UK's only memorial to gay victims of the Holocaust, but it also serves to remind us all that violence, and even the death penalty, still hangs over some of the LGBT community around the world today. It took a long time for our particular rights to freedom to arrive.

Many stories of gay soldiers have been lost or unrecorded. I've heard stories about my grandfather and how he left the Somme with permanent disabilities, and a life-long friendship with the man the family always call Uncle Bill - Bill Hayes. Although never mentioned by my family, Bill was gay. He was a well-known entertainer in Bassetlaw - a comedian, dancer, singer, puppeteer, magician and panto dame. He chose to work in an engineering works during World War II, helping to build Bailey Bridges (those of my generation an older will know what these are; Bailey was friend of my Grandma Selby). Bill often took acting jobs, regular panto in Birmingham, and got my whole family involved in fund-raising concerts in the village in which he chose to live with my grandfather. It is very difficult finding out more of Bill's war time experiences because he hardly spoke of it to the family.

Memories of LGBT servicemen are getting rarer as time passes. It took over 80 years after World War I for the Ministry of Defence to recognise that LGBT servicemen are not a threat to the moral of those serving with them. Only within the last 5 years has a wreath been allowed to be placed at the Cenotaph ceremony to commemorate the LGBT victims. In a way it is those who survived who had to continue fighting for their freedom when everyone else had stopped.

To return to Nottinghamshire's Rainbow Heritage click on www.nottsrainbowheritage.org.uk