Thousands of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and gender diverse and queer (LGBTQ+) veterans have served in the Australian Defence Force (ADF) with honour and dignity. Yet, for the majority of Australia’s military history, their service was officially banned. Many LGBTQ+ personnel experienced persecution, witch-hunts and forcible discharge on the grounds of sexuality or gender identity.
(In this piece we are using the acronym LGBTQ+ because the ADF policies being discussed were not about intersex and asexual personnel. We use the broader acronym LGBTIQA+ when discussing the community.)
