"Comg Out Unr Fire": The Story of Gay and Lbian Servicemembers | The Natnal WWII Mm | New Orleans

Contents:

• THE REVOLUTNARY WAR HERO WHO WAS OPENLY GAY
• TELL: AN INTIMATE HISTORY OF GAY MEN THE MILARY
• GAY MILARY QUOT & SAYGS
• I THOUGHT I COULD SERVE AS AN OPENLY GAY MAN THE ARMY. THEN CAME THE DEATH THREATS.
• GAY QUOT
• "COMG OUT UNR FIRE": THE STORY OF GAY AND LBIAN SERVICEMEMBERS
• GAY MILARY QUOT
• BT GAY MILARY

THE REVOLUTNARY WAR HERO WHO WAS OPENLY GAY

”A earlier, the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” allowed gays and lbians to serve openly after centuri of hidg, persecutn and dishonorable, we salute some of the lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr and queer service members who paved the way for a more clive force.

Friedrich von Stben joed the Pssian army as a teen, eventually beg an ai--mp to Frerick the Great, who was also mored to be gay.

TELL: AN INTIMATE HISTORY OF GAY MEN THE MILARY

But In 1763, at 33, Stben was unceremonly discharged “unr a cloud, hound by accatns of havg relatns wh young men, ” acrdg to The Gay and Lbian Review. C., and the Stben Para, held each September down New York’s Fifth KamenyFrank Kameny Kennedy / Tribune News Service via Getty ImagOne of the Foundg Fathers of the morn gay rights movement, Frank Kameny enlisted the Army 1943, servg Europe throughout World War II.

GAY MILARY QUOT & SAYGS

After the war, he earned a doctorate at Harvard Universy and tght astronomy at Geetown Universy, In 1957, Kameny had jt started workg for the Army Map Service, wh hop of beg an astront, when he was termated after vtigators unvered evince he was a, then 32, appealed the firg, argug that flatly labelg gay people a secury risk was “no ls od than discrimatn based upon relig or racial grounds. The jtic refed to hear the appeal, but marked the first time the high urt even nsired a civil rights se based on sexual orientatn — and galvanized Kameny to beg a lifelong activist for equaly for gays and years later, 1965, Kameny, Kay Tob and Barbara Gtgs started the Annual Remrs, the first anized picket protts for gay rights Ameri, held at Philalphia’s Inpennce Hall.

In the 1970s, Kameny bee the first openly gay ndidate for Congrs and challenged the Amerin Psychiatric Associatn’s diagnosis of homosexualy as a mental disorr, acrdg to a 2015 Department of Labor 2009, the U. Wh urage and strength, you fought back, ” said OPM Director John Berry, himself an out gay man, the Washgton Post December 2010, Kameny was ved to the Whe Hoe to wns Print Barack Obama sign the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” to law. ”Fannie Mae Clackum Though ls well known than Kameny, Clackum beme the first service member to succsfully challenge a ary discharge on the grounds of homosexualy.

”While the lg Clackum’s favor turned on due procs, rather than a rejectn of the ban on gays the ary, was the first time the Armed Forc had to answer for attacks on LGBTQ service MilkHarvey Milk outsi his mera shop San Francis 1977. Bettmann ArchiveThough Harvey Milk is better known for his stnch gay activism, polil reer and tragic assassatn, he enlisted the U.

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

Rather than face a urt-martial over his homosexualy, Milk was prsured to acceptg an “other than honorable” discharge. That ugly dismissal cut Milk loose to pursue other terts — he tght high school on Long Island, worked at an surance firm and Wall Street brokerage New York Cy and ultimately opened a mera shop on Castro Street San Francis, where his activist reer began was one of the first openly gay elected officials the U. June 28 marks the anniversary of the Stonewall Rts, when members of the LGBTQ muny fought back when police raid the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar New York's Greenwich Village, 1969.

"—From the say "The Gay Athlete, " published Sports Illtrated, 2013"If a bullet should enter my bra, let that bullet stroy every closet door. Savenok/Strger/Getty Imag"In light of Jamey's ath, beme clear to me an stant that livg a gay life whout publicly acknowledgg is simply not enough to make any signifint ntributn to the immense work that li ahead on the road to plete equaly.

GAY QUOT

Our society needs to regnize the unstoppable momentum toward unequivol civil equaly for every gay, lbian, bisexual, and transgenr cizen of this untry. "—From In Search of Our Mothers' Garns: Womanist Prose, 1983"I'd like to see the gay revolutn get started, but there hasn't been any monstratn or anythg recently. If a transvte don't say I'm gay and I'm proud and I'm a transvte, then nobody else is gog to hop up there and say I'm gay and I'm proud and I'm a transvte for them.

"—From an terview Out of the Closets: Voic of Gay Liberatn, 1972"Our strategy is how we pe—how we measure and weigh what is to be said and when, what is to be done and how, and to whom, daily cidg/riskg who is we n ll an ally, ll a iend (whatever that person's sk, sex, or sexualy). "—From a CNN terview wh Anrson Cooper, 2013"Every gay and lbian person who has been lucky enough to survive the turmoil of growg up is a survivor.

His photograph, along wh the headle “I Am a Homosexual, ” appeared on the ver of the September 8, 1975 edn of Time. In addn to beg one of the first openly gay Amerin soldiers, Matlovich was also the first to appear on the ver of an Amerin news magaze. In an era before gay marriage or open pri, ary men fell love, formed passnate iendships and had same-sex enunters.

"COMG OUT UNR FIRE": THE STORY OF GAY AND LBIAN SERVICEMEMBERS

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. ”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.

GAY MILARY QUOT

But historil homosexual relatnships were actually don’t mean beg gay was ndoned: Sodomy was a crime lonial Ameri. Durg his lifetime, Ulrichs wrote numero says discsg homosexualy and assertg that non-heterosexual orientatns are natural and blogil. Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir, a former Icelandic Prime Mister and the first openly gay head of state, uttered the words durg a speech at a 2014 Pri ftival.

Arsham Parsi, an Iranian refugee livg Canada exile, has ma his missn to help LGBTQ people livg Iran: a natn where acts of homosexualy are punishable by floggg or even ath. “If you help elect more gay people, that giv a green light to all who feel disenanchised a green light to move forward.

When Harvey Milk beme the first openly gay person elected to public office California, he beme the face of the ph to put more LGBTQ people posns of power. “The next time someone asks you why LGBT Pri march exist or why Gay Pri Month is June tell them ‘A bisexual woman named Brenda Howard thought should be.

BT GAY MILARY

“If a transvte don’t say I’m gay and I’m proud and I’m a transvte, then nobody else is gog to hop up there and say I’m gay and I’m proud and I’m a transvte for them. In her time practicg law, she has dited her reer to helpg those who have been the victims of her untry’s harsh laws agast homosexualy.

The are the voic explag what has been like to be a gay man1 the Amerin ary over the prev seventy or so years, om World War II veterans their late eighti to young servicemen on active duty.

Life Today as a Gay ServicemanHow we got here: In 1992, many people thought that the discrimatn was nearly over. "I remember beg the Castro, " says John Forrett (army rerve, 1987–99), "and watchg the TV at a bar wh some iends, watchg Al Gore and Bill Clton swearg that if they beme the tag team for Ameri they were gog to get rid of the harassment of gays and lbians servg the ary. " Gay people were allowed the ary but only as long as they didn’t reveal their sexualy; to facilate this, all members of the ary were also prohibed om quirg about anyone’s possible orientatn.