The Revolutnary War Hero Who Was Openly Gay | HISTORY

Contents:

• THE REVOLUTNARY WAR HERO WHO WAS OPENLY GAY
• BRIEF HISTORY OF GAYS THE MILARY
• THE SECRET HISTORY OF THE GAY SOLDIERS WHO SERVED THE FIRST WORLD WAR
• THE ELE GAY ARMY OF ANCIENT GREECETHE SACRED BAND OF THEB FEATED EVEN THE SPARTANSPETER PRKAR·FOLLOWPUBLISHED LSONS OM HISTORY·4 M READ·OCT 11, 2020--3SHAREGREEK WARRRS — ARTISTIC IMAGE (IMAGE:ARTSTATN/@ALIAKSANDR TRYZON)THE SACRED BAND WAS AN ELE ARY UN OM THEB PRISG 150 GAY UPL. AT THE BATTLE OF LCTRA 371 BC, THE 300 GAY WARRRS LED THE THEBAN ARMY AGAST THE SPARTAN ARMY. THE THEBANS WON AND SHATTERED THE SPARTAN NTROL OF GREECE.THE GREEK VIEW ON GAY WARRRSA MALE UPLE ENGAGG TERCRAL SEX. DEPICTED ON ANCIENT GREEK POTTERY (IMAGE: WIKIMEDIA COMMONS)THE THEBANS BELIEVED GAY WARRRS FOUGHT BETTER ORR TO IMPRS AND PROTECT THEIR LOVERS. IF A LOVER FELL DURG A BATTLE, HIS PARTNER WOULD FIGHT EVEN HARR TO AVENGE HIS ATH.THREE THOAND YEARS AGO ANCIENT GREECE, BEG GAY OR LBIAN WAS NOT A CRIME. IN FACT, CERTA SUATNS, THE GREEKS EVEN ENURAGED HOMOSEXUAL RELATNSHIPS.YOUNG BOYS EXCHANGED ROMANTIC FAVORS FOR THE KNOWLEDGE PROVID BY THEIR OLR TUTORS. FATHERS WOULD PRAY TO THE GODS FOR THEIR SONS TO BE ATTRACTIVE BEE MEANT A BETTER MENTOR. SUCH RELATNSHIPS LASTED UNTIL THE YOUNG BOYS REACHED ADULTHOOD.SOLDIERS WOULD FORM ROMANTIC RELATNSHIPS WH ONE ANOTHER TO BOOST THEIR MORALE.THE GREEK SOCIETY DIFFERENTIATED BETWEEN ACTIVE AND PASSIVE ROL BOTH GENRS TOOK DURG SEX. AN ACTIVE ROLE, BEG A PERATOR, MEANT MASCULY, ADULTHOOD, AND PRTIGE. A PASSIVE ROLE, BEG PERATED, REPRENTED FEMY, YOUTH, AND SHAME.FOR A RECEIVG PARTNER, ANAL SEX WAS MEANG. INSTEAD, THEY ENGAGED TERCRAL SEX.THE MEMBERS OF THE SACRED BAND OF THEB WERE ROMANTIC PARTNERS. THEY LLED AN OLR PARTNER THE ERAST (‘LOVER’) AND A YOUNGER ONE THE EROMENOS (‘BELOVED’). EACH PAIR EXCHANGED SACRED VOWS AT THE TEMPLE OF IOLS, THE LOVER OF HERACL.FACTS ABOUT THE SACRED BAND OF THEB
• IN WWII, TWO GAY SOLDIERS’ FORBIDN ROMANCE LIV ON IN THEIR LOVE LETTERS
• "COMG OUT UNR FIRE": THE STORY OF GAY AND LBIAN SERVICEMEMBERS
• HISTORY OF GAYS THE MILARY--PICTURES
• HOW WWI SPARKED THE GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT
• GAY MEN UNR THE NAZI REGIME
• HISTORY’S GREATT GAY GENERAL

THE REVOLUTNARY WAR HERO WHO WAS OPENLY GAY

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.1.

"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." But when the tag team prevailed, they unrtimated the ristance to such a reform om a aln of social nservativ, relig groups, and a large part of the ary self.

The nsequence, the followg year, was a msy kd of promise that beme lloquially known as "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell." 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. I have seen happen: ’If you don’t do this, I’m gog to report you.’ "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 time...and, if you were gay, when you have to shower wh all the other guys you’d get all exced.

BRIEF HISTORY OF GAYS THE MILARY

And therefore few people realized that the first Amerin serly wound the vasn of Iraq durg the send Gulf war was a gay man.When Alva signed up, before "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell," he had to lie on his paperwork.

THE SECRET HISTORY OF THE GAY SOLDIERS WHO SERVED THE FIRST WORLD WAR

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.Meanwhile, the media picked up on his story.

THE ELE GAY ARMY OF ANCIENT GREECETHE SACRED BAND OF THEB FEATED EVEN THE SPARTANSPETER PRKAR·FOLLOWPUBLISHED LSONS OM HISTORY·4 M READ·OCT 11, 2020--3SHAREGREEK WARRRS — ARTISTIC IMAGE (IMAGE:ARTSTATN/@ALIAKSANDR TRYZON)THE SACRED BAND WAS AN ELE ARY UN OM THEB PRISG 150 GAY UPL. AT THE BATTLE OF LCTRA 371 BC, THE 300 GAY WARRRS LED THE THEBAN ARMY AGAST THE SPARTAN ARMY. THE THEBANS WON AND SHATTERED THE SPARTAN NTROL OF GREECE.THE GREEK VIEW ON GAY WARRRSA MALE UPLE ENGAGG TERCRAL SEX. DEPICTED ON ANCIENT GREEK POTTERY (IMAGE: WIKIMEDIA COMMONS)THE THEBANS BELIEVED GAY WARRRS FOUGHT BETTER ORR TO IMPRS AND PROTECT THEIR LOVERS. IF A LOVER FELL DURG A BATTLE, HIS PARTNER WOULD FIGHT EVEN HARR TO AVENGE HIS ATH.THREE THOAND YEARS AGO ANCIENT GREECE, BEG GAY OR LBIAN WAS NOT A CRIME. IN FACT, CERTA SUATNS, THE GREEKS EVEN ENURAGED HOMOSEXUAL RELATNSHIPS.YOUNG BOYS EXCHANGED ROMANTIC FAVORS FOR THE KNOWLEDGE PROVID BY THEIR OLR TUTORS. FATHERS WOULD PRAY TO THE GODS FOR THEIR SONS TO BE ATTRACTIVE BEE MEANT A BETTER MENTOR. SUCH RELATNSHIPS LASTED UNTIL THE YOUNG BOYS REACHED ADULTHOOD.SOLDIERS WOULD FORM ROMANTIC RELATNSHIPS WH ONE ANOTHER TO BOOST THEIR MORALE.THE GREEK SOCIETY DIFFERENTIATED BETWEEN ACTIVE AND PASSIVE ROL BOTH GENRS TOOK DURG SEX. AN ACTIVE ROLE, BEG A PERATOR, MEANT MASCULY, ADULTHOOD, AND PRTIGE. A PASSIVE ROLE, BEG PERATED, REPRENTED FEMY, YOUTH, AND SHAME.FOR A RECEIVG PARTNER, ANAL SEX WAS MEANG. INSTEAD, THEY ENGAGED TERCRAL SEX.THE MEMBERS OF THE SACRED BAND OF THEB WERE ROMANTIC PARTNERS. THEY LLED AN OLR PARTNER THE ERAST (‘LOVER’) AND A YOUNGER ONE THE EROMENOS (‘BELOVED’). EACH PAIR EXCHANGED SACRED VOWS AT THE TEMPLE OF IOLS, THE LOVER OF HERACL.FACTS ABOUT THE SACRED BAND OF THEB

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.) This eveng, two arrive wh their boyiends.

IN WWII, TWO GAY SOLDIERS’ FORBIDN ROMANCE LIV ON IN THEIR LOVE LETTERS

To be the ary and still try to live any kd of life as a gay man, ’s not easy.Air Force #4 (senr airman, four years): "Right now our relatnships don’t exist."Air Force #3: "I’ve had three ployments [while] wh the same person. 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."Before his own experience turned ugly, Rocha was exactly the kd of ialistic, motivated rec the ary mt wish for. 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 . 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." Eventually the events—tails of which are still disputed by other participants—me to light a broar vtigatn; s aftermath one of the senr officers beg held rponsible—a woman who happened to be Rocha’s bt iend the un—mted suici.

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

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.

HISTORY OF GAYS THE MILARY--PICTURES

And I love to dance.’ And he looked over at the door and said, ’Next!’ "John McNeill, 85: "They were sperate need of more nnon fodr—they didn’t re whether we were gay or straight."AW: "In January ’45, the Belgian Bulge occurred, and Amerin troops, Patton’s Third Army, were slghtered, and the army cid: We don’t need any more hot pilots, we need more fantry, so I did go overseas as an fantry rifle replacement the sprg.

HOW WWI SPARKED THE GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT

Jt bee: Missn Acplished."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. An Out Amerin Soldier at WarIf sometim "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" has been promised by persistent askg, then, as Darren Manzella (army, 2002–8) disvered, there have been other tim when, curly, the ary shut their ears to what they’d been told."I fally accepted that I was gay the first time I went to Iraq 2004.

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.

GAY MEN UNR THE NAZI REGIME

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 wary of puttg further words the manr’s mouth, Manzella felt what was clearly beg munited was: You’re a good soldier. I looked at everybody else’s sks and they had pictur of their wiv, hbands, or boyiends or girliends, so I had pictur of my boyiend up."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.

HISTORY’S GREATT GAY GENERAL

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.

Whatever I experienced Vietnam was better than that."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.