King Charles III unveils a memorial to LGBTQ servicemembers in the U.K. on Oct. 27, 2025. (Photo courtesy of the British Defense Ministry)
King Charles III on Oct. 27, unveiled a memorial to British LGBTQ servicemembers.
The memorial is located at the National Memorial Arboretum in Burton-on-Trent, England.
“We see all the LGBT+ serving members and veterans of the Armed Forces, and we salute you,” said the Royal Family in a social media post that contained a video of Charles placing flowers at the memorial.
“Throughout the 20th century, gay men, lesbians, and bisexual people were banned from serving in the UK Armed Forces,” it adds.
“Today marks a historic step for healing and reconciliation,” said the British Defense Ministry.
The BBC notes gay servicemembers could not serve openly in the UK until 2000.
Monday’s ceremony is the first time Charles held an “official engagement” in support of LGBTQ rights.
His mother, Queen Elizabeth II, gave royal assent to the Sexual Offenses Act of 1967, which decriminalized consensual same-sex sexual relations among men in England and Wales who are at least 21, and to a law that extended marriage rights to same-sex couples in England and Wales in 2014. Elizabeth, among other things, also pardoned Alan Turing, an acclaimed World War II codebreaker and computer scientist who died by suicide two years after his 1952 conviction for “gross indecency.”
Then-Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in 2023 apologized to LGBTQ servicemembers who “endured the most horrific sexual abuse and violence, homophobic bullying, and harassment, all while bravely serving this country.”
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