As "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" to an end, we sent Chris Heath to terview dozens of gay servicemen om the past and prent to fd out what life was really like as Ameri's ary stggled wh s last great inty crisis
Contents:
- UPDATED: HISTORY OF U.S. POLICY AND LAW ON GAYS THE MILARY
- NAVY SECRETARY: CHAPLA FED BY ‘CHOICE’ TO INTIFY AS GAY
- GAYS THE ARY: THE UK AND US PARED
- NAVY'S NEW MSAGE: YOUR UNTRY NEEDS YOU, PECIALLY IF YOU ARE GAY
- NAVY CASE COMB GAY RIGHTS AND ON-LE PRIVACY
- A GAY SOLDIER’S STORY OF VIETNAM AND AFTER
- TELL: AN INTIMATE HISTORY OF GAY MEN THE MILARY
UPDATED: HISTORY OF U.S. POLICY AND LAW ON GAYS THE MILARY
Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro told an openly gay chapla that homosexualy is a choice; a Navy spokman says he meant a choice to intify as gay. * navy and homosexuality *
DoD LGBTQ+ Timele: This timele not signifint events and polici chronologil orr that had a signifint impact on Department of Defense (DoD) polici, stctns, or orrs as they relate to the Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgenr, and Queer (LGBTQ+) muny.
NAVY SECRETARY: CHAPLA FED BY ‘CHOICE’ TO INTIFY AS GAY
When the UK took the step of allowg gay men and women to serve openly the armed forc 10 years ago, public opn was favour but the armed forc themselv were not. The suatn is very siar the US today. * navy and homosexuality *
Somethg that be clear Norton's work is that there was ltle or no legal distctn at the time between those who engaged a sgle same-sex act, those who were exclively homosexual, and anyone who fell between. In his A Queer History of the Uned Stat, Michael Bronski pots out that the very term 'homosexual' wasn't vented until 1869 'to help nstct a narrative around a person fed by his or her same-sex sexual sir and actns. Wh the threat of ath hangg over their heads, the unlikelihood of fdg a man wh the same sexual clatns, and the very real chance of tectn, even those men wh homosexual leangs faced many obstacl to actually engagg the act.
Rodger argu that homosexualy and homosexual acts were almost entirely absent the navy and treated wh difference, while Gilbert believed to be unmon but unniably prent and treated wh dranian btaly.
GAYS THE ARY: THE UK AND US PARED
Senr Chief Petty Officer Timothy R McVeigh fil Feral lawsu to block his dismissal om Navy as a homosexual, argug that Navy vlated both Feral privacy laws and Pentagon's own 'don't ask-don't tell' policy by seekg rmatn om Amerin Onle to nfirm that he intifi himself as gay on his 'er file'; gay rights groups and advot of cyberspace privacy jo to support McVeigh; photo (M) * navy and homosexuality *
'[23] Hawks' anecdote supports Gilbert's argument that homosexualy was wily feared the Navy, but is the only reference I've e across yet that even impli homosexualy throughout the urse of the Sailors' Memoirs Project.
In the reprsive atmosphere of the 1950's, discharg for homosexualy soared; at the height of the Vietnam War, when recment driv were at their peak, enforcement was ary tradn of keepg out homosexuals uld end on July 15, when Print Clton has said he will lift the ban. Pentagon officials, who had been notably relcrant operatg wh the plan, said last week that they are shg through several studi to addrs key matters like thgs have stood, homosexuals uld serve so long as they uld hi. In the 1940's, if somethg untoward occurred, was ascribed to "emergency" or "privatn" homosexualy, acrdg to John Costello "Virtue Unr Fire, " a 1985 study of changg sexual mor brought about by World War II.
" He said that the armed forc' culture of strict disciple is, fact, uniquely sued to ntrol the behavr of both homosexuals and the heterosexuals who might bash them -- more so than civilian Shilts, the thor of "Conduct Unbeg, " a new history of homosexualy the ary, pots to the armed forc' polici on AIDS to illtrate how well the four servic n pe wh thorny problems when they mt.
NAVY'S NEW MSAGE: YOUR UNTRY NEEDS YOU, PECIALLY IF YOU ARE GAY
As early as 1941, the psychiatrist William Mennger scribed the typil soldier's wartime relatnship as one of "disguised and sublimated homosexualy, " a theme given voice the popular war song, "My Buddy": "I miss your voice and the touch of your hand, my buddy. Wh those fears ntralized and the relatnships the e of celebratn, the ary beme a safe place for the emotnal timacy so pellg to men and women facg the chaos and terror of om a distance, the logic of the ary's nial of homosexualy the ranks was simple: as long as no homosexuals were enlisted, soldiers uld play at beg lovers (and even nsummate the rol) whout ever havg to acknowledge those feelgs.
They argue that the relative openns of gay and lbian relatnships the ary World War II eventually led to those veterans settlg port ci like San Francis and New York where, for the first time, they tablished intifiable subcultur.
By Farouq SuleimanLONDON (Rters) -Brish Prime Mister Rishi Sunak apologised on Wednday to LGBT ary veterans who endured sexual abe, vlence, bullyg and harassment while servg the armed forc before a ban on homosexualy was lifted 2000. Bra lifted the ban only after the European Court of Human Rights rejected an argument that was need to protect morale and fightg power amongst s troops, sayg the policy had vlated human to that, many gay people had sought to hi their sexualy or risk beg discharged om the armed pennt review was lnched last year to exame the ttimoni of LGBT veterans who served between 1967 and 2000 to regnise the impact of the polici.
NAVY CASE COMB GAY RIGHTS AND ON-LE PRIVACY
"The report said a public ll for evince had led to more than 1, 120 rpons beg submted, cludg about 300 om veterans who were dismissed or discharged bee of LGBT same-sex sexual acts and homosexual orientatn. They’re fed by your choice to be homosexual, and that we’ve got to work together and have hope and that we will, you know, ntue to make progrs time, ” Del Toro said the vio was posted by Lt. ”Del Toro’s vio answer me om a qutn Newell asked about makg the Navy and the chapla rps ls Navy secretary thanked Newell for his urage askg the qutn and noted that “homophobia is still very much prent many, many circl.
A GAY SOLDIER’S STORY OF VIETNAM AND AFTER
At the same time General Sir Anthony Farrar-Hockley, a leadg opponent of the change, told the BBC: "Two surveys have disclosed that the overwhelmg majory of those ary service today fd homosexualy abhorrent.
Other landmarks of the last few years clu: the first advertisements for recs gay-iendly prs; the first addrs by the head of the Brish army to a Lbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgenr nference; and the first portra of an openly gay soldier on the ont ver of Soldier magaze, the official publitn of the Brish Army. Like the US, 10 of the 27 untri the European Unn do not allow gay people to serve openly the armed forc, acrdg to the Palm Center at the Universy of California - Bulgaria, Cyps, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania and Slovakia.
TELL: AN INTIMATE HISTORY OF GAY MEN THE MILARY
Subject to smutty nuendo ever sce Churchill supposedly dismissed Bra's naval tradn as "nothg but m, sodomy and the lash", the navy will today st off centuri of reprsn and hibn by seekg Stonewall's advice on the recment and retentn of gay and lbian sailors. In a transformatn likened by activists to turng round a supertanker, the navy will pay the prsure group for advice on curbg prejudice and ensurg gay personnel have equal rights to hog, benefs and pensns. Dpe the persistent swirl of sexual mour around some of Bra's most celebrated war hero, homosexualy remaed the last taboo the armed forc until 2000, when the ernment was forced by the European urt of human rights to whdraw s ban on homosexualy the ary.