Primary Source Set: Gay Men the Milary — GLBT Historil Society

Contents:

• THE SECRET HISTORY OF THE GAY SOLDIERS WHO SERVED THE FIRST WORLD WAR
• THE FOTTEN GAY SOLDIERS OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR
• NEW WWI MOVIE TO FEATURE A GAY LOVE STORY
• "COMG OUT UNR FIRE": THE STORY OF GAY AND LBIAN SERVICEMEMBERS
• PRIMARY SOURCE SET: GAY MEN THE ARY
• HOW WWI SPARKED THE GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT
• TELL: AN INTIMATE HISTORY OF GAY MEN THE MILARY
• HISTORY OF GAYS THE MILARY--PICTURES

THE SECRET HISTORY OF THE GAY SOLDIERS WHO SERVED THE FIRST WORLD WAR

HomeHistoryIn DepthDiscrimatn and persecutn has led to gay soldiers of the Great War beg seen as tragic figur, but this was not always the seGetty ImagThe Royal Brish Legn is lnchg a mpaign today to mark 100 days before the 100th anniversary of the armistice that end the First World will be revealg a 3D “Thank You” stallatn on London’s Southbank before embarkg on a natnal cy tour to “thank the First World War generatn who served and sacrificed to benef generatns to e” centenary has also offered an opportuny for the ls well-known figur of the war to be discsed, cludg women, black and mory ethnic people and homosexuals, many of whom faced discrimatn spe servg their acts between men often rulted rporal punishment or imprisonment, and th acunts of gay servicemen om this time are rare. Today, the Brish armed forc wele people of all sexual orientatns, recg gay magaz and anisg LGBTQ pri many gay soldiers served the First World War?

Homosexualy was not only illegal the UK at the time, but there were also “strong social currents, particularly among the upper class, opposg same sex relatnships”, East Ssex WWI a rult, Harvey wr that “at least 230 soldiers were urt-martialled, nvicted and sentenced to terms of imprisonment for homosexual offenc” were homosexual solirs treated? Stephen Bourne, thor of Fightg Proud: The Untold Story of the Gay Men Who Served Two World Wars, pots to Edward Brta, a soldier om Macclfield who earned the Milary Cross for his “gallantry” the Battle of the was killed by Atrian gunfire 1918, but after the war his sister Vera revealed that the prev day he had been acced of homosexual activy after a letter of his was opened by a censor. “When I started to look closely at the experienc of gay men the war, I found that, spe homophobia, there were many who were tegrated, ” Bourne told The Week.

Although many gay men quietly outed themselv and were accepted by their ras, efforts would have been taken to hi this fact om stggle is evint cryptilly phrased letters om the example, celebrated poet Wiled Owen, who never me out but is believed by some to have been gay, wrote to his 1918: “There are two French girls my billet, dghters of the Mayor, who (I suppose bee of my French) sgle me for their joyful gratu for La Déliverance.

THE FOTTEN GAY SOLDIERS OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR

The First World War “sparked the morn gay rights movement”, wr Lrie Marhoefer, an assistant profsor of history at the Universy of Washgton, on The Conversatn.

NEW WWI MOVIE TO FEATURE A GAY LOVE STORY

“Gay soldiers who survived the bloodlettg returned home nvced their ernments owed them somethg – full cizenship, ” he Germany, anisatns sprang up llg for LGBT rights, cludg the League for Human Rights, which drew 100, 000 members.

Neverthels, the UK’s persecutn of homosexuals perservered through the Send World War - where many men felt forced to hi their, even then, took until 2000 for the Brish armed forc to accept openly LGBTQ people, markg a dramatic shift attus. By the law of averag – even if only 2% of people are homosexual, and not the one 10 that some have suggted – that means an awful lot of gay men fought and died.

Lrie Marhoefer, an assistant profsor of history at the Universy of Washgton, has said: “Gay soldiers who survived the blood-lettg returned home nvced their ernments owed them somethg – full cizenship. In Weimar Germany, she add, anisatns cludg the German League for Human Rights, which had about 100, 000 members, lled for some sort of gay equaly. For too long, too many of the gay soldiers never had their stori fully told – almost as if they, or at least their sexualy – had been erased om history.

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

Although was not actually prohibed by Brish army regulatns – that didn’t happen until 1955 – homosexualy was illegal throughout the UK so most gay soldiers kept their sexualy hidn.

War poets Wiled Owen – who died near the end of the war and is famo for works such as Anthem for Doomed Youth and Dulce et Dem Est – and Siegied Sassoon, who survived the war and whose poems clu Suici the Trench and Aftermath, were both gay, although was not public knowledge at the time.

Another war poet, Rupert Brooke, once lled the most handsome young man England, is said to have scribed himself as one half outright heterosexual, one quarter outright homosexual and one quarter “sentimental homosexual”. Long after the war his sister revealed that the day before he died, her brother had been acced of homosexual activy, followg the openg of a letter of his by the censor. But he met Ralph Hall the 1930s and they went on live together for 50 years until Monty’s ath Ralph died four years later, Monty’s ‘gay fay album’ was disvered.

PRIMARY SOURCE SET: GAY MEN THE ARY

He was sent to an ternment mp ntral Swzerland, where he began work on his outspokenly pro-gay play The Prisoners of War, which exprs the b fever of ptivy and his trated longgs for a fellow prisoner. By the law of averag – even if only two per cent of people are homosexual, and not the one 10 that some people thk – that means an awful lot of gay men fought and died. Lrie Marhoefer, an assistant profsor of history at the Universy of Washgton, said: “Gay soldiers who survived the blood-lettg returned home nvced their ernments owed them somethg – full cizenship.

Although was not actually prohibed by Brish army regulatns – that didn’t happen until 1955 – homosexualy was illegal throughout the UK so most gay soldiers kept their sexualy hidn, possibly addg to the misery they were already experiencg the trench of the Wtern Front: livg, eatg and sleepg mud, plagued by rats and nstantly unr enemy fire and the threat of poisoned gas. War poets Wiled Owen – who died a week before the armistice was signed and is famo for works such as ‘Anthem for Doomed Youth’ and ‘Dulce et Dem Est’ – and Siegied Sassoon, who survived the war and whose poems clu ‘Suici the Trench’ and ‘Aftermath’, were both gay, although was not public knowledge at the time. Another war poet, Rupert Brooke, once lled the most handsome young man England, is said to have scribed himself as one half outright heterosexual, one quarter outright homosexual and one quarter “sentimental homosexual.

HOW WWI SPARKED THE GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT

To make matters worse, many gay servicemen were tormented by what they thought was a sickns or a vice and saw the war as a way to rid themselv of . Brta was killed 1918  the Battle of the Piave River, but after the war his sister Vera revealed that the day before he died her brother had been acced of homosexual activy, followg the openg of a letter of his by the censor.

In 1925, he published the outspokenly pro-gay play The Prisoners of War which he is open about his sexualy, as he was his later books and poems. Nohels, he refed to hi his sexualy and beme one of the first high-profile gay personali and, 1942, spoke out agast the unfair treatment of homosexuals.

Not only was homosexualy illegal, but there were also strong social currents, particularly among the upper class, opposg same sex relatnships. Before the war, the Eulengburg Affair Germany, which members of the German Cabet were publilly tried for homosexual nduct, meant that homosexualy was associated wh Germans.

TELL: AN INTIMATE HISTORY OF GAY MEN THE MILARY

One source available to of an upper-middle class gay man’s experience of livg the South East durg this time om the fictnal book Mrice, wrten by E.

The book was wrten 1913-1914, although wasn’t published until 1971, and n be read as a ‘prison diary’; Forster’s acunt fictn of livg as a homosexual man the early 1900s. The book follows the life of Mrice Hall, who enters his first homosexual relatnship at Cambridge and spends the rt of his life on a journey to reach a place where he uld be te to himself and love and enjoy physil ntact wh a partner of the same sex. Part of the reason for Forster’s reluctance  publishg Mrice may be unrstood by the fact that Rose Allati’s 1918 book Dpised and Rejected, which featured the wartime experienc of a homosexual man and lbian woman, was banned unr the Defence of the Realm Act as a potential threat to Bra’s morals.

HISTORY OF GAYS THE MILARY--PICTURES

Wrg to a iend 1915 about the gay characters his book, Forster said ‘lg out unveloped people like Clive…one is left wh the ‘perverts’ (an absurd word bee assum they were given a choice. Due to anti-homosexual societal attus, he stead dited the book ‘to a better year’ when same-sex relatnships would be accepted, and Mrice’s happy endg uld be more than jt fantasy. Rumours of homosexual activy wh the group further upled wh the fact that many members were nscient objectors durg the First World War, often saw them receive cricism.