I'M NOT THE ONLY GAY ON MY WARSHIP

A ROYAL Navy officer who claimed "I'm not the only gay on the warship" has landed MoD chiefs in hot water.

Lieutenant Commander Craig Jones, 36, penned an article for the Ministry's magazine Focus about being gay on board HMS Fearless.

He claimed that he had requested a private meeting with the ship's captain to complain about anti-gay views on board.

In the article, which used the catchphrase from TV's Little Britain in a headline, Lt Cdr Jones wrote: "I told him that when he stepped on to the flight deck that he needed to bear in mind that his third in command was gay.

"I said I was not the only gay man out of the 500 in the ship's company. He was possibly embarrassed. I probably had a face like thunder. I was fired up."

Now the magazine, which is distributed to all MoD staff, has issued a full apology because Lt Cdr Jones's comments imply that the captain and crew were anti-gay.

The magazine's editor says in this month's edition: "Unfortunately we did not check our story before publication. We entirely and unreservedly apologise to the commanding officer and the ship's company for any inaccuracies in the report and for our failure to check the story before publication."

The comic line "I'm the only gay in the village" - uttered by Little Britain star Matt Lucas's Welsh character Dafydd - has become a common jokey phrase in the UK.

The alleged incident between Lt Cdr Jones and his captain followed the lifting of the ban on homosexuals in the forces.

Lt Cdr Jones claimed there had been an earlier meeting among officers implying that the change of policy was unwelcome. After that meeting he confronted the captain, telling him he was gay and was not the only one on the ship.

A Whitehall source said: "The problem was that the article implied that the captain and some crew were homophobic so the editor of Focus needed to put the record straight.

"It has caused a certain amount of embarrassment among senior civil servants - but also a great deal of amusement with Little Britain fans!"

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