This is absolutely gay!" - Homosexuality within the German Armed Forces (original) (raw)

'A Homosexual Institution': Same-sex Desire in the Army during World War II

Army Journal, culture edition, 10, 3 (2013): 23-40

Sex, gender and sexuality have always been the subject of lively debates within and around the military -from the age-old problem of the on and off-duty sexual behaviour of servicemen to the more recent process of creating a place for women as front-line fighters. In recent years a spate of scandals has challenged the reputation and operation of the armed services. But there is another side that needs to be taken into account -increasingly, very public action is being taken in support of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) personnel against those accused of sexism and homophobia. This article seeks to place these developments in an historical context, focussing on homosexuality during World War II. Drawing on the memories and memoirs of homosexual men as well as archival records of the responses of Army officials and other servicemen who encountered same-sex behaviour, we explore a range of homosexual behaviours HISTORY and identities present in the armed services. We are particularly interested in how a vilified, marginalised and criminalised minority made lives for themselves in the forces and, for all the risks and penalties they faced, the fact that these lives were characterised by pleasure and conviviality as much as by fear and victimisation. Three forces were at work, each shaping the homosexual sub-cultures in their own ways -the commanding echelons, homosexual men, and the broader mass of service personnel.

Workshop Two - MASCULINITIES IN TIMES OF (POST)WAR: THE GERMAN CASE

Even though warfare is seen as a genuinely male experience, armed conflicts always profoundly alter the contours of gender relations, both within and between the sexes. Studying the German case seems particularly significant as Germany spurred a massive outbreak of violence throughout Europe. Whereas traditional military history has focused mainly on the strategic, logistical, tactical, and doctrinal aspects of war, recent critical approaches also consider socio-cultural dynamics and the everyday experiences of men and soldiers at war. These new methodologies recognize gender and sexuality as key categories of understanding how violence is perpetrated. By revisiting a broad array of sources and examining the contours of group cohesion and male bonding, these scholars study the ways in which the practices of manhood and identities were formed through the experience of war.

Reflections upon homosexuality in the armed forces

Revista Fuerzas Armadas y Sociedad, 2006

This paper will discuss the issues involved in the incorporation of homosexual personnel into the Armed Forces. From a comparative standpoint it is established that the increasing relevance of this matter in developed countries, is due to social changes, operative necessities and the development of a growing policy from the states towards the generation of maximum levels of equality of opportunities for all individuals, including the Armed Forces. Furthermore, this process can't be just tackled from a moral point of view, which tends to segregate society and can isolate society from its military institutions. Finally, there exist multiple options to face this topic, since there are not unique "recipes" and therefore, it must be addressed considering the particular features of society.

LGBT in the Military: Policy Development in Sweden 1944–2014

Sexuality Research and Social Policy, 2016

This article contributes to the growing field of research on military LGBT policy development by exploring the case of Sweden, a non-NATO-member nation regarded as one of the most progressive in terms of the inclusion of LGBT personnel. Drawing on extensive archival work, the article shows that the story of LGBT policy development in the Swedish Armed Forces from 1944 to 2014 is one of long periods of status quo and relative silence, interrupted by leaps of rapid change, occasionally followed by the reappearance of discriminatory policy. The analysis brings out two periods of significant change, 1971-1979 and 2000-2009, here described as turns in LGBT policy. During the first turn, the military medical regulation protocol's recommendation to exempt gay men from military service was the key issue. During these years, homosexuality was classified as mental illness, but in the military context it was largely framed in terms of security threats, both on a national level (due to the risk of blackmail) and for the individual homosexual (due to the homophobic military environment). In the second turn, the focus was increasingly shifted from the LGBT individual to the structures, targeting the military organization itself. Furthermore, the analysis shows that there was no ban against LGBT people serving in the Swedish Armed Forces, but that ways of understanding and regulating sexual orientation and gender identity have nonetheless shaped the military organization in fundamental ways, and continue to do so.

Militarizing US Homonormativities: The Making of 'Ready, Willing, and Able' Gay Citizens

This article focuses on the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT) repeal movement in order to develop more nuanced strategies for analyzing the entanglement of US sexual politics with war and militarization. To this end, I revisit the Human Rights Campaign (HRC)'s 2007 decision to name Eric Alva, a gay Latino Marine who lost his leg in the most recent Iraq war, as its official spokesperson against the military's ban on open homosexuality. Through an examination of the HRC's publicity materials and Alva's public appearances, I demonstrate how activists negotiate racialized and sexualized notions of normalcy and national belonging to transform the previously pathological homosexual into the respectably gay citizen-soldier. At the same time, however, I am attentive to the ways in which Alva's body, marked as nonwhite and disabled, disrupts the repeal movement's investment in military masculinities organized around unwavering patriotism and unencumbered individualism. Rather than simply denouncing anti-DADT organizing for its assimilatory tendencies, this article asks what might be gained by looking more closely at how these projects unfold. By exploring the unintended effects of the repeal movement, I illustrate how a figure like Alva can open space for radically reorienting public conversations about sexuality, military service, and US citizenship.

E Pluribus Unum: Open Homosexuality and the Culture War within the US Armed Forces

On December 22, the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010 was signed into law providing the the legal path to give equal protection to all service members regardless of sexual orientation. As was the case with race and gender, the further expansion of the military social aperture to accept homosexuals had the predominant impact of making the military more inclusive and giving equal social status to a previously disadvantaged class of citizens. Yet, there are reasons for concern in the United States. First, the integration of Blacks and women into the military was not accomplished without difficulty and remains unfinished today. While the military deserves credit for today‘s relatively healthy racial climate, the full integration of women remains a struggle. Second, the gap between the social and political values of the officer corps and those of the general population has widened to a disturbing extent, a fact aggravated by the belief that the military culture is not only separate but also superior. Finally, the extent to which this gap manifests itself in devoutly held religious beliefs that sometimes contradict emerging law and policy on sexual orientation presents a special problem because of faith‘s claim to the whole person. This essay addresses the possible impact of these challenges on a successful transition to a military that respects openly homosexual service members.

Comrades in Arms: Military Masculinities in East German Culture

Berghahn Books, 2020

Without question, the East German National People’s Army was a profoundly masculine institution that emphasized traditional ideals of stoicism, sacrifice, and physical courage. Nonetheless, as this innovative study demonstrates, depictions of the military in the film and literature of the GDR were far more nuanced and ambivalent. Departing from past studies that have found in such portrayals an unchanging, idealized masculinity, Comrades in Arms shows how cultural works both before and after reunification place violence, physical vulnerability, and military theatricality, as well as conscripts’ powerful emotions and desires, at the center of soldiers’ lives and the military institution itself.