The Revolutnary War Hero Who Was Openly Gay | HISTORY

Contents:

• ARMY’S FIRST OPENLY GAY GENERAL RETIR AFTER SPIRG OTHERS
• HISTORY’S GREATT GAY GENERAL
• THE REVOLUTNARY WAR HERO WHO WAS OPENLY GAY
• US ARMY GENERAL COM OUT AS GAY, INTRODUC HIS ‘HBAND’ AT PENTAGON GAY PRI EVENT
• SMH BE FIRST GAY GENERAL OFFICER TO SERVE OPENLY
• WOMAN BE FIRST OPENLY GAY GENERAL
• HISTORY’S GREATT GAY GENERALWAR IS BORG·FOLLOWPUBLISHED WAR IS BORG·8 M READ·MAR 9, 2014--1LISTENSHARENO, NOT ALEXANR THE GREAT—FRERICK THE GREAT
• TAMMY SMH: FIRST OPENLY GAY U.S. GENERAL
• GAY GENERAL HID PRIVATE LIFE OM ARMY FOR YEARS
• ARMY’S 1ST OPENLY GAY GENERAL CELEBRAT ADVANC DURG PRI OBSERVANCE S. KOREA

ARMY’S FIRST OPENLY GAY GENERAL RETIR AFTER SPIRG OTHERS

Tammy Smh, the ary’s hight-rankg openly gay officer, me out 2012, she has tried beg an example of livg thentilly while also beg a bean of visibily to other Soldiers and their fai. The policy banned lbians, gay men and bisexuals om servg the ary. It terrified her to e out as gay such a public way, but she felt a rponsibily to do , she said.

HISTORY’S GREATT GAY GENERAL

As difficult as was for her, g out publicly as gay “may not have been as easy for someone who was at a lower rank, ” Smh said an terview last week. “When I me durg the 80s, thgs were different for women and gay people, and now 2021, the societal l are different aga.

“People mt fd fort and ph back some of that ternalized homophobia, and build a b on the journey between hont and thentic. He was an famo disciplarian, a thls manr, and a ary was the symbol of Pssian masculy and arism, and he was also most likely gay. Homosexualy is nate — at least is for me — but the social nceptn of what beg gay means has varied over we e the word "orientatn" today, 18th-century wrers would ll a "taste.

It was so wily known, the late historian Louis Crompton wrote his book Homosexualy and Civilizatn, that historians had trouble rencilg Frerick's sexualy wh his greatns.

THE REVOLUTNARY WAR HERO WHO WAS OPENLY GAY

Several bgraphi have more than a whiff of his haggraphy of the kg, historian Thomas Carlyle rejected assertns that Frerick was gay as a "thrice-abomable mor" spread by those wh a "solacement to human malice and impertent cursy.

US ARMY GENERAL COM OUT AS GAY, INTRODUC HIS ‘HBAND’ AT PENTAGON GAY PRI EVENT

"Add Zimmermann:Voltaire, [the poet Lrent] la Bemelle, the [French foreign mister] De Choisl, numerable Frenchman and Germans, almost all the iends and enemi of Frerick, almost all the prc and great men of Europe, even his servants — even the nfidants and iends of his later years, were of opn that he had loved, as is pretend, Socrat loved even Zimmermann tried to straighten his hero, spng a dub and far-fetched theory that Frerick wasn't gay, he jt wanted other people to thk he was.

Beg whout his grap wouldn't f the image of a ary manr, Zimmermann's theory go — though there's no evince Frerick was strated — so he played gay. "Frerick the Great's reputatn as one of the world's most famo homosexuals seems secure.

SMH BE FIRST GAY GENERAL OFFICER TO SERVE OPENLY

"This soldier, young, handsome, well ma, and who played the flute, served to enterta the prisoner more than one fashn, " the French wrer and philosopher Voltaire a personal letter, Voltaire would pare Frerick to the gay lover of ancient Bhynian kg Nies IV.

But he had already repeatedly cshed their, spe Frerick's "greatns, " 's hard to see the Pssian kg beg a gay hero. But ultimately, he is remembered as a symbol of 18th-century nservatism — which self would be overthrown by the French Revolutn and a gay hero?

WOMAN BE FIRST OPENLY GAY GENERAL

But he was fely a great gay dron to AKs, high technology to low polics, War is Borg explor how and why we fight above, on, and below an angry world. Gay men have always been part of the Amerin ary.

In an era before gay marriage or open pri, ary men fell love, formed passnate iendships and had same-sex enunters.

But the se of one of the ary’s foundg hero, homosexualy was always part of the story. Historians also thk he was homosexual—and served as an openly gay man the ary at a time when sex between men was punished as a crime.

HISTORY’S GREATT GAY GENERALWAR IS BORG·FOLLOWPUBLISHED WAR IS BORG·8 M READ·MAR 9, 2014--1LISTENSHARENO, NOT ALEXANR THE GREAT—FRERICK THE GREAT

He also downplayed mors that the baron had been dismissed om the Pssian ary for homosexualy. But he was gay, and homosexualy was viewed as a crimal aberratn by many of his peers. ”After the war, von Stben legally adopted both men—a mon practice among gay men an age before same-sex marriage was legal.

John Mulligan, who was also gay, served as von Stben’s secretary and is thought to have had a relatnship wh the baron. Durg von Stben’s lifetime, the ncept of gay marriage, gay pri or g out was unthkable and there was no language or open culture of homosexualy.

TAMMY SMH: FIRST OPENLY GAY U.S. GENERAL

But historil homosexual relatnships were actually don’t mean beg gay was ndoned: Sodomy was a crime lonial Ameri. US Army General Randy Taylor has now e out of the foot locker and announced he is gay. Not only that but at a Pentagon-sponsored gay pri event he also troduced his “hband” to the world.

GAY GENERAL HID PRIVATE LIFE OM ARMY FOR YEARS

The event kicked off wh a song om a gay choir, so we have that gog for , which is nice. Taylor, whose 27 years of service spanned an outright ban on gays, then “don’t ask, don’t tell” and fally, the ban’s liftg 2011. Taylor was the master of ceremoni for the Pentagon’s 4th Gay Pri celebratn that shows a month of gay-themed posters and history.

I don’t want to celebrate gays the ary. Their beg gay do not make them notable.

Wh her promotn to brigadier general on Friday, Tammy Smh, right, acknowledged publicly for the first time that she is gay. What she gloss over is that along wh the promotn she is also publicly acknowledgg her sexualy for the first time, makg her the first general officer to e out as gay while still servg.

ARMY’S 1ST OPENLY GAY GENERAL CELEBRAT ADVANC DURG PRI OBSERVANCE S. KOREA

But Smh’s png ceremony on Friday marks an important tone for gay rights advot, givg the movement s most senr public ary figure.

Advot noted that Smh is not the first gay general officer, jt the first who is able to serve whout hidg that fact for fear of her reer.