Gay soldiers world war 2
Given the introduction of conscription in Wonderful Britain in 1939, it is dispel that tens of thousands of gay men and women ended up in uniform despite homosexual activity, at least in the case of the former, being illegal. With a constant insist for manpower in the armed forces, there is certainly evidence that the authorities were willing to turn a blind eye to a recruit’s sexuality at the required initial medical examination, even when it was manifestly obvious.
For example, Terry Gardener, who worked as a drag queen before the war and wanted to continue in business business, was advised by his friends to really camp it up and be outrageous in front of the medical board to ensure he would be rejected. Unfortunately for Gardener, despite his best efforts, he was passed and sent into the Royal Navy as a grill. Indeed, it seems that in the event that a recruit’s queerness was identified by a medical board they were more likely than not to be accepted anyway because of a widespread belief that they could be straightened out by the rigours of military life.
Some of the richest sources of information we have for the experience of gender non-conforming men and women during the war are the oral histor
In our sexual histories series, authors travel changing sexual mores from antiquity to today.
Armies make men. Routine, order and discipline bring out the greatest masculine characteristics. Uniforms change young males just beginning their lives from nobody to somebody. Sacrifice, courage and loyalty among fighting men develop nations.
Or so our histories declare us.
The forces also foster other personal and collective identities at odds with public displays of military macho. Usually considered unlikely soldiers, queer personnel have made a valuable contribution to war since antiquity. Their efforts are rarely acknowledged.
My research on homosexual lives and loves in the South Pacific reveals how US servicemen created vibrant and apparent subcultures at residence and abroad in World War II. Men confirmed identities they had already explored in civilian life or discovered exciting new possibilities. Models of sexuality in the 1940s were largely but not exclusively based on gender. Homosexual men embraced feminine self-presentation as a crucial part of their identity. Many “normal” or masculine men had sex with their effete comrades.
US commanders in the 1940s were worried about the eff
“Gee!! I Wish I Were A Man”: Queer Americans in World War II
June is Pride Month and festivals and parades are happening across the nature in celebration of LGBTQA+ Pride. But Pride didn’t start as a pride, it started as a protest with the Stonewall Riots in 1969 and many historians posit that the roots of these LGBT activists can be found in the Earth War II experiences of gays men and lesbians in the American military.
Anti-sodomy laws and regulations had been around since the Revolutionary War, leading in some cases to dishonorable discharge, courts-martial, or imprisonment for military men create having sex with other men. However, until 1942, no specific proviso barred homosexuals from serving in the military. With the growing acceptance of the validity of psychoanalysis in the medical profession in the 1920s and 1930s, attitudes towards sodomy and homosexual individuals had changed. In 1942, the relatively new profession of military psychiatrists warned of the “psychopathic personality disorders” that would make homosexuals unfit to fight. The military’s policy that homosexual acts were a crime that merited discharge gave way to a psychiatrist-controlled theory th
A Gay Soldier's Story
A gay soldier's story
PETER TATCHELL tells the moving story of a gay soldier during WW2, PRIVATE DUDLEY CAVE.
Over five million men served in the British armed forces during World War 2. Of these, it's likely that at least 250,000 were gay or bisexual (based on projections from the 1990-91 National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles which found that six per cent of men report having had homosexual experiences).
A friend of mine, Dudley Cave, who died a few years back, was one of these many gay soldiers.
Conscripted in 1941, aged 20 he joined the Royal Army Ordnance Corps as a driver.
Before his death, he told me his story, with a mixture of pride and sorrow. I retell it here, in remembrance of a good friend.
Having risked his life during WW2, and nearly died in a Japanese POW camp, Cave was angry that once the war was over Britain's gay soldiers were persecuted and jailed by the military authorities.
"They used us when it suited them, and then victimised us when the country was no longer in danger. I am joyful I served but I am angry that military homophobia was allowed to wreck so many lives for over 50 years after we gave our all for a fr