Navy signals for help to recruit gay sailors

Times Online - Sunday TimesTHE Royal Navy has turned to Stonewall, the gay lobby group, for advice on how to recruit and retain homosexual sailors.

Senior officers want to encourage more gay and lesbian sailors, estimated at 2,100, to “come out”, paving the way for the first openly gay admiral.

The partnership, to be announced tomorrow, will provide the template for a wider change in the culture of the armed forces. Ben Summerskill, chief executive of Stonewall, said: “We hope that the RAF and the army will be following shortly.”