Is the navy gay
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If you’ve read any of my previous blog posts on World War II, you already know that , women served in the newly founded women’s military servicegroups during WWII, including Army, Army Air Compel, Navy, Coast Guard, and Marines. Of those women, nearly , served in the Navy’s WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Services). With that large number in mind, it should be no surprise that some WAVES were homosexual and would likely define themselves as LGBTQ+ today.
While the military at this time was officially against allowing LGBTQ+ identifying people into the military, they also were desperate for more service members. So in some ways, there was a similar mentality to the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy of the s and s. Ben Small, a gay human who served in the Army Air Corps during WWII, remembered the mentality was “If they’re gay, fine. Just so extended as they didn’t embarrass anybody or do anything on the premises.”
However, during enlistment, the US military actually conducted psychological screenings on potential GIs. One of the purposes of the scre
“I did it for the uplift of humanity and the Navy”: FDR's Lgbtq+ Sex-Entrapment Sting
Sherry Zane sheds light on a dim covert operation that targeted homosexual Navy men.
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On March 16, , 14 Navy recruits met secretly at the naval hospital in Newport, Rhode Island, anxiously awaiting instructions for their fresh assignment. The senior operatives explained that the volunteers were free to abandon if they objected to this special mission: a covert operation to entrap homosexual men under the authority of Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI).
By the end of the sting, investigators had apprehended more than 20 accused sailors and imprisoned them aboard a broken-down ship in Newport harbor. Anxious and afraid, the suspects remained in solitary confinement for nearly four months before they were officially charged with sodomy and &#;scandalous conduct.&#; The incident also foreshadowed laws and policies that the future President Roosevelt would put i
I'm a British Royal Navy officer — and I'm homosexual. I feel appreciate I've had to work twice as hard as my straight peers.
Editor's note: Insider has verified the identity of the writer, but they asked to remain anonymous to retain their privacy.
On my 25th birthday, I made a life-changing decision: I joined the Royal Navy as a warfare officer. Not long after, I made another bold decision: I came out as homosexual to my fellow officers.
After that, one thought repeated in my head: "Don't let them consider gays are weak."
I repeated that reflection as I crawled through the mud in the pouring rain and stumbled over hills in the snow. It became my driving force during workout. As motivating as the thought was, I later realized I was putting myself in a box that no one else was.
Coming out as lgbtq+ in the Royal Navy went surprisingly smoothly
When I unified the Navy three years ago, I already had a degree in social sciences and secured my dream position. But I was still lacking something. I wanted wider life experience, real-world skills, and more confidence. When I met up with
Pride Month - Exploring Gay history in the Royal Navy
The Queer and Now
For three hundred and ten years the Royal Navy hunted down, persecuted and sometimes even hanged homosexuals found within their ranks. Execution ceased after , but life imprisonment remained a reality. The partial decriminalisation of homosexuality in did little to sway the opinion of the Armed Forces, and it was not until that real change was made.
The Royal Navy were not alone in their persecution of homosexuals, or indeed anybody else from within the LGBTQ+ community, but for some there is still the image that they promote an offensive, macho, alpha-male stereotype.
However, over the past twenty-three years, the Royal Navy has become a beacon of progress and acceptance. In a statement on their website in January , the Royal Navy wanted to send a eliminate message: “the Naval Service welcomes all talent to its ranks, regardless of your sexual orientation or gender identity” – a far cry from the “gay panic” that gripped Naval officials just forty years previous.
To mark the 20th anniversary of the