Discrimatn and persecutn has led to gay soldiers of the Great War beg seen as tragic figur, but this was not always the se
Contents:
- TELL: AN INTIMATE HISTORY OF GAY MEN THE MILARY
- I THOUGHT I COULD SERVE AS AN OPENLY GAY MAN THE ARMY. THEN CAME THE DEATH THREATS.
- THE REVOLUTNARY WAR HERO WHO WAS OPENLY GAY
- "COMG OUT UNR FIRE": THE STORY OF GAY AND LBIAN SERVICEMEMBERS
- ARMY’S FIRST OPENLY GAY GENERAL RETIR AFTER SPIRG OTHERS
- RISHI SUNAK APOLOGIS TO LGBT VETERANS FOR PAST ARMED FORC GAY BAN
- THE SECRET HISTORY OF THE GAY SOLDIERS WHO SERVED THE FIRST WORLD WAR
TELL: AN INTIMATE HISTORY OF GAY MEN THE MILARY
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 * gay soldier *
The are the voic explag what has been like to be a gay man1 the Amerin ary over the prev seventy or so years, om World War II veterans their late eighti to young servicemen on active duty.
I THOUGHT I COULD SERVE AS AN OPENLY GAY MAN THE ARMY. THEN CAME THE DEATH THREATS.
Gay and Lbian soldiers faced extraordary discrimatn durg World War II. Most found new muni of people and thrived spe the opprsn. Disver the film Comg Out Unr Fire that shar their story. * gay soldier *
"I remember beg the Castro, " says John Forrett (army rerve, 1987–99), "and watchg the TV at a bar wh some iends, watchg Al Gore and Bill Clton swearg that if they beme the tag team for Ameri they were gog to get rid of the harassment of gays and lbians servg the ary.
THE REVOLUTNARY WAR HERO WHO WAS OPENLY GAY
WASHINGTON -- Sce Maj. Gen. Tammy Smh, the ary’s hight-rankg openly gay officer, me out 2012, she has tried beg an example of livg... * gay soldier *
" Gay people were allowed the ary but only as long as they didn’t reveal their sexualy; to facilate this, all members of the ary were also prohibed om quirg about anyone’s possible orientatn. You’re a Mare, you don’t md gettg dirty, gog out to the field and not showerg for weeks at a, if you were gay, when you have to shower wh all the other guys you’d get all exced.
And therefore few people realized that the first Amerin serly wound the vasn of Iraq durg the send Gulf war was a gay Alva signed up, before "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, " he had to lie on his paperwork. Lbians have suffered unr the same prohibns and prejudic and share many of the same experienc, as well as some that are distct, but this article ncentrat on the experience of gay men.
"COMG OUT UNR FIRE": THE STORY OF GAY AND LBIAN SERVICEMEMBERS
After beg oted om the U.S. ary for beg gay, she beme an early fighter for gay rights and a proment figure the nascent L.G.B.T.Q. rights movement. * gay soldier *
And when, 2006, the battl over "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" the ary and gay marriage the wir muny were simmerg, Alva’s boyiend at the time poted out to him that he did have some notoriety that might be of e.
(The meetgs have been arranged through a private onle work lled OutServe, set up only last year, which allows gay and lbian servicepeople a safe and secure way of fdg and munitg wh one another. In the shadow of "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, " whenever gay servicemen did face any kd of homophobic harassment, they were powerls to draw attentn to whout potentially triggerg the end of their ary reer.
Of a number of latg events—Rocha was also force-fed dog food and locked to a sh-filled dog kennel—the most abive and explicly homophobic was when he was orred by his manr to act a dog-trag scenar, repeated over and over so that every dog the un uld be n through .
ARMY’S FIRST OPENLY GAY GENERAL RETIR AFTER SPIRG OTHERS
Soldiers reprentg the lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr and queer muny virtually celebrated Pri Month Thursday * gay soldier *
Anyone who gets off thkg that ’Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ unr the Bh admistratn anyone uld have gone and said, ’Hey, I’m beg antagonized unr the prciple that I might be gay’ and feel safe is absurd.
Life Seventy Years Ago as a Gay Serviceman: World War IIIt was only really around the Send World War that ary discrimatn beme dified and anized, and that the foc moved om simply sanctns agast homosexual acts to an attempt to intify and weed out homosexual tennci—though, as would be seen aga and aga, when fightg bodi were need badly enough, such ncerns would often evaporate. "JM: "I found out right after the war that if someone were discharged as homosexual, a notice of that fact was sent home to their lol draft board, so that their whole muny would e to know that they were gay.
RISHI SUNAK APOLOGIS TO LGBT VETERANS FOR PAST ARMED FORC GAY BAN
U.K. Prime Mister Rishi Sunak has apologized for the treatment of gay veterans by sayg that a prev ban on LGBTQ+ people servg the U.K. ary was “an appallg failure of the Brish state.” * gay soldier *
And this led directly to the formatn of gay ghettos the major ci, where people who uldn’t go home, bee their sexualy had been revealed by the army, had to move to Greenwich Village or the San Francis Castro. Manzella operated fully wh the vtigatn; when he was asked for evince that he wasn’t jt claimg to be gay orr to trigger a discharge, he even supplied photos, and footage of him and his boyiend passnately kissg on a road trip. "While he was ployed, the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, a mpaigng group who had been givg him guidance, told him that 60 Mut wanted to do a piece about an openly gay man servg a bat zone, persuadg him that would give a voice to the "65, 000 men and women the ary" who weren’t able to live as openly as he was.
I was nfed until beme clear that, partly by chance and partly by a cha of personal remendatns over the years, this trailer park had bee some kd of gay-veteran hot spot: There are eight or ten others livg here, and more nearby.
THE SECRET HISTORY OF THE GAY SOLDIERS WHO SERVED THE FIRST WORLD WAR
He says that he didn’t seek promotn past a certa pot bee would have required an vtigatn to get him clearance, and he was ncerned they would disver his subscriptns to gay magaz. One Man’s Vietnam"Back the ’50s Oregon, " rells Tom Norton (Army, 1968-71), "they were still puttg people jail for homosexual activy, and that certaly sends a strong msage to a young kid.