Election Rout - Rejection of National Service

LGBTQIA+ activist groups affiliated to the wider peace movement, have slammed plans outlined by the Conservative Party, to implement compulsory National Service if they win the forthcoming General Election.  In the first major announcement of his election campaign, Rishi Sunak said a future Tory government would introduce the scheme in 2025, forcing 18-year-olds either to join the military for 12 months full-time or to work one weekend per month in their community with organisations such as fire, police and the NHS.  The Labour Party pointed out that the stunt was a gimmick to appeal to reactionary voters, given that the Tories had slashed defence spending anyway.  The UK's oldest pacifist organisation, the Peace Pledge Union, said "“Sunak’s announcement signals a dangerous shift in politics. Conscription has quickly turned from a distant historical memory into a very real possibility, which we need to resist at every turn.”   He added: “This is a transparent attempt by the government to whip up everyday militarism and nationalist fervour in support of their reckless foreign policy, ahead of the general election. With the UK’s military spending and nuclear arsenal growing fast, this move sends another provocative signal to Russia and China, which can only make the world more unsafe.’  The LGBTQIA+ liberation movement did campaign for acceptance of LGBT+ people in the armed forces, which it achieved, but at the same time, there has always been a strong correlation between LGBT+ and queer politics and the wider principles of anti-militarism.  The Gay Liberation Front groups of the early seventies actively opposed militarism and the culture of obedience that the armed forces promote, seeing gay people as part of a wider resistance to imperialism and colonialism.  The "new queer activism" of the 1990s, exemplified in groups such as OutRage!, The Lesbian Avengers and Homocult, also explicitly rejected the armed forces agenda.