Air force looked at spray to turn enemy gay | World news | The Guardian

Contents:

• IN 1994, THE U.S. MILARY ACTUALLY CONSIRED BUILDG A “GAY BOMB”
• AIR FORCE LOOKED AT SPRAY TO TURN ENEMY GAY
• "COMG OUT UNR FIRE": THE STORY OF GAY AND LBIAN SERVICEMEMBERS
• THE U.S. MILARY ONCE PROPOSED A “GAY” BOMB
• A GAY SOLDIER’S STORY OF VIETNAM AND AFTER
• MILARY PROPOSED "GAY BOMB"

IN 1994, THE U.S. MILARY ACTUALLY CONSIRED BUILDG A “GAY BOMB”

The ia of a gay bomb me om a sire to bilate and distract their opponents but not necsarily kill them.

Wikimedia CommonsThe gay bomb was a theoretil cloud of gas that would turn enemy soldiers gay. The gay bomb would be a cloud of gas that would be discharged over enemy mps “that ntaed a chemil that would e enemy soldiers to bee gay, and to have their uns break down bee all their soldiers beme irristibly attractive to one another. The scientists ntued to suggt addns to the gay bomb, cludg aphrodisiacs, and other scents.

AIR FORCE LOOKED AT SPRAY TO TURN ENEMY GAY

Dpe the drawbacks, for their work such an novative field, the rearchers who nceptualized the gay bomb were award the Ig Nobel Prize, a parody award which celebrat unual scientific achievements that “first make people lgh, and then make them thk. "One distasteful but non-lethal example would be strong aphrodisiacs, pecially if the chemil also ed homosexual behavur, " says the proposal om the Air Force's Wright Laboratory Dayton, Pentagon did not ny that the proposal had been ma: "The partment of fence is mted to intifyg, rearchg and velopg non-lethal weapons that will support our men and women uniform. "Aaron Belk, director of the Universy of California's Michael Palm Centre, which studi the issue of gays the ary, said: "The ia that you uld subm someone to some aerosol spray and change their sexual behavur is ludicro.

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.

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

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 U.S. MILARY ONCE PROPOSED A “GAY” BOMB

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 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.

A GAY SOLDIER’S STORY OF VIETNAM AND AFTER

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

Air Force, produced a three page proposal for a “gay bomb” Did the Actors Brg to Their Back to the Future: The Mil Performanc? It proposed a bomb “that ntaed a chemil that would e enemy soldiers to bee gay, and to have their uns break down bee all their soldiers beme irristibly attractive to one another”.

MILARY PROPOSED "GAY BOMB"

While the laboratory also me up wh siarly qutnable ias, such as bad-breath bombs, flatulence bombs and bombs signed to attract swarms of stgg sects to enemy batants, one has to adm that the gay bomb is certaly the most Pentagon matas that the love affair wh the gay bomb ia was brief. When newly elected Print Bill Clton attempted to lift the ban on homosexuals the ary, there was a d of saber rattlg, pchfork sharpeng and moral hand-wrgg om the ary general nsens among many lears of the ary was touted by the Department of Defence, “Homosexualy is patible wh ary service. ” And that allowg gay people the ary would pose a secury risk and dispt the need orr for the ary to be rultg Don’t Ask Don’t Tell (later fully lled Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Don’t Pursue, and Don’t Harass) promise, which has sce been stck down, was ls than thrillg for the Pentagon at such circumstanc, wh paranoia about gay people disptg ary disciple and morale, this project seems, notwhstandg s highly flawed premise, somewhat more unrstandable, at least terms of how they me up wh the to the science behd this ary farce, while var pani, peddlg scented sprays and b-ons, fd expedient to claim that their product ntas human pheromon which have an aphrodisiac effect, lab ttg has lagged behd somewhat actually nfirmg any of this.

Admtedly, one sectn of the documents, entled “New Disveri Need” acknowledg that, th far, no such chemils have been found to the Gay Bomb project never beme perhaps more than a pie the sky dream of the Wright Lab, has gaed a send lease on life through news media, popular culture and even news of this proposed weapon of mass lov’ even spawned a mil, disappotgly entled “Gay Bomb – The Mil”. Why they chose this tle, as opposed to say “Brothers--Arms”, “Das Booty”, or “Savg Ryan’s Privat” is a mystery we may never solve…For the attempt at makg a gay bomb, the Wright Lab had the honor of wng the Ig Nobel Peace Prize 2007.