Date: Tue, 28 Sep 1999 00:19:27 +0100 Subject: ECHR lifts ban on gays in Armed Forces From: OW-jgh As has been widely reported all day, the European Court of Human Rights announced its judgement, finding the U.K. Government of breaching several articles of the European Convention on Human Rights, which safeguards an individual's right to privacy. -- For the full text of the judgement, see the link below. The Ministry of Defence has already suspended further action against lesbians and gays in the military. A statement was expected on Monday: but now appears to have been postponed till Tuesday. Incredibly, the ruling is not binding on the UK Government. The reaction of the Defence Secretary Lord Robertson suggests that he has accepted the ban is no longer legally sustainable. This, however, is no guarantee that the Government will hasten to lift the ban and remove other inequalities. OutRage! has great pleasure in congratulating the "Forces Four" on their long and difficult struggle to obtain this legal victory. We would like to hope that the Government will now at long last do the honourable thing. BBC: Context of military ruling -- Gays struggle for workplace rights http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/newsid_459000/459181.stm BBC: Military ruling -- Not binding on UK Government http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/newsid_458000/458842.stm BBC: Military ruling -- UK's lonely gay stance http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/newsid_458000/458694.stm BBC: Gays win military legal battle http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/newsid_458000/458714.stm European Court of Human Rights: Military gay ban ruling -- Judgement http://www.dhcour.coe.fr/eng/PRESS/New%20Court/Lustig-Prean%20epresse.htm http://www.OutRage.org.uk/links.htm -- You may leave this list automatically by sending a message to list-processor@diversity.org.uk, containing a line that says unsubscribe outrage-world The 'lists' command will give information about other services