U.K. Prime Mister Rishi Sunak has apologized for the treatment of gay veterans by sayg that a prev ban on LGBTQ+ people servg the U.K. ary was “an appallg failure of the Brish state.”
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
The agency said would rtore benefs to some members of the ary who were forced out for beg gay. But, a year later, the guidance remas unclear. * gay military forced *
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
Gay and Lbian soldiers faced extraordary discrimatn durg World War II. Most found new muni of people and thrived spe the opprsn. Disver the film Comg Out Unr Fire that shar their story. * gay military forced *
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.
GAY MEN UNR THE NAZI REGIME
The Nazi regime rried out a mpaign agast male homosexualy and persecuted gay men between 1933 and 1945. * gay military forced *
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. 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.
RISHI SUNAK APOLOGIS TO LGBT VETERANS FOR PAST ARMED FORC GAY BAN
It was illegal to be gay the UK ary until 2000 and Rishi Sunak has said sorry to those who were sacked or forced out. * gay military forced *
Such a move created an efficient system of discrimatn and prosecutn of homosexual members of the ary. 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. 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.
UK ARMY OFFICERS FORCED ELECTRIC SHOCK TREATMENT ON GAY SOLDIERS
Gay Brish soldiers were subjected to electric shock treatment an effort to “cure” them of their homosexualy, acrdg to a damng vtigatn to historic homophobia the UK armed forc. * gay military forced *
Patrons of the gay bar fought back and sparked a vlent uprisg that started the gay rights movement the Uned Stat. 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.
GAY, BISEXUAL TROOPS MORE LIKELY TO SUFFER SEXUAL ASSLTS, STUDY SUGGTS
Rand said about 43% of all ary sexual asslts over the prr year were mted agast troops who are gay, lbian and bisexual. * gay military forced *
Wartime film star Patsy Kelly's most fiant act was beg an openly gay woman an hospable climate for the LGBTQIA+ muny. “Unsirable” behavr—specifilly, an accatn of “attemptg to perpetrate an act of Homosexualy, ” as he explaed a letter to the Natnal Associatn for the Advancement of Colored People, om whom he was seekg legal help.
” A the top rner of the notice explaed the reason for the discharge—“HS, ” for stance, meant the person was nsired a homosexual. ” Wh WWII’s massive human mobilizatn, the ary shifted om s practice of jailg soldiers acced of homosexualy (which required time-nsumg, expensive urt-martials) to simply emg them psychologilly unf. Acrdg to Jon, the NAACP worked wh Black service members acced of homosexualy, like Lemuel Brown, to appeal to the Discharge Review Board for a changed stat—ually wh ltle succs.
READ MORE: The Supreme Court Rulgs That Have Shaped Gay Rights Ameri‘Scientific’ Attempts to Intify HomosexualsIn their effort to screen out queer nscripts, ary officials ran to a problem: They didn’t have a nclive way of intifyg them, beyond a set of subjectively terpreted “signs” such as “feme bodily characteristics” and “effemacy drs and manner, ” acrdg to Allan Bébé, thor of Comg Out Unr Fire: Gay Men and Women Durg World War II. Durg World War II, out of some 18 ln potential enliste, the ary only intified between 4, 000 and 5, 000 homosexuals, a severe unrunt, timat Bébé. In 1944, acrdg to Bébé, an Army doctor tted tongue prsors on patients who were beg treated as “sexual psychopaths”—one of the terms for homosexuals.