Primary Source Set: Gay Men the Milary — GLBT Historil Society

Contents:

• PRIMARY SOURCE SET: GAY MEN THE ARY
• THE SECRET HISTORY OF THE GAY SOLDIERS WHO SERVED THE FIRST WORLD WAR
• THE FOTTEN GAY SOLDIERS OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR
• LETTERS REVEAL THE STORI OF GAY SOLDIERS WORLD WARS
• HOW WWI SPARKED THE GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT
• "COMG OUT UNR FIRE": THE STORY OF GAY AND LBIAN SERVICEMEMBERS

PRIMARY SOURCE SET: GAY MEN THE ARY

This primary source set provis sights to the experienc of gay servicemen spanng several generatns and nflicts.

THE SECRET HISTORY OF THE GAY SOLDIERS WHO SERVED THE FIRST WORLD WAR

Topics clu blue discharg; servg durg the Send World War; gay life and relatnships durg the Vietnam era; and servg unr Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.

HomeHistoryIn DepthDiscrimatn and persecutn has led to gay soldiers of the Great War beg seen as tragic figur, but this was not always the seGetty ImagThe Royal Brish Legn is lnchg a mpaign today to mark 100 days before the 100th anniversary of the armistice that end the First World will be revealg a 3D “Thank You” stallatn on London’s Southbank before embarkg on a natnal cy tour to “thank the First World War generatn who served and sacrificed to benef generatns to e” centenary has also offered an opportuny for the ls well-known figur of the war to be discsed, cludg women, black and mory ethnic people and homosexuals, many of whom faced discrimatn spe servg their acts between men often rulted rporal punishment or imprisonment, and th acunts of gay servicemen om this time are rare. Today, the Brish armed forc wele people of all sexual orientatns, recg gay magaz and anisg LGBTQ pri many gay soldiers served the First World War?

THE FOTTEN GAY SOLDIERS OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR

Harvey claims that homosexualy was “not exactly unknown” the Brish Army durg the First World War. Homosexualy was not only illegal the UK at the time, but there were also “strong social currents, particularly among the upper class, opposg same sex relatnships”, East Ssex WWI a rult, Harvey wr that “at least 230 soldiers were urt-martialled, nvicted and sentenced to terms of imprisonment for homosexual offenc” were homosexual solirs treated? Stephen Bourne, thor of Fightg Proud: The Untold Story of the Gay Men Who Served Two World Wars, pots to Edward Brta, a soldier om Macclfield who earned the Milary Cross for his “gallantry” the Battle of the was killed by Atrian gunfire 1918, but after the war his sister Vera revealed that the prev day he had been acced of homosexual activy after a letter of his was opened by a censor.

“When I started to look closely at the experienc of gay men the war, I found that, spe homophobia, there were many who were tegrated, ” Bourne told The Week. Although many gay men quietly outed themselv and were accepted by their ras, efforts would have been taken to hi this fact om stggle is evint cryptilly phrased letters om the example, celebrated poet Wiled Owen, who never me out but is believed by some to have been gay, wrote to his 1918: “There are two French girls my billet, dghters of the Mayor, who (I suppose bee of my French) sgle me for their joyful gratu for La Déliverance.

LETTERS REVEAL THE STORI OF GAY SOLDIERS WORLD WARS

The First World War “sparked the morn gay rights movement”, wr Lrie Marhoefer, an assistant profsor of history at the Universy of Washgton, on The Conversatn. “Gay soldiers who survived the bloodlettg returned home nvced their ernments owed them somethg – full cizenship, ” he Germany, anisatns sprang up llg for LGBT rights, cludg the League for Human Rights, which drew 100, 000 members. Neverthels, the UK’s persecutn of homosexuals perservered through the Send World War - where many men felt forced to hi their, even then, took until 2000 for the Brish armed forc to accept openly LGBTQ people, markg a dramatic shift attus.

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. 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. 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.

HOW WWI SPARKED THE GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT

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”. 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 .

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

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. Another gay man fightg at the Somme was future playwright and journalist Joseph Randall Ackerley.