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

Contents:

• "COMG OUT UNR FIRE": THE STORY OF GAY AND LBIAN SERVICEMEMBERS
• IN WWII, TWO GAY SOLDIERS’ FORBIDN ROMANCE LIV ON IN THEIR LOVE LETTERS
• GAY MEN UNR THE NAZI REGIME
• THE SECRET HISTORY OF ATRALIA'S GAY DIGGERS
• PRIMARY SOURCE SET: GAY MEN THE ARY
• WHAT IT WAS LIKE TO BE GAY DURG WWII
• LETTERS REVEAL THE STORI OF GAY SOLDIERS WORLD WARS

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

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. 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.

IN WWII, TWO GAY SOLDIERS’ FORBIDN ROMANCE LIV ON IN THEIR LOVE LETTERS

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.

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.

GAY MEN UNR THE NAZI REGIME

Patrons of the gay bar fought back and sparked a vlent uprisg that started the gay rights movement the Uned Stat.

THE SECRET HISTORY OF ATRALIA'S GAY DIGGERS

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.

PRIMARY SOURCE SET: GAY MEN THE ARY

Wartime film star Patsy Kelly's most fiant act was beg an openly gay woman an hospable climate for the LGBTQIA+ muny. If he was found out, was likely that he would serve time prison, or even get shot by a homophobic soldier, and left for ad.

For the vast majory of gay men wrg letters to one another durg that time, they actually did burn the letters. For years, they had dreams of leavg England and movg to the Uned Stat, where they uld live sunny California, which was known for beg more acceptg of homosexuals.

The Newly Disvered Love Letters Between Two Gay World War II Soldiers Tell A Heartwarmg Story Of Forbidn Love. It is unclear how many of the men publicly or privately intified as gay or were part of gay muni and works that had been tablished Germany before the Nazi rise to power. It is important to note that not all of the men arrted and nvicted unr Paragraph 175 intified as gay.

WHAT IT WAS LIKE TO BE GAY DURG WWII

However, the Nazi mpaign agast homosexualy and the regime’s zealo enforcement of Paragraph 175 ma life Nazi Germany dangero for gay men. Already the mid- to late-neteenth century, there were ditns of nascent and growg gay muni Germany. The latter term dated to 1869, when a pamphlet advotg for crimalizatn of sexual relatns between men ed the term “Homosexualät” (“homosexualy”).

The newer slang word “schwul” (often translated to English as “gay”) was also creasgly popular among certa groups. In ntrast, the work of gay men that veloped around thor Adolf Brand and his anizatn Gemeschaft r Eigenen (The Communy of Kdred Spirs) took a different approach.

It was the relatively eeg atmosphere of the Weimar Republic that gay muni and works grew and veloped unprecented ways. Some joed “iendship leagu” (Frndschaftsverbän), groups that polilly and socially anized gay men, lbian women, and others.

LETTERS REVEAL THE STORI OF GAY SOLDIERS WORLD WARS

Gay newspapers and journals, such as Die Frndschaft (Friendship) and Der Eigene (translated varly, but this ntext implyg “his own man”), ntributed to the growth of gay works. They actively tried to build a sense of muny among gay men, and clud personal ads and rmatn about gay meetg plac. Part of this nmnatn was a rejectn of the era’s open exprsns of sexualy, cludg the visibily of gay muni.

However, Röhm’s posn the Nazi learship did not temper the movement’s nmnatn of homosexualy and gay muni. Shortly thereafter, they sought to dismantle the visible gay cultur and works that had veloped durg the Weimar Republic. However, ci like Berl and Hamburg, some tablished gay bars were able to rema open until the mid-1930s.