This Queer Angel Book

This Queer Angel Book

Regular price £10.99 Sale price£10.33 Save 6%
/
Tax included.

  • Low stock - 1 item left
  • Inventory on the way
  • Free Delivery on UK orders over £70
  • Discreet Packaging

The incredible true story of one woman's campaign for equality in the armed forces, after a five-month investigation into unnatural conduct which led to her expulsion.

Following the decriminalisation of consensual homosexual sex between men in 1967, the army was one of the few remaining institutions in which homosexual behaviour was still illegal. Elaine was questioned at length, her diaries and letters read, and her associates, past and present, interrogated in the search for evidence against her.

Having been forced out of a successful career, Elaine decided to stand up and be counted, co-founding the campaign and support group Rank Outsiders. It took a 10-year Freedom of Information battle to be granted access to documents about her case; the witch hunt against her had involved lies, face-saving, innocent parties and senior figures at the very top of the military hierarchy.

Having fought the repeal as far as the European Court of Human Rights, the MoD reacted swiftly when in 2000 the court decided that investigating a person's sexuality breaches the right to privacy. Now, all three services have, at various times, made it into Stonewall s prestigious annual list of the Top 100 Diversity employers; they allow LGBT personnel to march in uniform at the head of Pride parades; and they host recruitment stands at Pride festivals. Rank Outsiders has been supplanted by in-house support networks. Nonetheless, the legal battle by Elaine and others for proper compensation took until 2009 13 long years.

The events leading up to Elaine's initial interrogations by the Royal Military Police, and then eventually to the repeal of the ban, are described here with humour and honesty, bringing the cruelty and injustice sharply into focus. For a generation brought up with anti-discrimination laws and equal marriage, these hard-fought battles might seem like ancient history. Elaine's story, so vividly told, reminds us that these freedoms, only recently won, must never be taken for granted.


Author Elaine Chambers
Format Paperback
Pages 368
ISBN 9781912618385

ROYAL MAIL STRIKES DURING NOVEMBER & DECEMBER 2022 WILL DELAY DELIVERIES. THE LATEST UPDATE ON THE STRIKE DATES CAN BE VIEWED HERE.

UK Orders

Takes approximately 1-3 working days to arrive, (but can take longer during busy periods like bank holidays or Pride Month)

Orders under £40 can't be tracked, but do have a barcode on which Royal Mail scan on delivery.

Orders over £40 are sent with full tracking.

International Orders

Some international orders arrive in around 5 days (mostly to Europe) and some take 2 months.

There are also sometimes customs delays.

We can not be held responsible if your order does not arrive for a certain date.

Find out more about deliveries in the UK here.

Find out more about deliveries to the EU here.

Find out more about deliveries to the rest of the world (non-EU) here.

We understand that some people need to be discreet. Everything we send out is in plain packaging with no reference to Gay Pride Shop.


Recently viewed