LGBT veterans will be asked about how they were treated when serving in the British military while there was a ban on gay personnel. About 5,000 ex-service personnel had been severely penalised for their identity in ways that include being sacked, convicted, and imprisoned. Other gay people who had kept their sexuality secret from their superiors felt forced to resign. The ban was lifted in 2000 after four servicemen and women, who were sacked for being gay, won a case in the European Court of Human Rights. The change came 33 years after homosexual acts were decriminalised between two consenting adults over the age of 21 in most cases.