As "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" to an end, we sent Chris Heath to terview dozens of gay servicemen om the past and prent to fd out what life was really like as Ameri's ary stggled wh s last great inty crisis
Contents:
BT GAY MILARY
Vcent Cianni photographed 100 gay and lbian U.S. ary veterans and active-duty service members for this seri * gay military art *
Before "don't ask, don't tell" was officially repealed for gay, lbian, and bisexual ary personnel 2011, a photo of a male Mare drag uld have land him hot water.
"Lbian, gay, and bisexual ary personnel had been servg our untry for s whout receivg equal protectn, while transgenr troops are still prohibed om servg openly. They look like relatively simple flat patgs, but the procs mak them very plited to driv you to document LGBTQ spac, as you did your project The UK Gay Bar Directory?
TELL: AN INTIMATE HISTORY OF GAY MEN THE MILARY
The Uned Stat ary stggled wh s stance on gay service members for s prr to the signg of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” 1993 by former Print Bill Clton., * gay military art *
Before we knew Candy Bar, the Gee and Dragon, and Joers Arms—all by, succsful, and culturally important gay bars London—had shut their doors followed by a spate of other closur natnally. K., forcg ourselv to male-domant or male-only spac, filmg gay bars, and creatg an archive that would functn both as an art work, a public rource, and a ll to arms.
Often, we would arrive a cy and a much-loved gay bar had closed s doors only days before. We explore how the ntemporary gay rights movement has aligned self wh the state, the police, the ary, and wh property velopers at the expense of s own muny.
Beme notor for s exaggerated sexualy, ebriated figur, and unflatterg portrayal of ary men, one potentially flammatory element ped public bate: s latent homoeroticism. The former character’s sartorial choic subtly d him as gay, and the exchange signaled a e-on.
mchmen, the se for the drawgs, stori and art of Mchell the gay artist * gay military art *
Throughout his reer, Cadm obliquely picted homosexualy as he paid keen attentn to the male form. In a 1998 article for Art Journal, Richard Meyer wrote that Cadm’s unique mixture of satire and ializatn enabled him to pict homoeroticism as early as the 1930s—a time when was virtually visible wh the public sphere of Amerin patg, and all but unspeakable wh the official disurs of art cricism.
If Grant Wood, patg Iowa, had to nceal his homosexualy, the East Coast was more amenable to Cadm’s preferenc. Cadm is now celebrated as a visnary wh the gay art muny, his patg a key work the history of Amerin censorship.