Dame Kelly Holmes joins LGBT+ armed forces veterans in welcoming Rishi Sunak's apology

The Prime Minister and Defense Secretary Ben Wallace have both issued an apology in the House of Commons for the disgraceful treatment of troops under the military gay ban

Emma Riley and Dame Kelly Holmes welcomed the apology

Dame Kelly Holmes joined LGBT+ armed forces veterans in hailing Rishi Sunak's apology for the disgraceful treatment of troops under the military gay ban.

Up to 20,000 were imprisoned, fired for their sexuality or unmasked against their will before the service rule was lifted in 2000.

Last week, as recommended by a damning report into the matter, the Prime Minister finally issued his apology in a victory for activists and charity Fighting With Pride.

Dame Kelly - who came out last year aged 52 - has recounted her horrific experiences in the military in the 1990s.

They included a search of her barracks by military police for suspected gay people, which left her "traumatized" and "frightened to live my authentic self and admit to being a gay woman".

The Olympic gold medalist runner said: 'The Prime Minister's apology was long overdue.

Former Navy radio officer Emma Riley, who took the UK to the European Court of Human Rights in 1998 and helped overturn the ban, was watching Wednesday's apology from the Commons viewing gallery.

Emma, ​​arrested and released in the 1990s after confiding in someone she might be gay, said it was a "huge moment", adding, "It's been over two decades since the ban was lifted. We're no longer forgotten, no longer buried like a dark, disgusting secret."

Emma in the 1990s when she was a Royal Navy radio operator

Former elite Navy helicopter pilot Simon Langley

“It has taken more than two decades since the lifting of the ban for the plight of veterans like me to be reconsidered.