Hmm, interesting (not). I joined some US colleagues at a presentation by the Executive Director of the Defense Equal Opportunities Management Institute about 2 weeks ago. The Institute was set up at Patrick AFB in the 1970s to fight racial discrimination (appropriately, the HQ is on Tuskegee Airmen Drive) and morphed into gender equality and now is coinsidering how to tackle orientation equality. My fellow US colleagues sighed, knowing that there would be another 2 week course taken from their lives, albeit in Florida, before they could take over a Bde Command. The Director mentioned that they had observed cloely how the UK policies had worked (ie nothing to see!) and noted, as I did, that the arguments agaisnt the change in policy in the US were the same as those raised 10-15 years earlier about the introduction of women aircrew. And similarly shallow, too.
I did chip in and asked what would DEOMI normalise when orientation matters were, err, ironed out. Extraterrestrials?
On a related note, I recently came across the 'Together' poster produced in the 1940s, showing the three services marching together, supported by strapping lads from the Colonies and Dominions. It's a strong, powerful, yet simple message; I hope that it could be resurrected to demonstrate equality now. (see below) Who agrees that it's a powerful message?
ps: There is a much grander painting in the FCO, rendered shortly after the Great War, with a buxom Britannia taking tribute from grateful nations of France and Belgium, whilst having one foot on a
Pickelhauber. She is flanked by 6'6" Adonises from Canada, NZ and Aussie, naked apart from, err, appropriate fig leaves - maple leaf, NZ fern and a bunch of Wattle flowers for the Aussie, IIRC. There are also little black fellas carrying baskets and trays of fruit on their heads. Suffice to say, the FCO have retained the grand location for this painting and use it to illustrate to Johnny Foreigner the diversity of the Commonwealth and enduring Imperial ties, whilst mildly appologising for it's slightly (!) patronising tone. Someone might need to do an E&D course, I think.
