GeeWhiz - thanks for an interesting and balanced post. I think you had a few doubts 4-5 years ago about joining up because of Service perceptions of your sexuality. I’m pleased to read that you are in and clearly enjoying service life.
I was hauled in to various fora and focus groups to discuss the issue in the mid 1990s, when I was at Lyneham. There was a spectrum of views - predictably the 'dinosaur' view from the old and bold and a generally more enlightened view from the younger brethren. There were comments regarding the requirement for different toilet and shower blocks, the ‘what would happen in combat?’ discussions etc…almost exactly the same arguments I had heard in the 1980s concerning the employment of women aircrew.
Fast-forward a couple of years and I was at a dining in at a well-known helicopter unit and there was, in attendance, an equally well-known ’gender assignee’, who I had met some years before in her earlier persona. Emboldened by a few beers, I asked this officer what her experience, with respect to colleagues, had been. She said that most colleagues had been supportive; some congratulating her determination to serve, albeit couched with ‘not my bag’ sort of comments. However, the group that she said she had the greatest difficulty with was women officers. [Apologies if you think I have misquoted you].
For some of the older posters here, times have changed. Students joining the RAF now have much greater ‘exposure’ (no double-entendre meant) to gay people and issues and generally couldn’t give a flying fig about it. Perhaps more talented people – some of whom are gay – have been tempted to enlist? Perhaps a visible presence at a Gay Pride parade helps with this recruitment? I’m sure some research has been done in this area.