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:
- IN WWII, TWO GAY SOLDIERS’ FORBIDN ROMANCE LIV ON IN THEIR LOVE LETTERS
- "COMG OUT UNR FIRE": THE STORY OF GAY AND LBIAN SERVICEMEMBERS
- GAY MEN UNR THE NAZI REGIME
- THE SECRET HISTORY OF ATRALIA'S GAY DIGGERS
- PRIMARY SOURCE SET: GAY MEN THE ARY
- TELL: AN INTIMATE HISTORY OF GAY MEN THE MILARY
- NEW WWI MOVIE TO FEATURE A GAY LOVE STORY
IN WWII, TWO GAY SOLDIERS’ FORBIDN ROMANCE LIV ON IN THEIR LOVE LETTERS
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. * gay ww2 soldiers *
If he was found out, was likely that he would serve time prison, or even get shot by a homophobic soldier, and left for ad. For years, they had dreams of leavg England and movg to the Uned Stat, where they uld live sunny California, which was known for beg more acceptg of homosexuals. 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.
"COMG OUT UNR FIRE": THE STORY OF GAY AND LBIAN SERVICEMEMBERS
The Nazi regime rried out a mpaign agast male homosexualy and persecuted gay men between 1933 and 1945. * gay ww2 soldiers *
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.
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.
GAY MEN UNR THE NAZI REGIME
The irony that the ary selected two homosexuals to reprent the ial image of the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps was not lost on Abry. The feral discrimatory actns drove LGBTQ people further to the shadows of society and embolned law enforcement and policians, who beme more vlent toward gay and lbian cizens. Patrons of the gay bar fought back and sparked a vlent uprisg that started the gay rights movement the Uned Stat.
THE SECRET HISTORY OF ATRALIA'S GAY DIGGERS
Gay and lbian veterans of World War II beme some of the first to fight ary discrimatn and blue discharg the years followg the war. My only hope is that anizatns around the untry m to pturg the voic of gay, lbian, and transgenr veterans and that we fd a place our history to honor their service as well. We sat down wh Sir John Dermot Turg, Alan Turg’s nephew and thor of a new book on Bletchley Park, to discs his uncle’s role pivotal role puter science and his persecutn for beg gay the 1950s.
Wartime film star Patsy Kelly's most fiant act was beg an openly gay woman an hospable climate for the LGBTQIA+ muny. It is unclear how many of the men publicly or privately intified as gay or were part of gay muni and works that had been tablished Germany before the Nazi rise to power.
PRIMARY SOURCE SET: GAY MEN THE ARY
However, the Nazi mpaign agast homosexualy and the regime’s zealo enforcement of Paragraph 175 ma life Nazi Germany dangero for gay men. The latter term dated to 1869, when a pamphlet advotg for crimalizatn of sexual relatns between men ed the term “Homosexualät” (“homosexualy”).
The newer slang word “schwul” (often translated to English as “gay”) was also creasgly popular among certa groups.
In ntrast, the work of gay men that veloped around thor Adolf Brand and his anizatn Gemeschaft r Eigenen (The Communy of Kdred Spirs) took a different approach.
TELL: AN INTIMATE HISTORY OF GAY MEN THE MILARY
It was the relatively eeg atmosphere of the Weimar Republic that gay muni and works grew and veloped unprecented ways.
Some joed “iendship leagu” (Frndschaftsverbän), groups that polilly and socially anized gay men, lbian women, and others. Gay newspapers and journals, such as Die Frndschaft (Friendship) and Der Eigene (translated varly, but this ntext implyg “his own man”), ntributed to the growth of gay works.
They actively tried to build a sense of muny among gay men, and clud personal ads and rmatn about gay meetg plac. Shortly thereafter, they sought to dismantle the visible gay cultur and works that had veloped durg the Weimar Republic.
NEW WWI MOVIE TO FEATURE A GAY LOVE STORY
Nohels, the Nazi closur and creased police surveillance ma far more difficult for gay men to nnect wh each other.