James Wharton joined the British Army in August 2003 and entered into the ranks of the Blues and Royals.

In 2007 James served in Southern Iraq for seven months carrying out his duties as an Armoured Reconnaissance soldier. In 2008 he spent 4 months assisting in the training of other troops preparing for active service at the British Army’s training facility in Alberta, Canada.

James has played a part on all major state occasions including the State Opening of Parliament, Lord Mayor’s Parade, Cenotaph Parade and the Queen’s Birthday Parade.  In April 2011, James was honoured to be escorting the Sovereign on the occasion of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s wedding.

James was the first gay person to appear on the front cover of Soldier magazine, the British Army’s official publication, which also had an in-depth article on James’ life as its feature.

Marrying his long term partner Thomas in March 2010, James and his husband became the first same sex couple to have their relationship formalised in the Household Cavalry’s 350 year history. They enjoyed the celebrations within the walls of the London barracks.

James tours secondary schools in the UK as a positive role model for Stonewall as part of their Education for All campaign, talking of his experiences as an ‘out’ gay soldier in the British Military. He has also featured in Stonewall’s Role Model guide, published in 2012.

James has ranked in the top 20 of the Independent on Sunday’s Pink List for the past 3 consecutive years down to his work fighting homophobia within Britain’s Schools and his LGB activism commitments.

His first book, ‘Out In The Army: My Life As A Gay Soldier’ was released in June 2013.

February is LBGT History Month and with this in mind we have chosen Ben Summerskill as our Inspirational Diversity Champion.

Ben Summerskill OBE is the Chief Executive of Stonewall – the largest gay equality organisation in Europe.

He has successfully expanded Stonewall’s work from parliamentary lobbying into other fields including, workplace equality and campaigning against homophobia in schools. He led successful campaigns for the repeal of anti-gay legislation, the introduction of Civil Partnerships and the introduction protections against discrimination in the provision of “goods and services”, covering areas from healthcare and housing, to hotels and holidays. Highlights of his achievements include leading a successful parliamentary campaign in 2007-2008 for the introduction of a criminal offence of incitement to homophobic hatred and a campaign in 2009-2010 to enable gay people to celebrate civil partnerships in religious premises.

Under his direction, Stonewall’s Diversity Champions programme, promoting good practice among major UK employers, has grown from 35 to 600 members, who employ 5.5 million people between them, ranging from IBM and Tesco to the armed services and MI5. Stonewall’s ‘Education for All’ programme, launched in 2005 to help tackle homophobic bullying in Britain’s schools, is supported by 70 major teaching and children’s organisations.

In 2006, he was appointed a Commissioner on Britain’s new Equality and Human Rights Commission. He was awarded an OBE in the 2009 New Year Honours list and was appointed to the committee of the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service in 2009. In 2010 he was a finalist as Ernst & Young Social Entrepreneur of the Year and in 2011 he was shortlisted as Britain’s Most Admired Charity Chief Executive in the Third Sector Awards.