This Veteran's Job Was Dischargg Gay Sailors In The Navy — But He Had A Secret

Contents:

• GAY SAILORS STOCK PHOTOS AND IMAG
• GAY AND BEG A 'SAILOR'
• THIS VETERAN'S JOB WAS DISCHARGG GAY SAILORS IN THE NAVY — BUT HE HAD A SECRET
• GAY SAILOR

GAY SAILORS STOCK PHOTOS AND IMAG

By referencg the nearly accintal act of 'sodomy, ' Cleland taps to the popular imprsn that sailors engaged homosexualy. Rictor Norton, at his webse Homosexualy Eighteenth-Century England, has llected an imprsive number of primary sourc, though few reference sailors.

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. We nnot say that sailors who engaged homosexual acts intified as homosexual, nor n we say that others fed them as such before they were nvicted.

GAY AND BEG A 'SAILOR'

Here I ed the term 'homosexual' to refer to clatns and acts, rather than as fg the sailors themselv.

Brish society believed that a lack of accs to women gave rise to homosexualy, and there was perhaps no place the eighteenth century so exclively male as the navy.

THIS VETERAN'S JOB WAS DISCHARGG GAY SAILORS IN THE NAVY — BUT HE HAD A SECRET

The legal notn that one is eher exclively homosexual or heterosexual n be seen the se of William Bailey. ' Today we would regnize the facts as irrelevant to the act self, but eighteenth century law, a sgle homosexual act was equated wh beg exclively homosexual. Rodger argued his book The Woon World: An Anatomy of the Geian Navy that acts of homosexualy were not as mon the mid-eighteenth century Royal Navy as many assume:.

Consirg that the navy oped up thoands of young men for months on end whout accs to women, is surprisg how few homosexual cints rulted prosecutn. Earle agreed that 'the crowd ndns of shipboard life ma difficult to nceal homosexual relatns om other members of the crew. 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.

Early the eighteenth century, the famo Puranil preacher Cotton Mather ma the nnectn between an terveng God and homosexual acts among sailors:. Though rare, homosexual acts did occur.

GAY SAILOR

Homosexualy was often overlooked, vered up, or treated as the lser crimal charge of 'uncleanls' to avoid the ath penalty. Arthur Gilbert, his paper 'Buggery and the Brish Navy, 1700-1861, ' agreed that officers avoid accg their ras of engagg homosexualy. For what n be seen as a victim-ls crime (at least s of nsensual homosexual acts) officers would unrstandably be reluctant to prosecute seafarers.

An addnal difficulty for the rearcher is the reluctance of people the perd to speak about homosexualy. Rodger and Gilbert agree that rerds are sparse, but differ the official approach to homosexualy. 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.