As "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" to an end, we sent Chris Heath to terview dozens of gay servicemen om the past and prent to fd out what life was really like as Ameri's ary stggled wh s last great inty crisis
Contents:
- A GAY SOLDIER’S STORY OF VIETNAM AND AFTER
- "COMG OUT UNR FIRE": THE STORY OF GAY AND LBIAN SERVICEMEMBERS
- TELL: AN INTIMATE HISTORY OF GAY MEN THE MILARY
- 07 | MYTHS OF WAR: GAY SERVICEMEN VIETNAM
A GAY SOLDIER’S STORY OF VIETNAM AND AFTER
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 soldiers vietnam war *
Larry Sanrs wr about servg the army, where he uld have been arrted for beg gay durg a very unpopular war. The day Larry Sanrs registered for the draft, one qutn buried the middle of a long qutnnaire smacked him the face: “Do you intify as a homosexual or ever had sexual feelgs for persons of the same sex? At the time Sanrs registered for the draft 1967, no one was clear about what happened to someone who admted beg gay.
"COMG OUT UNR FIRE": THE STORY OF GAY AND LBIAN SERVICEMEMBERS
When I registered for the draft jt a few years later, I was told not to say I was gay, bee they would make you prove . How do someone not datg anyone “prove” they’re gay? He didn’t really intify as homosexual.
TELL: AN INTIMATE HISTORY OF GAY MEN THE MILARY
And as a gay soldier, he didn’t particularly relate to those who served wh him. And what about beg a gay soldier an army that forba ? Gay and Lbian soldiers faced extraordary discrimatn durg World War II.
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.
07 | MYTHS OF WAR: GAY SERVICEMEN VIETNAM
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. By the middle of the war, the ary sought new ways to target and expel homosexuals. Instead of chargg dividuals wh sodomy, a urt-martialed offense, the ary began intifyg spected homosexuals as psychopaths.