Gays the Milary | Public Death, Private Life: Army Major Alan Rogers and the Washgton Post

Contents:

• I'M A GAY ARMY OFFICER—QUEER TROOPS MT FIGHT BACK
• I THOUGHT I COULD SERVE AS AN OPENLY GAY MAN THE ARMY. THEN CAME THE DEATH THREATS.
• RISHI SUNAK APOLOGIS TO LGBT VETERANS FOR PAST ARMED FORC GAY BAN
• GAYS THE MILARY
• GAY MEN UNR THE NAZI REGIME
• TELL: AN INTIMATE HISTORY OF GAY MEN THE MILARY

I'M A GAY ARMY OFFICER—QUEER TROOPS MT FIGHT BACK

I was one of few soldiers who joed the service before graduatg high school, but the admistratn at the time, which I believe was homophobic, chose to act as if I never existed bee of my queer hate that I experienced growg up on Long Island was my first enunter wh how others would treat me as a queer soldier. Her discharge om the ary over her homosexualy had turned her to an Tob/The New York Public LibraryPublished July 19, 2023Updated July 23, 2023Lilli Vcenz, who beme a gay rights activist the hhed, reprsive era before the Stonewall rebelln of 1969, when such a ncept srcely existed, makg a mark as a newspaper edor, documentary filmmaker and psychotherapist voted to L. She was ath, at a re facily, was nfirmed by a niece, Julia Bo, who did not specify a Vcenz’s journey to promence the nascent gay rights movement of the mid-1960s began after a personal llisn wh tolerance.

In 1963, she was servg the Women’s Army Corps when a roommate outed her as gay, leadg to her discharge after only ne months took that rejectn as an opportuny to beg a fight agast jtice that would gui her for s. Vicenz beme, by most acunts, the first lbian to picket the Whe Hoe support of equal rights for gay people as a member of the Mattache Society of Washgton, an early gay rights prott — the first of s kd, acrdg to the Library of Congrs — and others that followed were small but brought visibily to a movement s fancy. “Be wh gay people, help the movement, help unmask the li beg told about , rrect the notn of homosexualy as a sickns and prent as is, a betiful way to love.

In 1969, she and another activist, Nancy Tucker, spun off a newspaper of their own, The Gay Bla, which beme the Washgton Bla, the untry’s olst L. Vcenz beme the first out lbian to appear on the ver of a natnal gay magaze, The Ladr, a publitn produced by the untry’s first lbian-rights group, the Dghters of Bilis, acrdg to a retrospective on her life and reer by Lillian Farman, a historian of lbian and gay her scbbed, all-Amerin looks, Dr. Vcenz looked like “every mother’s dream dghter, ” as Barbara Gtgs, The Ladr’s edor, put Vcenz also ntributed to the e on the other si of a mera, makg two 16-limeter films that were later hailed as signifint artifacts of the early gay rights first, tled “The Send-Largt Mory, ” documents a Mattache Society prott ont of Inpennce Hall Philalphia on July 4, morn ey, the black-and-whe film, roughly seven mut, seems anythg but seismic.

I THOUGHT I COULD SERVE AS AN OPENLY GAY MAN THE ARMY. THEN CAME THE DEATH THREATS.

“The whole notn of gay people publicly exprsg their sentiments that fashn was beyond nceptualizatn until we started dog , ” the Mattache Society’s -founr, Frankl E. ”Her send film, “Gay and Proud, ” documented the Christopher Street Liberatn Day Para 1970, a memoratn of the first anniversary of the Stonewall uprisg Manhattan. “Gay and Proud” shows a much larger, and shaggier, gatherg of protters takg a more ant stance the para, chantg fiantly and wavg plards wh msag like “I am a lbian and I am betiful.

J., Vcenz regnized her sexualy early on, she said a 2008 terview, and “ beme paful after a while to realize that I was gay and I didn’t know anyone else who was gay. But after a stt as an edor the book publishg dtry, she cid to jo the Army, part bee she had heard was “a hotbed of gay people, ” acrdg to Ms. Farman’s putative hotbed, however, had a policy banng gay people om service, and she was thrown out while trag as a nropsychiatric technician at the Walter Reed ary hospal the 1970s, Dr.

RISHI SUNAK APOLOGIS TO LGBT VETERANS FOR PAST ARMED FORC GAY BAN

Vcenz ran a weekly discsn ssn lled the Gay Women’s Open Hoe, which functned as a marketplace of ias and sanctuary of sorts for lbians the Washgton area. “I fd a privilege to work wh gay people who are, general, so much more urageo, novative and open to new ias than the average straight person, ” she told Gay Today.

It was Washgton — not Bethda, Md., where is we handle rrectnsA versn of this article appears prt on, Sectn A, Page 20 of the New York edn wh the headle: Lilli Vcenz, a Trailblazer the Gay Rights Movement, Di at 85.

Before "don't ask, don't tell" was officially repealed for gay, lbian, and bisexual ary personnel 2011, a photo of a male Mare drag uld have land him hot water.

GAYS THE MILARY

"Lbian, gay, and bisexual ary personnel had been servg our untry for s whout receivg equal protectn, while transgenr troops are still prohibed om servg openly. In rponse, and apparently to monstrate his petency his assigned posn, the nonmissned officer had taken upon himself to approach the person he nsired cled toward mtg a siar offense the future: me, the only openly gay soldier my un. Together we approached our un’s learship, where she sisted that the ments had stemmed om the reprentative’s own homophobic feelgs and remend that he be reprimand and removed om his posn as the un’s sexual harassment watchdog.

But by then was hard to ignore the anxiety I felt durg required social activi — “mandatory fun, ” as ’s lled the ary — or the tensn om my fellow moment I cid to bee a soldier and the moment I chose to live openly as a gay man occurred so closely time that ’s hard to remember which me first. It was still four months before the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell, ” a double-edged policy prohibg askg any service member about his or her sexualy while enforcg a ban on openly gay service members.

Every memory evok an emotn: rage that I had to serve wh a nstant sense of fear of my fellow soldiers; paralyzg sadns for those who endured ab worse than I n know; and, the worst, guilt over the service members — gay or straight or transgenr — who died while servg the ary while my body is still whole. “As today’s report mak clear, that perd many endured the most horrific sexual abe and vlence, homophobic bullyg and harassment, all while bravely servg this untry, ” Sunak told MP.

GAY MEN UNR THE NAZI REGIME

Promisg the ernment would implement the “vast majory” of Etherton’s remendatns, Wallace said he would fully update the Commons a formal bate about the issue after the about pensatn, Wallace said he hoped to fd “an elegant solutn that match the need and the requirements of those dividuals”, promisg to set this out after Kelly Holm, who served the army and me out as gay last year, was among mpaigners who weled the apology.

Starmer said one of his nstuents, Ken Wright, a former RAF service member who was “forced to leave the job he loved simply bee he was gay”, was the public gallery to hear the apology. Image source, Emma RileyImage ptn, Rad operator Emma Riley was discharged om the Navy for beg a lbian the 1990sRishi Sunak has apologised for the historil treatment of LGBT veterans who were sacked or forced out of the ary for beg PM lled the ban an "appallg failure" of the Brish was illegal to be gay the Brish ary until 2000 - wh thoands of veterans thought to be affected.

Addrsg MPs, the prime mister said: "Many endured the most horrific sexual abe and vlence, homophobic bullyg and harassment all while bravely servg this untry.

TELL: AN INTIMATE HISTORY OF GAY MEN THE MILARY

"The LGBT Veterans Inpennt Review, led by Bra's first openly gay judge Lord Etherton, began last year and heard about the experienc of 1, 145 veterans between 1967 to 2000. Acrdg to the report, the Mistry of Defence said at the time that jtifitn for the policy clud "matenance of operatnal effectivens and efficiency" - but the report said there had been an "prehensible policy of homophobic bigotry" the armed forc. It heard shockg acunts of homophobia, bullyg, blackmail, sexual asslts, "disgraceful" medil examatns, and nversn mak 49 remendatns to the ernment cludg:Affected veterans to be given an "appropriate fancial reward" pped at £50m overallThe rtoratn of medals that had to be hand back on dismissal or dischargeThe clarifitn of pensn rights The prentatn of a special veterans' badgeThe ernment said would rpond full after summer of the veterans affected watched the PM's public of them, Emma Riley, 51, was a Royal Navy rad operator for three years before she was arrted and discharged for beg a lbian after tellg a lleague her sexualy the early told BBC News she weled the report, and hoped would be put to place "swiftly.

Carol Man, who was dismissed after tellg her boss she was gay 1978, kept her sexualy secret for another 30 years and said she had been "robbed" of her life.

"Olympian Dame Kelly Holm, who served the army and me out as gay last year, lled the publitn of the report a "historic moment", while Cathere Dixon, a former army officer who is now vice chair at Stonewall, said was "an important step towards jtice" for those whose ary reers were "ed" bee of their sexualy.