After Andrew Hartle was outed by a tabloid newspaper in 1997, he was ordered to resign by the air force to comply with the British military’s ban on LGBT staff (doi:10.1136/bmj.q406).1 Hartle was able to continue his career as a doctor outside the military without professional censure, unlike at least 40 male doctors who were investigated by the General Medical Council for criminal convictions under homophobic laws that were in place in the UK into the 1980s. Legal, public, and professional harassment wasn’t confined to male doctors.
This week the GMC has apologised (doi:10.1136/bmj.q405).2 …