Prime Minister Rishi Sunak apologized for the U.K.'s historic treatment of gay veterans following a damning report detailing electric shock conversion therapy, sexual assaults and blackmail suffered by personnel over decades.

The ban on gay and trans people serving in the British military, which was lifted in 2000, was an "appalling failure of the British state, decades behind the law of this land," Sunak told the House of Commons on Wednesday. "Today on behalf of the British state I apologize, and I hope all those affected will be able to feel proud parts of the veteran community."

Just before Sunak stood up in Parliament, the Ministry of Defence published a government-commissioned investigation — a draft of which was seen by Bloomberg in May — that included anonymous testimony from gay veterans exposing how personnel were still being referred to doctors for electric-shock conversion therapy as recently as the 1990s, despite homosexuality being legal since 1967.

The prime minister's apology and the MoD's statement that it accepted the report's 49 recommendations "in principle" open up the prospect of compensation for those who suffered under the historic policy.

The recommendations by Terence Etherton, the cross-bench member of the House of Lords who led the probe, include as much as £50 million ($65 million) of total compensation for the policy's victims, an examination of their pension rights and individual letters of apology. He also suggested the restoration of the commission and rank of individuals who were dismissed or discharged, the return of their medals, and the construction of a public memorial for LGBT veterans who served and continue to serve in the military.

"The report is a unique record of what, to the modern eye, is an incomprehensible policy of homophobic bigotry in our armed forces," Etherton wrote in a preface to the report. He said if the government accepted his recommendations, "a line may finally be drawn under this unjust aspect of the history of the UK's armed forces that persisted prior to 2000 but whose damaging consequences are still experienced by many LGBT veterans today."

The government accepts the recommendations "in principle whilst acknowledging that some may be delivered by different means," the MoD said in its statement, without elaborating. It said ministers are "committed to working with LGBT Veterans to ensure that all restorative measures delivered are appropriate."

"We cannot turn back the clock, but we can make amends and take action," Defence Secretary Ben Wallace later told the Commons. He said the government will publish a full response to the review after Parliament's six-week summer recess, which begins on Thursday. At that time, the government will deliver "restitution and redress" to LGBT veterans, he said, adding that lawmakers will also be given a chance to fully debate the report and the government's response.

"I cannot imagine what it must have been like to join the armed forces buoyed up by the great spirit of service, only to discover to your horror that many believed you didn't fit," said Wallace, who himself served in the military while the ban was still in force. "I cannot imagine what it felt like to be hounded out of the job you love simply on account of your sexuality."

The investigation, which exposed a "culture of homophobia" that existed in the British military for decades, also details the significant toll on the mental health of veterans that in some cases led to homelessness and suicide. The government on Wednesday said it was awarding £250,000 to LGBT organizations to provide support to veterans impacted by the ban.

Craig Jones and Caroline Paige, executive chair and chief executive of the Fighting With Pride charity, called the report "visceral" and urged the government to put in place "substantial reparations."

"Finally the voices of those who have lived for decades in the shadow of this abhorrent policy have been heard and their truth told," they said in the MoD statement. "We must wash away the shame felt by these veterans and bring a just and honorable end to this unjust and dishonorable war."