What It Was Like to Be Gay Durg WWII Smhsonian Magaze

Contents:

• GAY MEN UNR THE NAZI REGIME
• "COMG OUT UNR FIRE": THE STORY OF GAY AND LBIAN SERVICEMEMBERS
• GAY WORLD WAR II HERO ALAN TURG BE FIRST LGBTQ+ PERSON ON BRISH CURRENCY
• WHAT IT WAS LIKE TO BE GAY DURG WWII
• THE LAVENR SRE: GAY AND LBIAN LIFE POST-WWII AMERI
• TELL: AN INTIMATE HISTORY OF GAY MEN THE MILARY

GAY MEN UNR THE NAZI REGIME

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.

However, the Nazi mpaign agast homosexualy and the regime’s zealo enforcement of Paragraph 175 ma life Nazi Germany dangero for gay men. The latter term dated to 1869, when a pamphlet advotg for crimalizatn of sexual relatns between men ed the term “Homosexualät” (“homosexualy”).

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

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. 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. In a further latn, the Nazis ed new laws and police practic to arrt and ta whout trial a limed number of gay men begng late 1933 and early 1934.

Three events the years 1934–1936 radilized the Nazi regime’s mpaign agast homosexualy and led to more systematic opprsn of gay men. Fally, 1936 SS lear and Chief of the German Police Herich Himmler tablished the Reich Central Office for the Combatg of Homosexualy and Abortn (Reichszentrale zur Bekämpfung r Homosexualät und r Abtreibung). The notorly homophobic Himmler saw both homosexualy and abortn as threats to the German birth rate and th to the fate of the German people.

GAY WORLD WAR II HERO ALAN TURG BE FIRST LGBTQ+ PERSON ON BRISH CURRENCY

Unverg the histori of gay men durg the Nazi era was difficult for much of the twentieth century bee of ntued prejudice agast same-sex sexualy and the ongog enforcement of Paragraph 175. For the first time, gay men who had suffered at the hands of the Nazis beme eligible for moary pensatn om the German ernment for jtic perpetrated agast them. A few years later, May 2008, the Memorial to Homosexuals Persecuted unr Nazism (Denkmal für die im Natnalsozialism verfolgten Homosexuellen) was unveiled nearby Tiergarten park central Berl.

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. 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.

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.

WHAT IT WAS LIKE TO BE GAY DURG WWII

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. 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 and lbian veterans of World War II beme some of the first to fight ary discrimatn and blue discharg the years followg the war.

THE LAVENR SRE: GAY AND LBIAN LIFE POST-WWII AMERI

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. What his fay probably never knew was that Gleed was homosexual, and that he uld not be open about his sexualy and talk about his was not until the 1990s, when one of his lovers, Christopher Gotch, was terviewed for BBC televisn, that the tth me out.

TELL: AN INTIMATE HISTORY OF GAY MEN THE MILARY

It was wily believed that homosexualy would stroy morale, somethg Gotch cried as “a load of bbish” more | From the ancient world to the 1969 Stonewall Rts: a brief gui to LGBT+ history Another wartime myth ncerned the abily of homosexual men to show bravery unr fire. Homosexualy PoW mpsWearg ‘lash and slap’, he joed a troupe of army entertaers that brought a se to troops servg remote parts of India, “bee was too dangero for civilians and women”.

Wte ttifi that homosexual liaisons existed between all kds of prisoners the mp, and took many forms, om parcel sharg, holdg hands and heavy pettg to full-on sexual relatnships. Quent Crisp, seen 1978, was rejected om the army the Send World War on the grounds of “sufferg om sexual perversn” (Photo by Ja Fri/Getty Imag)Returng to 'normal' after WW2Though remaed a crimal offence until the 1960s, for the most part homosexualy was unofficially tolerated the armed servic for the duratn of the war. Others, who were found out, were urt-martialled, imprisoned and thrown out of the the end of the war, the Brish public wanted to get back to ‘normal’, so women were expected to return to the kchen, black recs were expected to return to wt Ai and the Wt Indi, and homosexual men found themselv subjected to the dranian law that would see them prison, even if they had helped to w the war.