"Comg Out Unr Fire": The Story of Gay and Lbian Servicemembers | The Natnal WWII Mm | New Orleans

Contents:

• FIGHTG PROUD: THE UNTOLD STORY OF THE GAY MEN WHO SERVED TWO WORLD WARS
• ABSOLUTE LEGENDS: THE GAY HERO OF THE BATTLE OF BRA
• IN WWII, TWO GAY SOLDIERS’ FORBIDN ROMANCE LIV ON IN THEIR LOVE LETTERS
• GAY MEN UNR THE NAZI REGIME
• "COMG OUT UNR FIRE": THE STORY OF GAY AND LBIAN SERVICEMEMBERS
• WHAT IT WAS LIKE TO BE GAY DURG WWII

FIGHTG PROUD: THE UNTOLD STORY OF THE GAY MEN WHO SERVED TWO WORLD WARS

Stephen Bourne draws on his latt book to tell the prevly untold story of gay men who joed the Brish armed forc durg the two world wars. “If gay men are shown to have the pacy for bravery mak them human, hero even. As a gay man who was ncerned wh the lack of availabily of gay history books, spired me to nsir wrg about the liv of gay men the two world wars.

ABSOLUTE LEGENDS: THE GAY HERO OF THE BATTLE OF BRA

The rult is Fightg Proud – The Untold Story of the Gay Men Who Served Two World Wars published by I B Tris on 27 July 2017. When I started to look closely at the experienc of gay men the Send World War, I found evince that this was also the se wh them. I me to realise that, spe homophobia, and the fact that homosexualy was agast the law, gay men were accepted to the armed servic, they were tegrated and some stanc, beme much loved and rpected ‘masts’ on board their ships, their regiments or their RAF crews.

IN WWII, TWO GAY SOLDIERS’ FORBIDN ROMANCE LIV ON IN THEIR LOVE LETTERS

The experienc of gay men were as diverse and different as their heterosexual ras. Others who were disvered to be homosexual were urt martialled and thrown out of the servic, or worse, sent to prison. In Fightg Proud I have tried to give exampl of a range of experienc, some good, some bad, and acknowledge how the dranian law that existed stroyed many liv after the war and to the 1950s, the time of the so-lled ‘homosexual wch hunt.

Attus to gay men the armed servic the First World War were probably much harsher than that of the Send World War, but wh the passage of time was harr to fd evince of posive experienc the Great War.

I am certa that some gay men would have been accepted by their heterosexual ras on the ont-le, and the trench, but if they were found out the punishment was extremely harsh, pecially the officer class.

GAY MEN UNR THE NAZI REGIME

There were numero stori that I found eply movg and revelatory, too many to list here, but those I found particularly memorable were the stori of gay men who were associated wh the RAF.

For twenty-five years he upheld the law as a policeman while his private life he broke the law as a sexually active gay man. What surprised me was the number of gay men the Send World War who were not only known to be gay but were accepted by their heterosexual ras. Some gay men who joed up did face hostily to beg wh, but found that if they ed humour they uld overe homophobic attus and make iends.

Time and time aga I lghed out loud at some of the funny thgs gay men said to overe prejudice.

"COMG OUT UNR FIRE": THE STORY OF GAY AND LBIAN SERVICEMEMBERS

From the start, was my tentn to wre a book about gay men’s liv the two world wars that vered the armed servic and the home ont. I also wanted to avoid rewrg the life stori of the gay men who I scribe as ‘ins’, such as Ivor Novello, T. Short profil of the important ‘ins’ have been clud a sectn lled ‘Not Fotten’ and this ma possible for me to foc on the gay men who have been largely overlooked or fotten histori of the two world wars.

Stephen Bourne is a wrer, film and social historian specialisg black herage and gay culture. As part of Forc Network's Absolute Legends seri, we've been lookg at jt a few of the ary's numerable, credible people and Stephen Bourne reveals how, durg a rare perd of tolerance the Send World War, gay men like Ian Gleed served wh distctn on the ont le, fdg love and relatnships while they served their Kg and homosexualy remaed a crimal offence the UK until the 1960s, the banng of gay recs the armed servic was not lifted until 2000.

However, homosexualy was unofficially tolerated by the armed servic for the duratn of the Send World gay men uld be open and were protected by their ras. Others beme ‘masts’ gay men existed a risky world where tolerance was far om spoke about same-sex relatnships that took place bee outed gay men faced beg urt-martialled, imprisoned and thrown out of the servic on the grounds that homosexualy would stroy the morale of the troops.

WHAT IT WAS LIKE TO BE GAY DURG WWII

Although he had boyiends, his fay probably never knew that Gleed was homosexual, and was fifty years before the tth me out when, a BBC televisn documentary, one of his wartime lovers, Christopher Gotch, scribed his relatnship wh Gleed at the RAF statn where they were both Gleed learned to fly privately before he joed the RAF at the age of pleted his ‘wgs’ urse on Christmas Day 1936.

Holidayg the south of France 1938, Ian met and beiend the celebrated homosexual novelist W. ” Stephen Bourne’s Fightg Proud – The Untold Story of the Gay Men Who Served Two World Wars is published by I B Tris and is now available paperback (£11. What his fay probably never knew was that Gleed was homosexual, and that he uld not be open about his sexualy and talk about his was not until the 1990s, when one of his lovers, Christopher Gotch, was terviewed for BBC televisn, that the tth me out.

It was wily believed that homosexualy would stroy morale, somethg Gotch cried as “a load of bbish” more | From the ancient world to the 1969 Stonewall Rts: a brief gui to LGBT+ history Another wartime myth ncerned the abily of homosexual men to show bravery unr fire. Dudley unrstood that their mds he uld not be brave and homosexual, that the two were patible.