[Livia]

Originally Posted by BBXX

I know all that. My point was squarely concentrated on the fact it was illegal to be gay while in the Army and so many people hid that aspect of their lives in order to serve for the country, so there is a complexity to the situation that doesn't exist with any other demographic and this could simply to acknowledge that. I.E: yes, we banned you from joining us because we were discriminatory, and we appreciate your resilience in working for us despite our discrimination.

It's also worth noting this isn't the only variation of the poppy there is. There are purple poppies for animals killed in war and black poppies to commemorate Black British soldiers.

I personally don't see the big deal.

Neither the black nor the purple poppy has anything to do with the Royal British Legion. They are provided by separate organisations and, like I suggested previously, if an LGBT organisation wanted to launch their own exclusive poppy I would have no problem with that, so long as the procedes benefit ex-service personnel. The red poppy is for everyone, without excluding anyone. So I don't see why people would want the RBL to single them out and make them a special case. The first black man to join the Guards in the 1980s suffered horrendous racism. I never heard it suggested the British Legion give him a special poppy.