Navy award for sexual openness

By JULIE MIDDLETON

The Navy has won an award for its programme welcoming gay, lesbian and bisexual members of the military - a field traditionally noted for Macho behaviour.

The Equal Employment Opportunities Trust in Auckland last night bestowed the Manaaki Tangata Innovation Award on the Navy for its Sexual Orientation Support and Training Programme.

At-sea training started in December last year, involving all staff. It was run by an openly gay man, Eugene Moore of consultancy Full Spectrum. He lived and worked alongside personnel.

"It's a first for any Navy in the world," says Trudie McNaughton, the trust's executive director and one of five judges.

"Having an openly gay consultant at sea has been the first time for many of the heterosexual personnel that they have consciously mixed with a gay person, and that breaks down a huge amount of barriers."

The Navy, in its candidacy for the awards, estimated that gays, lesbians and bisexuals numbered "at least 10 per cent of the sea-going population."

In implementing a programme welcoming gay, lesbian and bisexual people and educating others, it hoped to improve staff retention, reduce chances of blackmail, and improve staff morale and social interaction.

A notable feature of the programme was genuine commitment by senior staff to tolerance and understanding, says Trudie McNaughton, "and that is 100 per cent the attitude expected at all the training".

"The route to promotion includes diversity awareness."

Although the official ban on gay military personnel was lifted in 1993, the Navy admitted that "an unofficial ban within the RNZN was acknowledged to exist by naval leaders".