The Revolutnary War Hero Who Was Openly Gay | HISTORY

Contents:

• THE REVOLUTNARY WAR HERO WHO WAS OPENLY GAY
• HISTORY’S GREATT GAY GENERAL
• TELL: AN INTIMATE HISTORY OF GAY MEN THE MILARY

THE REVOLUTNARY WAR HERO WHO WAS OPENLY GAY

Many of our LGBTQ service members have given their liv for , like one of the first gay ary hero, Litenant Colonel John Lrens, who served durg the Amerin Revolutn. Sadly, due to a Navy vtigatn to his private life, he was forced to rign bee he was gay.

Leonard Matlovich was the first gay man to ever disclose his sexual orientatn while servg the Uned Stat Air Force.

His picture, along wh the massive headle: “I Am a Homosexual, ” vered the September 8, 1975 edn of Time. In an era before gay marriage or open pri, ary men fell love, formed passnate iendships and had same-sex enunters.

HISTORY’S GREATT GAY GENERAL

But the se of one of the ary’s foundg hero, homosexualy was always part of the story.

Historians also thk he was homosexual—and served as an openly gay man the ary at a time when sex between men was punished as a crime. He also downplayed mors that the baron had been dismissed om the Pssian ary for homosexualy.

But he was gay, and homosexualy was viewed as a crimal aberratn by many of his peers. ”After the war, von Stben legally adopted both men—a mon practice among gay men an age before same-sex marriage was legal.

TELL: AN INTIMATE HISTORY OF GAY MEN THE MILARY

John Mulligan, who was also gay, served as von Stben’s secretary and is thought to have had a relatnship wh the baron. Durg von Stben’s lifetime, the ncept of gay marriage, gay pri or g out was unthkable and there was no language or open culture of homosexualy.

But historil homosexual relatnships were actually don’t mean beg gay was ndoned: Sodomy was a crime lonial Ameri. ) The Baron was often scribed as “eccentric”and “flamboyant, ” which was sentialy Colonial-era lgo for “gay.