Letter: Military gays less threat to morale than military police

Sir: You quote the report on the current ban as concluding that "homosexuality remains in practice incompatible with service life if the Armed Services ... are to be maintained at their full ... fighting power." One may wonder how this relates to the performance of what must have been a significant proportion of those who made up the armed forces in the Second World War. At that time it was felt neither proper nor expedient to raise questions about the sexual credentials of people mobilised to fight in defence of such values as liberty and tolerance.

Patrick Gardiner

Oxford