Gay and Lbian soldiers faced extraordary discrimatn durg World War II. Most found new muni of people and thrived spe the opprsn. Disver the film Comg Out Unr Fire that shar their story.
Contents:
- ‘DON’T SAY GAY’ CORPORATE EDN: DESANTIS WANTS TO WAGE WAR AGAST BUD LIGHT
- "COMG OUT UNR FIRE": THE STORY OF GAY AND LBIAN SERVICEMEMBERS
- CONFERATE AND UNN: THE UNTOLD HISTORY OF GAY CIVIL WAR SOLDIERS
- GAY MEN UNR THE NAZI REGIME
‘DON’T SAY GAY’ CORPORATE EDN: DESANTIS WANTS TO WAGE WAR AGAST BUD LIGHT
* homosexuality in war *
And then on June 30, the last day of Pri Month, DeSantis released a bizarre homophobic ad that showed a mashup of clips, headl, and statement ma by Tmp support of the LGBTQ muny juxtaposed wh a mashup of DeSantis dog his bt to make himself look tough while attackg LGBTQ rights. A glossed-over element for me, however, is the experience of the gay man this perd. Before I do so, however, I have to apologise twice: once for the very fleetg verage I n give to the subject matter owg to nstrats of space and, nnected to this, aga for the impersonal way this brief treatment necsat I portray the very real liv of homosexual men durg the perd.
Homosexualy BraIn 1885, the Brish penal was modified to “improve the moral climate of the unty”, acrdg to Profsor Mort his book, Dangero Sexuali. Labouchere advoted the outlawg of any homosexual ntact whatsoever and parliament duly passed the bill to law.
Misrmatn asi, 22 officers and 270 enlisted men were urt-marshalled for homosexualy durg the war; this figure, though no doubt only reprentg a small sample of the totaly of such experience, is remarkably smaller than I might have gused. However, examatn of evince om the trench by psychologists and historians turn up far more evince for homoerotic feelg than tent or actn and seems to suggt that homosexual clatn was wily reprsed.
"COMG OUT UNR FIRE": THE STORY OF GAY AND LBIAN SERVICEMEMBERS
Any laws prohibg sodomy were repealed 1791, durg the revolutn, and so homosexualy was technilly legal France durg the war.
However, this do not mean that the French attus towards homosexualy were much better than across the channel. Homosexualy was viewed as herently immoral and un-French – the practice of homosexualy was actually seen synonymoly wh Germanns both France and Bra. There are suggtns that this might partly be the reasong, too for some Brish rerv about homosexualy at the time – as homosexualy do not lead to procreatn, prived the natn of children wh which to fend self.
In this way, too, one might view the chief Brish sentiment at the time towards homosexualy as a treasono act, only ma more poignant by the very real loss felt by so many fai durg the lk between homosexualy and Germanns French and Brish mds durg the early twentieth century is probably part due to the Eulenberg sndal, where key members of Kaiser Wilhelm’s bet and entourage were ‘outed’ between 1907 and 1909. Homosexualy Germany was illegal durg this time, and homosexualy the ary was punished wh a long prison sentence (pared to the ntemporaneo Brish practice of a floggg). However, spe the harsh nsequenc for natural feelg, there appears to have been a much higher cince of German homoeroticism the trench beg exprsed (based solely on private acunts, which is all we really have to measure this sort of thg).
CONFERATE AND UNN: THE UNTOLD HISTORY OF GAY CIVIL WAR SOLDIERS
It appears that Germans – particularly the officer class – were eher more willg to turn a bld eye to homosexual meetgs or else were better at evadg notice. Owg to the fact that our evince durg this perd om personal (and therefore private) acunts, we really have no ia how wispread actn of homosexualy was durg the war.
The stori of gay men durg this perd are much the same as at most pots history – nial, reprsn and fear – yet tged wh the greater promise of stctn thanks to the ‘great’ war. Liebman and more than 9, 000 Amerin servicemembers, however, eventually were given a Sectn 8 "blue discharge" for beg homosexual. The 1994 documentary Comg Out Unr Fire giv voice to the experienc of thoands of gay and lbian servicemembers who joed the ary durg World War II, a story that is largely ignored by historians and mms across the untry.
In 1993, the Uned Stat was batg the discrimatory “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy regardg homosexuals the morn ary. At the time, homosexualy was classified as a mental illns by the medil muny; mental illns was one ndn that disqualified young people om service.
GAY MEN UNR THE NAZI REGIME
Gay and lbian recs were forced to answer qutns vaguely, or lie about their sexualy, orr to be allowed to serve; otherwise, they would n the risk of beg sent home and brand as “sex perverts. Instead of chargg dividuals wh sodomy, a urt-martialed offense, the ary began intifyg spected homosexuals as psychopaths. Such a move created an efficient system of discrimatn and prosecutn of homosexual members of the ary.
Dpe the threat of persecutn, gay and lbian servicemembers thrived durg World War II.
The new iendships gave gay and lbian GIs refuge om the hostily that surround them and allowed for a distct subculture to velop wh the ary. Servicemembers on every waront enjoyed drag show entertament; an entire gay lexin was veloped om the wrgs of Dorothy Parker; and eventually an unrground queer newspaper emerged. Soldiers reprented female characters ary plays, and some homosexual soldiers found refuge om rigid genr rol.