Gay war veteran speaks out for equal rights Ukrae's ary | Rters

Contents:

• WATCH: SOLDIERS FALL LOVE THE JUNGL OF VIETNAM THIS MOVG GAY WAR DRAMA
• A GAY PRISONER OF WAR
• TELL: AN INTIMATE HISTORY OF GAY MEN THE MILARY
• NEW WWI MOVIE TO FEATURE A GAY LOVE STORY
• FILM REVIEW; GAY WORLD WAR II: ABE BY THE MILARY
• GAY MEN UNR THE NAZI REGIME
• GAY WAR VETERAN SPEAKS OUT FOR EQUAL RIGHTS UKRAE'S ARY

WATCH: SOLDIERS FALL LOVE THE JUNGL OF VIETNAM THIS MOVG GAY WAR DRAMA

The “war movie” is a genre as old as the medium of film self, but the new drama Love In Country still manag to liver somethg unexpected and rare: A war movie about gay men. Well before “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, ” this was a world where servicemen uld be discharged simply for beg homosexual, but reports have shown that the Army was so short on personnel durg the Vietnam War that some gay men were admted to serve.

Love In Country is -wrten and -directed by Richard Gayton, who has non-bat ary experience durg the Vietnam War, and then spent many years workg as a Navy psychologist. Gayton felt pelled to brg this story to life as a way to honor the queer people who have served the ary throughout history, many of whom ma the ultimate sacrifice for a untry that refed to let them live their liv openly.

A GAY PRISONER OF WAR

Though safe for the moment thanks to Jean’s quick-thkg plan to pass her off as a Gallic employee of his fay’s lndry bs, Sara watch horror as her homosexual protector is forced to a Nazi labor mp as a tragic rult of a bad cisn ma by Jean’s troublome brother Jacqu (Nilas Gob). This is a betifully tragic queer war film, showg the harsh reali of France durg the German occupatn as affects to both Jews and Homosexuals.

There are some great exampl of that terrifyg time, and even how they found the abily to enjoy themselv; the scene Groff’s is rather enjoyable – until the tth that homosexuals are now beg targeted sks . In 1930s Berl, homosexual Max (Clive Owen) sleeps wh German officer Wolf (Nikolaj Coster-Wald), only to see him killed by his fellow Nazis the next morng. There’s a creepy, homoerotic-horror feel to the film, and Rubenste mak a likable, good-lookg lead- which mak what happens to him all the more upsettg.

He travels to the untry to meet his boyiend’s mother who had no ia her ad son was gay or had a lover, and the sry brother Francis (Pierre-Yv Cardal). 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.

TELL: AN INTIMATE HISTORY OF GAY MEN THE MILARY

"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.

Servicemen were advised that until then the policy would still apply, and that they uld potentially face s sanctns if they intify themselv publicly as gay. ’ "Air Force #1: "Two of my iends were disvered, both officers—’s a long and arduo procs for an officer to get kicked out for beg gay.

You’re a Mare, you don’t md gettg dirty, gog out to the field and not showerg for weeks at a, if you were gay, when you have to shower wh all the other guys you’d get all exced. I mean, if you want to hi, the Mare Corps is one of the bt plac to do that, bee nobody wants to adm they are standg next to a gay guy. One Man’s Operatn Iraqi FreedomMany gay servicemen the morn era—cludg Eric Alva (Mar, 1991–2004)—have pleted long ary reers whout their sexualy ever beg revealed.

NEW WWI MOVIE TO FEATURE A GAY LOVE STORY

And therefore few people realized that the first Amerin serly wound the vasn of Iraq durg the send Gulf war was a gay Alva signed up, before "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, " he had to lie on his paperwork. Lbians have suffered unr the same prohibns and prejudic and share many of the same experienc, as well as some that are distct, but this article ncentrat on the experience of gay men. And when, 2006, the battl over "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" the ary and gay marriage the wir muny were simmerg, Alva’s boyiend at the time poted out to him that he did have some notoriety that might be of e.

(The meetgs have been arranged through a private onle work lled OutServe, set up only last year, which allows gay and lbian servicepeople a safe and secure way of fdg and munitg wh one another. To be the ary and still try to live any kd of life as a gay man, ’s not Force #4 (senr airman, four years): "Right now our relatnships don’t exist.

FILM REVIEW; GAY WORLD WAR II: ABE BY THE MILARY

In the shadow of "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, " whenever gay servicemen did face any kd of homophobic harassment, they were powerls to draw attentn to whout potentially triggerg the end of their ary reer.

The le self beme the very tool of their opprsn: "The ’Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy, " says Joseph Rocha (navy, 2004–7), "punish homosexuals who ply, and protects bigots. Of a number of latg events—Rocha was also force-fed dog food and locked to a sh-filled dog kennel—the most abive and explicly homophobic was when he was orred by his manr to act a dog-trag scenar, repeated over and over so that every dog the un uld be n through . Lovg so much that each scenar was gayer and more disgtg—the troductn of fake semen, that I would have to wipe my face, or that I would have to make slurpg nois.

Anyone who gets off thkg that ’Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ unr the Bh admistratn anyone uld have gone and said, ’Hey, I’m beg antagonized unr the prciple that I might be gay’ and feel safe is absurd. Life Seventy Years Ago as a Gay Serviceman: World War IIIt was only really around the Send World War that ary discrimatn beme dified and anized, and that the foc moved om simply sanctns agast homosexual acts to an attempt to intify and weed out homosexual tennci—though, as would be seen aga and aga, when fightg bodi were need badly enough, such ncerns would often evaporate.

GAY MEN UNR THE NAZI REGIME

"JM: "I found out right after the war that if someone were discharged as homosexual, a notice of that fact was sent home to their lol draft board, so that their whole muny would e to know that they were gay. And this led directly to the formatn of gay ghettos the major ci, where people who uldn’t go home, bee their sexualy had been revealed by the army, had to move to Greenwich Village or the San Francis Castro.

Manzella operated fully wh the vtigatn; when he was asked for evince that he wasn’t jt claimg to be gay orr to trigger a discharge, he even supplied photos, and footage of him and his boyiend passnately kissg on a road trip.

A month later he was lled to see his battaln manr and told that the vtigatn had been closed: "His words were ’We found no proof of homosexualy. "While he was ployed, the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, a mpaigng group who had been givg him guidance, told him that 60 Mut wanted to do a piece about an openly gay man servg a bat zone, persuadg him that would give a voice to the "65, 000 men and women the ary" who weren’t able to live as openly as he was. I was nfed until beme clear that, partly by chance and partly by a cha of personal remendatns over the years, this trailer park had bee some kd of gay-veteran hot spot: There are eight or ten others livg here, and more nearby.

GAY WAR VETERAN SPEAKS OUT FOR EQUAL RIGHTS UKRAE'S ARY

He says that he didn’t seek promotn past a certa pot bee would have required an vtigatn to get him clearance, and he was ncerned they would disver his subscriptns to gay magaz. ’ " They claimed that he had been named as a homosexual and prsured him to nfirm the tails, showg him photos of other men who were implited. One Man’s Vietnam"Back the ’50s Oregon, " rells Tom Norton (Army, 1968-71), "they were still puttg people jail for homosexual activy, and that certaly sends a strong msage to a young kid.

I went to Vietnam wh post-trmatic strs disorr, which I had had om the age of 5 when I learned the word homosexual and knew that’s what I was. "Norton wasn’t sexually active Vietnam—"I would numb myself and avoid anythg sexual"—and was only years later that he realized that some of the men his social circle there were gay.