UK Army Officers Forced Electric Shock Treatment on Gay Soldiers - Bloomberg

Contents:

• VETERANS FORCED OUT FOR BEG GAY ARE STILL WAG FOR VA BENEFS
• "COMG OUT UNR FIRE": THE STORY OF GAY AND LBIAN SERVICEMEMBERS
• GAY MEN UNR THE NAZI REGIME
• RISHI SUNAK APOLOGIS TO LGBT VETERANS FOR PAST ARMED FORC GAY BAN
• UK ARMY OFFICERS FORCED ELECTRIC SHOCK TREATMENT ON GAY SOLDIERS
• GAY, BISEXUAL TROOPS MORE LIKELY TO SUFFER SEXUAL ASSLTS, STUDY SUGGTS

VETERANS FORCED OUT FOR BEG GAY ARE STILL WAG FOR VA BENEFS

Nearly a year after the Department of Veterans Affairs promised to rtore benefs to some former members of the ary who were forced out for beg gay, a nonprof legal group that reprents veterans says VA has refed to expla what s new guidance entails — or whether was Natnal Veterans Legal Servic Program (NVLSP) filed a plat feral urt late last month, allegg that VA has not rpond to requts to release what the partment lled “newly-issued guidance.

” Bee many of those were booted om the ary wh “ls than honorable” or “other than honorable” discharg, thoands of people oted unr “don’t ask, don’t tell” do not have benefs, cludg accs to health re, home loans and tnal support through fall, on the 10th anniversary of the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell, ” VA spokwoman Kayla Williams announced a blog post that the partment planned to issue new guidance allowg VA adjuditors to possibly grant benefs to service members who were discharged based on homosexual nduct, genr inty or HIV stat. A VA regulatn, for example, still stat that if a service member was separated om the ary due to “homosexual acts volvg aggravatg circumstanc or affectg the performance of duty, ” they are barred om most VA benefs, wh no rrpondg provisn for heterosexual others, cludg Navy veteran Stephan Steffanis, are still stgglg to upgra their Steffanis, who is nonbary, joed the Navy 1987, they tend to spend the rt of their life the ary. The Navy began vtigatg, and on Christmas Eve 1991, the Navy kicked Steffanis out for “engagg or attemptg to engage or solicg another to engage a homosexual act.

They didn’t know how to fd other work, eher, bee at the time, homosexualy was nsired a “crime agast nature” Virgia. ) Bee Steffanis’s discharge papers labeled them a homosexual, they were aaid to put their ary experience on a résumé.

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

Straight men who have engaged suatnal homosexualy (such as prison or the ary), what's your story? "At VA, we ntuoly work not only to meet the needs of LGBTQ+ Veterans, but also to addrs ongog issu that LGBTQ+ Veterans face as a rult of the ary's s-long official policy of homophobia and transphobia, " Williams wrote. Before the repeal, openly gay service members who were given an "other than honorable" discharge om the ary were effectively blocked om the many servic and benefs provid to veterans the U.

"It ma sense at the time that there was a more prsg need for me as a woman married to a man to say, 'No one my un red if anyone was gay while we were Iraq, ' " she said. Liebman and more than 9, 000 Amerin servicemembers, however, eventually were given a Sectn 8 "blue discharge" for beg homosexual.

The 1994 documentary Comg Out Unr Fire giv voice to the experienc of thoands of gay and lbian servicemembers who joed the ary durg World War II, a story that is largely ignored by historians and mms across the untry. In 1993, the Uned Stat was batg the discrimatory “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy regardg homosexuals the morn ary.

GAY MEN UNR THE NAZI REGIME

At the time, homosexualy was classified as a mental illns by the medil muny; mental illns was one ndn that disqualified young people om service. Gay and lbian recs were forced to answer qutns vaguely, or lie about their sexualy, orr to be allowed to serve; otherwise, they would n the risk of beg sent home and brand as “sex perverts.

Instead of chargg dividuals wh sodomy, a urt-martialed offense, the ary began intifyg spected homosexuals as psychopaths. Such a move created an efficient system of discrimatn and prosecutn of homosexual members of the ary.

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

The new iendships gave gay and lbian GIs refuge om the hostily that surround them and allowed for a distct subculture to velop wh the ary.

UK ARMY OFFICERS FORCED ELECTRIC SHOCK TREATMENT ON GAY SOLDIERS

Servicemembers on every waront enjoyed drag show entertament; an entire gay lexin was veloped om the wrgs of Dorothy Parker; and eventually an unrground queer newspaper emerged. Soldiers reprented female characters ary plays, and some homosexual soldiers found refuge om rigid genr rol.

The irony that the ary selected two homosexuals to reprent the ial image of the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps was not lost on Abry. The feral discrimatory actns drove LGBTQ people further to the shadows of society and embolned law enforcement and policians, who beme more vlent toward gay and lbian cizens. Patrons of the gay bar fought back and sparked a vlent uprisg that started the gay rights movement the Uned Stat.

GAY, BISEXUAL TROOPS MORE LIKELY TO SUFFER SEXUAL ASSLTS, STUDY SUGGTS

Gay and lbian veterans of World War II beme some of the first to fight ary discrimatn and blue discharg the years followg the war.

My only hope is that anizatns around the untry m to pturg the voic of gay, lbian, and transgenr veterans and that we fd a place our history to honor their service as well. We sat down wh Sir John Dermot Turg, Alan Turg’s nephew and thor of a new book on Bletchley Park, to discs his uncle’s role pivotal role puter science and his persecutn for beg gay the 1950s.

Wartime film star Patsy Kelly's most fiant act was beg an openly gay woman an hospable climate for the LGBTQIA+ muny.