10/06/2026
Smith and Grady v UK (1999) was a landmark decision of the European Court of Human Rights that unanimously found that the investigation into and subsequent discharge of personnel from HM Forces on the basis they were gay was a breach of their right to a private life under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The decision caused a massive stink at the time, but led the UK to adopt a revised sexual-orientation-free Armed Forces Code of Social Conduct in January 2000.
The ECHR's decision was doubly important because the case had previously been dismissed in both the UK High Court and Court of Appeal, who had found that the Navy's actions had not 'violated the principles of legality'. The ECHR didn't agree, and let the UK government have it with both barrels, noting
'attitudes ranged from stereotypical expressions of hostility to those of homosexual orientation, to vague expressions of unease about the presence of homosexual colleagues. To the extent that they represent a predisposed bias on the part of a heterosexual majority against a homosexual minority, these negative attitudes cannot, of themselves, be considered by the Court to amount to sufficient justification for the interferences with the applicants' rights outlined above any more than similar negative attitudes towards those of a different race, origin or colour'
Ouch!
