New Statue to Remember LGBTQ+ Veterans

A new statue – which will be installed at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire in August 2025 – will remember the experiences of LGBTQ+ veterans who served before the military ban was lifted in 2000. Overseen by the charity Fighting With Pride, the bronze statue, entitled Crumpled Letter, was designed by Norfolk and Suffolk artists’ collective Abraxas Academy. 

Abraxas Academy includes artists Nina Bilbey, James Spedding of Holkham Forge, Charlotte Howarth from Norfolk, and Sue Aperghis from Felixstowe in Suffolk. The memorial they have designed features words taken from LGBTQIA personnel impacted by the ban whom the collective met with during the process.

Speaking to the BBC, Abraxas Academy sculptor Nina Bilbey, said: “This is going to be a sculpture that will give armed forces, the LGBT people, somewhere to go to remember, but also know how fortunate they are now, of people’s sacrifice.

“We hope this memorial will help ease some of the distrust and pain suffered by individuals, past and present, and be of inspiration to future generations who will witness this work and be reminded of the healing power of reconciliation and the public acknowledgement of historic discrimination."

It was illegal to serve in the armed forces if you were LGBTQIA+ up until 2000, and veterans who served before the ban were often dishonourably discharged, stripped of medals or convicted of a crime.

Kevin Bazeley, from Fighting with Pride explained: “I was a veteran myself and I served from 1985 to 1995 where I actually fell foul of that ban and was discharged because of my sexuality.

"I know from personal experience the impact the ban had on many people. There were many examples of severe abuse, interrogations, imprisonment... this is very much focusing on remembering that and those injustices that happened but is focusing on the sacrifice and service of all the armed forces LGBT+ community."

The news of the memorial comes after the announcement last year, that LGBTQIA veterans impacted by the military ban could receive up to £70,000 in compensation.

The installation of this new statue represents three of the 49 recommendations Lord Etherton made in the independent review of the experiences of LGBTQIA veterans who served prior to 2000, including recommendation 17: “There should be a public memorial at the National Memorial Arboretum to all LGBT people who have served and continue to serve in the military, possibly including a specific reference to those who suffered the consequences of the Ban on serving homosexuals prior to January 2000. The unveiling or dedication should be at a ceremony to which are invited, among others, all LGBT veterans who served under, and suffered from, the Ban.” Recommendation 18 adds that: “The design of the memorial should be a work of collaboration by appropriate organisations, but certainly including one or more of those which have the support and respect of veterans who served under, and suffered from, the Ban and are the subject of this Review.”

In keeping with recommendation 19, “The government should pay for such a memorial as the Ban, which caused the considerable suffering of affected veterans, was MoD policy,” the design and construction has been funded by a £350,000 grant from the Office for Veterans' Affairs in the Ministry of Defence (MOD). Bronze metalwork will be made at Holkham Forge and the stonework will be designed and hand-cut in West Acre, Norfolk.