User:Db1uk

Outing and prison by Court Martial

lets start at my most life changing point.

I joined the Royal Air Force in 1987 age 17 and although I had experimented like so many others when younger I still wasn’t defining, or accepting myself as the big scary and always used negative word GAY.I did my bit for queen and country and fought in the first gulf war, which is where I learnt and accepted I was gay and had my first romance with a Norwegian Red Cross worker, how I would like to meet again and say sorry. We met around the pool of the Diplomat hotel, I was scared and broke it off and struggled to explain to the sarjeant I was sharing a room with why this man was crying in the corridor outside our room. I now set about leading my double life in the armed forces, I had too, as it remained illegal in the forces to be gay. This continued until in a search of my room a copy of Gay Times was found. This now lead to a two year investigation, bugging my communications, having people follow me, placing officers outside the local gay bars to spy on my going in, using the local police stations to take my friends too, to interview them and altogether create terror and fear amongst friends and associates. Most of my responses to the multitude of interviews they gave me had consisted of “well am I not permitted to have gay friends??” As you can imagine frustration must of grown on their part and so began an increasing amount of dirty tricks on their part, such as giving me short term postings to far flung parts of the UK without giving me a means to get there, so if I failed to turn up I would be Absent Without Leave, however they hadn’t bargend on my very resourcefulfamily. I endured threats of violence from my fellow service men after they had been interviewed, and a general feeling from others that they wish I would leave. And so after almost a couple of years I had had enough and finally confessed my “sins.” And so a COURT MARTIAL took place in Cornwall at RAF St Mawgan in October ’93. I would finally achieve my 15 minutes of fame!!!!! When sentenced to 6 months in prison of which I served 4, one month in solitary confinement and got 2 months off for good behaviour. As you can imagine my time inside wasn’t a barrel of laughs, with threats and an attempt to be set up by those in charge, with further offences. However I now had lost my privacy and before it came out in the press I had to tell my very Catholic parents, RAF officer father and my brother who had apparently always known, and so my mother and brother accepted me with no problem, however my father took some time to accept the truth, and from then I was able to begin to have a more positive open relationship with my family. However we had to do battle with the RAF, and thanks to my lawyer’s hard work, and My M.P. asking questions in the House of commons we got our honourable discharge back, our decorations and became part of the reason that the armed forces realised they needed to change and stop court-martialling and sending people to prison, for being gay.

Do I regret my military service? No, I went to war, I learnt to Scuba dive and have become A diving instructor, and the Skills I learnt have saved some Lives. And I now have Something in common with Oscar Wilde. A criminal record For gross indecency. And leaving the R.A.F. set me on the road to becoming a Psychiatric Nurse. And I have My Claim to fame - of being the last UK Serviceman to be sent to prison for being gay. can anyone tell me otherwise?? I have tried to ask the Ministry of Defence but even with a freedom of information request I get the response, “The M.O.D. is permitted to withhold information where an exemption is considered justifiable.” But What most people don’t realise is, with military law at discharge from your service they get to choose whether to list your offences or not, and what to list them as, with the civil authorities, and so I continue to lose my rights to a private life as I must declare my “criminal record.” This has meant that whilst I worked as a nurse, this declaration has resulted in my not obtaining a position, as one trust refused to say YES, though they did not say No either, otherwise apart from this being a talking point at interview I have had a very good career rising to managerial positions and enjoying the life I now lead without fear of having my secret found out.

After leaving the RAF I worked as a Commercial Air Diver after which I had full-filling career as a Psychiatric Nurse both in the community and on wards and up to management level until I was disabled by a medical incident, and so had to be retired from nursing. but now as a Landlord I enjoy life and have become a Naturist as it enabled me to regain my positive body immage and confidence following my disablement. hey don't knock it till you try it.

oh and my uncle has identified I am related to Billy the Kid

My early life was not un-eventful. I am a 60's love child she was 15 he was a 17 y.o. road repairer, as a catholic girl and because her family cared more about what the neighbours would say than the needs of their daughter she was sent away to the Nuns in Lancaster, U.K. and made to scrub floors and feel 'dirty' for being a fallen sole i was then born in Morecombe, Lancashire, U.K. and adopted, after growing up in Freckleton, Lancashire, U.K. till I was 10 and then in Plymouth, Devon, U.K. till I joined the Royal Air Force, see above. I later located my birth mother however although i spoke to her and she wanted to meet it was too much for her and she overdosed on paracetamol. I also found out my birth father killed himself 3 years after my adoption he was found hanging from the pourch of his girlfriends house and she discovered him in the morning.

what a life!!! and for all that doubt my life story it is a matter of public record.

Thank You for reading

David Bonney