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The militaries of the world have a variety of responses to homosexual and bisexual orientations. Some Western military forces have now removed policies excluding individuals of other sexual orientations; of the 25 countries that participate militarily in NATO, more than 20 permit open-homosexuals to serve; of the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, two (United Kingdom and France) permit homosexuals to serve openly, and one, China, doesn't while the remaining two, the United States and Russia, have semi-ambiguous policies the former allowing gay people to serve but in secrecy and celibacy and the latter allowing only "well-adjusted" (masculine) gays, and no one with "sexual identity problems".
Policies and attitudes toward gay and lesbian personnel in the military vary widely internationally. Several countries allow gay men and lesbians to serve openly and have granted them the same rights and privileges as their heterosexual counterparts. Many countries neither ban nor support gay and lesbian service members, and a small group continue to ban homosexual personnel outright.
While the question of homosexuality in the military has been highly politicized in the United States, it is not necessarily so in many countries. Generally speaking, sexuality in these cultures is considered a more personal aspect of one's identity than it is in the United States.