RAF broadens appeal with diversity drive

The
Gay Pride festival over the August Bank Holiday heralded a new era for the RAF,
as it specifically targeted homosexual recruits for the first time in its
history.

Eight
officers staffed a float at the event in Manchester
as part of a recruitment drive to show that the Armed Forces welcome people
from different backgrounds.

Until
January 2003, it was legal for the Armed Forces to reject gay and lesbian
officers. But the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg
ruled that the ban breached gay peoples’ right to respect for private life.

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A
spokeswoman for the RAF said: "We have recruitment policies that recognise
that people from different backgrounds can make positive contributions. An
individual’s sexual orientation is none of the RAF’s business."