Natnal Gay Pilot’s Associatn holds first fly- event at Eastern Iowa Airport

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One of Naval Aviatn's few openly gay pilots is leavg his ary reer behd after only six years, cg harassment as the reason.

Contents:

THE SECRET HISTORY OF ATRALIA'S GAY DIGGERS

Hi there We're Troy and Damian- Gay Pilots om the USA- and we'll be tourg down unr there about 12 weeks. Can't WAIT! The US has a Gay and Lbian Pilots Associatn and we were wonrg if you Asi have anythg siar. Jt remember: Pk balloons! Look forward to hearg om you ... * gay pilots australia *

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.

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

Hangar Talk - Do you ever see gay pilots? - It seems there's no longer a hanger talk sub-fom, so I'll jt throw this thought here. This is somethg I've been wonrg for a while. We all know about the flight attendant world, but what about the flight ck? Do you ever see openly gay airle/profsnal * gay pilots australia *

"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.

DO YOU EVER SEE GAY PILOTS?

Qutns - Any Gay pilots? - We have gay pilots our pany. As ever when flyg wh someone new, the topic of nversatn cise/dner tend to be very general and safe until you know the other person. Then 's game on. I'm a female pilot and the guys don't talk about women ( that way) to me, so I thk * gay pilots australia *

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

While Atralia’s official ban on gay and lbian service was repealed 1992, LGBT+ soldiers served long before then.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

ANY GAY PILOTS?

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Before repeal, the Atralian Defence Force policy was to remove gay men “sympathetilly and wh discretn”. 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

When the Natnal Gay Pilots Associatn (NGPA), then known as the Gay Pilots Associatn was found 1990 their first few meetgs were very discreet events held Key Wt, Florida and Provcetown, Massachetts. Owg to the timbre of the tim, closeted airle and ary pilots and aviatn enthiasts om around the untry stuck to * gay pilots australia *

“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.

GAY PILOTS: FLYG OVER THE RABOW

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.

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.

OPENLY GAY PILOT LEAVG NAVY AFTER HARASSMENT

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. 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’. Durg World War One and most of World War Two, there was no ncerted effort to velop a policy on homosexualy Atralia's ary.

NATNAL GAY PILOTS ASSOCIATN SPREADS ADVOCY BEYOND FLIGHT CK

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.

“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.

NATNAL GAY PILOTS ASSOCIATN

“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.

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

‘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. 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.

JAGUARS NFL ACH OUT AS GAY US SPORTS FIRST

Special thanks to Nick Henrson of the Atralian Lbian and Gay Archiv and DEFGLIS for their assistance. 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).

*BEAR-MAGAZINE.COM* GAY PILOTS AUSTRALIA

Natnal Gay Pilot’s Associatn holds first fly- event at Eastern Iowa Airport.

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