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.
Contents:
- THE FOTTEN GAY SOLDIERS OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR
- GAYS THE MILARY
- "COMG OUT UNR FIRE": THE STORY OF GAY AND LBIAN SERVICEMEMBERS
- GAY SOLDIERS HARASSED: WHAT WOULD YOU DO?
THE FOTTEN GAY SOLDIERS OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR
* what would you do gay soldiers *
By the law of averag – even if only two per cent of people are homosexual, and not the one 10 that some people thk – that means an awful lot of gay men fought and died. Some people hold the belief that the Great War sparked the morn gay rights movement. Lrie Marhoefer, an assistant profsor of history at the Universy of Washgton, said: “Gay soldiers who survived the blood-lettg returned home nvced their ernments owed them somethg – full cizenship.
” In Germany, he add, anisatns cludg the German League for Human Rights, which had about 100, 000 members, lled for some sort of gay equaly. Although was not actually prohibed by Brish army regulatns – that didn’t happen until 1955 – homosexualy was illegal throughout the UK so most gay soldiers kept their sexualy hidn, possibly addg to the misery they were already experiencg the trench of the Wtern Front: livg, eatg and sleepg mud, plagued by rats and nstantly unr enemy fire and the threat of poisoned gas. Beg gay, therefore, was not only illegal but also seen as unpatrtic.
That said, homosexualy activy was “not exactly unknown” the Brish army, acrdg to historian A. War poets Wiled Owen – who died a week before the armistice was signed and is famo for works such as ‘Anthem for Doomed Youth’ and ‘Dulce et Dem Est’ – and Siegied Sassoon, who survived the war and whose poems clu ‘Suici the Trench’ and ‘Aftermath’, were both gay, although was not public knowledge at the time.
GAYS THE MILARY
Another war poet, Rupert Brooke, once lled the most handsome young man England, is said to have scribed himself as one half outright heterosexual, one quarter outright homosexual and one quarter “sentimental homosexual.
Gay soldiers who were open about their sexualy were often ostracised and reported to their superr officers for “cency”. At least two other gay men had been sentenced to hard labour the sprg of 1915.
To make matters worse, many gay servicemen were tormented by what they thought was a sickns or a vice and saw the war as a way to rid themselv of . Brta was killed 1918 the Battle of the Piave River, but after the war his sister Vera revealed that the day before he died her brother had been acced of homosexual activy, followg the openg of a letter of his by the censor.
"COMG OUT UNR FIRE": THE STORY OF GAY AND LBIAN SERVICEMEMBERS
But gay men weren’t only servg the Brish army.
GAY SOLDIERS HARASSED: WHAT WOULD YOU DO?
When Ralph died four years later, Monty’s “gay fay album” was disvered. Legend has that the thor of the gay romance Mrice slept wh unr his pillow every night. Another gay man fightg at the Somme was future playwright and journalist Joseph Randall Ackerley.