Out of the closet and on to the nway: gay pilots | Hh-K

Contents:

• THE SECRET HISTORY OF ATRALIA'S GAY DIGGERS
• OUT OF THE CLOSET AND ON TO THE NWAY: GAY PILOTS
• DO YOU EVER SEE GAY PILOTS?
• ANY GAY PILOTS?
• 'I DON'T FEEL PART OF THE MILARY ANYMORE': OPENLY GAY PILOT LEAV AFTER HARASSMENT
• GAY PILOTS: FLYG OVER THE RABOW
• A GAY PILOT REFLECTS ON WHAT TRAVEL MEANS TO QUEER FOLKS
• NATNAL GAY PILOTS ASSOCIATN
• OPENLY GAY PILOT LEAVG NAVY AFTER HARASSMENT
• GAY PILOTS BRG LOVE OF AVIATN TO HELP KICK OFF PRI MONTH CEDAR RAPIDS
• NATNAL GAY PILOTS ASSOCIATN SPREADS ADVOCY BEYOND FLIGHT CK
• NATNAL GAY PILOTS ASSOCIATN
• NATNAL GAY PILOT’S ASSOCIATN HOLDS FIRST FLY- EVENT AT EASTERN IOWA AIRPORT
• JAGUARS NFL ACH OUT AS GAY US SPORTS FIRST

THE SECRET HISTORY OF ATRALIA'S GAY DIGGERS

The Secret History of Atralia's Gay Diggers. On Anzac Day, 1982, five gay men walked up to the Shre of Remembrance Melbourne. They were om the Gay Ex-Servic Associatn, and they rried a wreath dited to ‘all brothers and sisters who died durg the wars’—but they would never get to lay at the shre.

“I don’t know where all the gays and poofters have e om, ” he was later famoly quoted as sayg, “I don’t remember a sgle one om World War Two. “There were thoands of ex-servicemen who were mp, I thk I went through 300 of them myself, ” he told the magaze, a py of which is prerved by the Atralian Lbian and Gay Archiv. When one man harassed Smh about beg gay, a iend remd him that Pkie was a three-time featherweight boxg champn.

"We had s of homosexuals really fallg love. In the terts of general happs we re-arranged some room occupants and eventually got all the homos one block, " he said.

OUT OF THE CLOSET AND ON TO THE NWAY: GAY PILOTS

“A quarter of homosexual s Queensland crimal urts across the war volved airmen, seamen, pilots or others the ary, ” he says.

DO YOU EVER SEE GAY PILOTS?

While Atralia’s official ban on gay and lbian service was repealed 1992, LGBT+ soldiers served long before then.

“There n be ltle doubt there were gay soldiers [... Before repeal, the Atralian Defence Force policy was to remove gay men “sympathetilly and wh discretn”.

ANY GAY PILOTS?

But right back to Atralia's early years, Smaal says was easy for gay men to jo the armed forc.

'I DON'T FEEL PART OF THE MILARY ANYMORE': OPENLY GAY PILOT LEAV AFTER HARASSMENT

“The irony, of urse, was that they end up an all-male environment wh limed opportuny for female pany – the potential for homo-sex had never been greater, ” Smaal says. Sometim was latent homosexualy, sometim otherwise ‘straight’ men found themselv havg sex wh other men.

“It was amazg the number of gay people the POW mp, ” the Atralian serviceman told Outrage, “well not so much gay as bisexual – bee they uldn’t get a woman they’d have a man.

Ined, the forc of World War One and World War Two may have been a surprisgly liberatg place for gay men and women. Gay bars Kgs Cross bulged wh servicemen and sailors as warships me to port.

GAY PILOTS: FLYG OVER THE RABOW

There are multiple s of veterans beg arrted for homosexualy offenc after the war, tellg thori they were pursug sir disvered the armed forc.

A GAY PILOT REFLECTS ON WHAT TRAVEL MEANS TO QUEER FOLKS

After the war, a gay bar lled ‘Diggers’ even opened Sydney.

NATNAL GAY PILOTS ASSOCIATN

“I do not believe I have ever loved a woman more eply than my mate, ” said one Atralian WWII veteran, who went on to assert the relatnship wasn't homosexual. The l between gay love and straight mathip were difficult to discern for some. Ackerley, an openly gay Brish war hero om World War One, wrote an acclaimed play tled The Prisoners of War upon his return to England.

While Ackerley's work has not passed through to mastream textbooks, the works of a fellow gay ntemporary have. Absent om lson plans is Owen's apparent homosexualy, hidn by his fay but unvered by his bgrapher. Before the war's end, he spent time socialisg wh other gay Brish lerary lumari.

OPENLY GAY PILOT LEAVG NAVY AFTER HARASSMENT

But gay soldiers weren’t only fightg for the alli. Magn Hirschfeld documented numero stanc of homosexualy among German soldiers durg World War One. The gay Jewish doctor – who was later exiled by the Nazis – wrote of how German soldiers would risk severe reprimand to sneak off to the lols’ ho occupied France to have sex.

GAY PILOTS BRG LOVE OF AVIATN TO HELP KICK OFF PRI MONTH CEDAR RAPIDS

Unr fire, gay men would charge to “the thickt ra of bombs and the most adly attacks, ” Hirschfeld wrote.

The experience of gay servicewomen closely paralleled their male unterparts. Ford wr that female homosexualy was ls acknowledged pole society than male homosexualy - many recs had never heard of the term ‘lbian’.

NATNAL GAY PILOTS ASSOCIATN SPREADS ADVOCY BEYOND FLIGHT CK

Durg World War One and most of World War Two, there was no ncerted effort to velop a policy on homosexualy Atralia's ary. The Amerins, however, were very ncerned about gay men the ranks. Rearch by Smaal and his lleague, renowned Atralian LGBT+ historian Graham Willett, found that the US reported to Atralia that they had disvered a large number of servicemen New Guea havg gay sex – and that Atralians were volved.

NATNAL GAY PILOTS ASSOCIATN

“Homosexualy today is fed as beg attracted to your own sex, back then was largely fed by genr s – mascule or feme, 'bch' or 'butch', ” Smaal says. Genr rol were pervasive even wh homosexual relatnships - the ‘girls’ New Guea would often take a receptive role durg sex.

“It was difficult and plex enterprise – and there’s a temptatn to jt bury their head the sand, ignore and hope homosexualy go away, ” Smaal says. ‘Personaly typ’ and ‘thentic homosexuals’ were then able to be medilly discharged. In Atralia, a le mandatg discharge for homosexualy would ntue some form or other until the Keatg ernment’s repeal 1992.

NATNAL GAY PILOT’S ASSOCIATN HOLDS FIRST FLY- EVENT AT EASTERN IOWA AIRPORT

Homosexuals were “sexual viants who have a medil problem and should not be treated any differently to dg addicts, ” he said. The Gay Ex-Servic Associatn was followed by 'G-force' 1996 and then by DEFGLIS 2002 – the Defence Gay, Lbian, Bisexual, Transgenr and Intersex Informatn Service.

Today, members of the Atralian Defence Force march openly uniform at the Gay and Lbian Mardi Gras Sydney. Special thanks to Nick Henrson of the Atralian Lbian and Gay Archiv and DEFGLIS for their assistance.

JAGUARS NFL ACH OUT AS GAY US SPORTS FIRST

I know some really nice gay people - male and female. Me, I dont re if your whe, black, pk, gay, straight, upsi down, whatever, if ur a Pilot, i'll say Hello:celebrate:and wele you to my airfield! Many are unaware of the ia that Santos-Dumont was gay.

The history of homosexualy and aviatn is not wily rearched or for that matter acknowledged, yet there is a rich history volvg this quiet group the field startg wh one of the first pneers. The aviatn muny is startg to foc on this group of dividuals startg wh the Natnal Gay Pilots Associatn (NGPA).

Formed twenty years ago, the NGPA’s missn is to enurage gays and lbians to enter to the field of aviatn through tn, outreach programm and social events. ” Unfortunately this rgs te as gays and lbians still fight for social equaly. You don’t have to be gay to be part of the anisatn, but you need to be supportive of the lbian and gay muny.