Amidst the strobe of camera flashes and the popping champagne corks of Monday's celebrations marking the European Court of Human Right's ruling against the UK ban on gays in the military, Richard Young knew more intimately than most why this was a time for celebration.

Young was the last man to be discharged from the armed forces for being gay - the very last. He received his discharge papers by post on Friday, 24 September, the last working day before the judgment.

At 25, Young was a reservist chef on HMS Drake, at the Devonport naval base. One day in August, he returned to his cabin to find things were not quite right. The tea making area was far too tidy. The videos were put away. His bed was made, when he always leaves it turned down. "Everything was tidier than normal. You know when your things have been moved, which is usually the sign that you have been raided," Young remembers.

Something was up. There had been a secret inspection. Young began to get nervous. Someone had made an anonymous phone call and turned him in. He was called in front of his Divisional Officer and asked six times in the space of ten minutes if he was a homosexual.

Young asked to seek legal advice, but before he was given ten minutes leave to do so, he was asked again. Young left shaken.

He immediately rang Rank Outsiders and explained the situation to Simon Langley. He was told he had two choices, he could either admit it or deny it. "Simon said if I admitted it, they could have me out within a week. If I denied it, he said they would pull my whole life apart, and asked if I could go through that. I didn't think I could go through the stress of that."

Young then learned from another officer that they knew about his boyfriend and even used his name - David. The three men that he shared quarters with also knew he was gay, but it had never made a difference. He admitted to being gay and asked to be discharged, although the officer couldn't quite bring himself to say the word "homosexual" properly.

He was told he would be given an administrative discharge. A discharge for being gay is no longer grounds for a disciplinary discharge.

Young's whole life was turned upside down. "It has forced me to tell my family, but not in the way I wanted. I wanted to break it to them gently over a period of time," Young explained. He was planning on telling his parents on his next leave, and to introduce them to David as his partner.

His boyfriend David also proved to be a pillar of strength. "He stood by me through thick and thin - the good times and the bad times."

He knew he had to get on with his life. So he went out and applied for a job at a hotel. When the application form asked him why he was discharged, he proudly wrote the truth - because he was gay. Within two hours he received a phone call, he had the job. "It was a big morale boost, just what I needed. I was worried I would have no money and no job. But I stepped right out of the Navy and into a new job."

When Young came down to London to participate in the festivities, he admits to being in a daze all day. "I couldn't believe it. I met so many people. And now it looks like I am the last one to be discharged for being gay. I guess that makes me a bit of a celebrity. " So in a strange way, it has worked out for the best. But is he disappointed the ruling didn't help him? "It was too late for me, but at least it will stop anyone else going through what I did. I was lucky because I walked into a new job and I had David behind me all the way. But I wouldn't wish it on anybody."