"Comg Out Unr Fire": The Story of Gay and Lbian Servicemembers | The Natnal WWII Mm | New Orleans

Contents:

• LEONARD MATLOVICH: THE GAY MILARY HERO YOU'VE PROBABLY NEVER HEARD OF
• "COMG OUT UNR FIRE": THE STORY OF GAY AND LBIAN SERVICEMEMBERS
• TELL: AN INTIMATE HISTORY OF GAY MEN THE MILARY
• GAY VIETNAM
• THE HISTORY BEHD FAMO ‘GAY VIETNAM VETERAN’ HEADSTONE
• 07 | MYTHS OF WAR: GAY SERVICEMEN VIETNAM

LEONARD MATLOVICH: THE GAY MILARY HERO YOU'VE PROBABLY NEVER HEARD OF

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?

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 ?

"A Gay Vietnam Veteran, " reads bold letters. C., where a clter of gay veterans are buried. It almost seemed better whout a name, like was a symbolic grave for all the gay soldiers who fought for their untry but had to hi their te selv.

TELL: AN INTIMATE HISTORY OF GAY MEN THE MILARY

It was March 1975 when he walked up to his mandg officer and hand him a letter statg that he was gay.

But he ma a name for himself as a vol gay rights advote at a time when there weren't many.

GAY VIETNAM

___________________Also on The Huffgton Post:Gay Pri Around The World Popular the CommunyYou May Like. 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.

THE HISTORY BEHD FAMO ‘GAY VIETNAM VETERAN’ HEADSTONE

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. 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.

07 | MYTHS OF WAR: GAY SERVICEMEN VIETNAM

Such a move created an efficient system of discrimatn and prosecutn of homosexual members of the ary. Dpe the threat of persecutn, gay and lbian servicemembers thrived durg World War II. 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. Eisenhower signed Executive Orr 10450, which banned homosexuals om feral employment.