LGBTQ+ Armed Forces Community Memorial design winner announced

FWP is thrilled to announce the winning design for the National LGBTQ+ Armed Forces Community Memorial at the National Memorial Arboretum, which serves as the nation's year-round site for remembrance and reflection. This memorial was proposed in Lord Etherton’s LGBTQ+ Veterans Independent Review report, which the Government accepted in December 2023, and it is expected to be unveiled later in 2025.

According to ‘Fighting With Pride’, on Friday, January 10, 2025, the FWP Memorial team convened with a panel of judges on HMS WELLINGTON to interview the five shortlisted design finalists, choose a winning design, and announce the outcome at a launch reception. This event also marked the start of a weekend commemorating the 25th anniversary of the lifting of ‘The Gay Ban’ in the UK Armed Forces.

The LGBT+ Armed Forces Community Memorial will honour lives both lived and lost, following extensive consultations with the LGBTQ+ Armed Forces community. The final choice emerged from consultations with veterans and current service members, leading to a design brief widely circulated in the arts community and resulting in 38 high-quality submissions, a significant achievement in itself. The judges faced tough decisions as they narrowed the candidates to the five shortlisted artists, who each presented their ideas to the Judging Panel and explained why their design was the standout choice.

Each design was unique, reflecting incredible effort and creativity from the artists, but only one could be chosen. After thoughtful deliberation, “An Opened Letter” by The Abraxas Academy, an artist collective, was selected and announced by FWP’s Patron, Lieutenant General Sir Andrew Gregory KBE, CB, DL. The Abraxas Academy is comprised of Charlotte Howarth, Nina Bilbey, James Spedding, and Sue Aperghis.

“An Opened Letter” is a 2.5-meter-tall, crumpled, free-standing letter forged in bronze, set on a 4-meter-diameter York Stone base. It incorporates words taken from testimonies of former personnel affected by the LGBT ban and current service personnel. The structure is designed to contrast life under the ban before it was lifted on January 12, 2000, featuring a dark inner surface and a bright, shiny outer surface to symbolise the inclusive service of today, transitioning from the dark days of the ban to the brighter present.

Abraxas Academy writes:

The written word and page are a symbol of the struggle and fight for the LGBTQ+ contribution to the Nation’s armed forces.

The letter is a combination of words taken from evidence collected from personnel who have experienced exclusion, discrimination and in some cases have died as a direct result of exposure of their true selves. Evidence responsible for ending many careers, and in some instances prosecution, written in the accused own words. Tragically, in some cases the words of endearment expressed by a loved one.

You can walk around the letter, be drawn to it from a distance and engage by being inside its darker surface, read the words both negative and positive, from inside, shadowed and hidden, or chose to come out of the page and reflect on the bright reflective surface of the future.

Nina Bilbey, lead artist at Abraxas Academy said:

“This is extremely personal for our members, some of whom have been affected by the armed forces exclusion of LGBTQ+ identities, and some simply affected by lived queer experience. All our members make a living in the arts by designing and delivering beautiful sculpture, made and inspired by the act of collaboration.”

“We hope this memorial will help ease some of the distrust and pain suffered by individuals, past and present, and be of inspiration to future generations who will witness this work and be reminded of the healing power of reconciliation and the public acknowledgement of historic discrimination.”

Ed Hall, Chair of Fighting With Pride, said:

“The trustees are delighted that we have such a strong winner for the LGBT+ armed forces community memorial. It’s been incredibly important to all of us at Fighting With Pride that we held a rigorous creative process to find the right design that will provide a place of peace and reflection for the LGBT+ armed forces family. I’d like to thank everyone who submitted designs, and the LGBT+ serving and veterans’ community who have helped shape the selection.

“It’s a mark of how far we’ve come as a society that the competition for this prestigious commission has been so fiercely contested by some amazing creative minds. We received 38 exceptionally high standard designs for the panel of judges to choose from and we now have an outstanding design as the worthy winner.”