Gay male upl often face an expensive journey to parenthood, wh surrogacy or adoptn their primary choic. Workplace fertily benefs often fall short.
Contents:
- TRAI NHảY – PHIM GAY VIệT NAM
- A GAY SOLDIER’S STORY OF VIETNAM AND AFTER
- GAY MALE UPL FACE MORE CHALLENG, HIGHER STS TO START A FAY
TRAI NHảY – PHIM GAY VIệT NAM
When Bob McIvery reported for his mandatory physil exam to terme if he uld be drafted to the Army, the doctor didn’t believe he was gay. Although McIvery, a member of the Gay Liberatn Front, had checked the “homosexual tennci” box on his pre-ductn medil form and stated verbally that he was gay, he was nohels classified as 1-A (available for ary service). In their view, the Army uldn’t simultaneoly ban homosexuals and require them to report for ductn.
The ary barred gay men om service unr medil fns standards, so they were not supposed to be drafted. Yet doctors at ductn centers didn’t always disqualify them, even when they stated they were gay. Some gay men actively sought 4-F classifitns.
Others wanted to serve, and some gay men judged the risks of claimg homosexualy to be greater than those of the draft. At the same time, some men who did not otherwise nsir themselv to be gay succsfully exploed the homosexualy exemptn an attempt to avoid service, often by tentnally adoptg stereotypil mannerisms that they believed would persua doctors. 2 Needg to fill draft quotas and ncerned about d, ductn officials sometim assigned 1-A classifitns to men who had claimed to be homosexual.
A GAY SOLDIER’S STORY OF VIETNAM AND AFTER
In the way that men ed doctors’ not to claim medil exemptns for such as bone spurs or a childhood history of asthma, men seekg homosexualy exemptns often provid letters om psychiatrists.
At the time of McIvery’s se, the Diagnostic and Statistil Manual-II still listed homosexualy as a mental disorr, although would soon be removed after a ntroversial battle at the Amerin Psychiatric Associatn. 3 The medil mol of homosexualy uld be seen as a sympathetic posn, sce suggted that homosexualy was not a moral failg, but an illns. By the early 1970s, however, gay rights activists creasgly argued that treatg homosexualy as a disorr pathologized and stigmatized a normal inty.
This prented a dilemma for gay men seekg disqualifitn om the draft. Yet many gay men did not nsir their sexual preference to be medil at all. Members of the Gay Liberatn Front 1972.
GAY MALE UPL FACE MORE CHALLENG, HIGHER STS TO START A FAY
Although many gay rights anizatns argued that the excln of homosexuals om the armed forc was unnstutnal and discrimatory, several of the same groups also offered advice to gay men who wanted to be disqualified om ary service.
4 As Jt David Suran has shown, members of newer, more radil anizatns such as the Gay Liberatn Front saw antiwar ristance and draft ristance as much as part of their polil platform as more tradnal gay rights issu. Even many of the olr homophile groups also saw draft unselg as part of their rponsibili to their members.