UK Foreign Office apologises for banning LGBT staff from diplomatic service

The UK Foreign Office apologized for the historic ban that prevented LGBT people from working in the British diplomatic service until 1991. In a message to staff, Philip Barton, Permanent Under-Secretary at the FCDO and Head of the Diplomatic Service said: "The ban was in place because there was a perception that LGBT people were more susceptible than their straight counterparts to blackmail and, therefore, that they posed a security risk."