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Coming Out Under Fire: The History of Gay Men and Women in World War Two

Allan Bérubé

4.23 · Rating details · 827 ratings · 69 reviews

Despite the many histories of the fighting men and women in World War II, none has been written about the estimated one million homosexuals. Here is a dramatic story of these people, revealing the history of the anti-gay policy pursued by the U.S. military authorities in World War II. Two 8-page photo inserts.

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Paperback, 384 pages

Published April 1st 2000 by Free Press (first published 1990)

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Mar 08, 2012 Kaje Harper rated it it was amazing

Shelves: historical, m-m, memoir-nonfic, f-f

This was a fascinating, and sometimes heartbreaking and infuriating, look at the GLBT men and women who came out while serving in the armed forces during WWII. It includes information on being gay on the home front as well.

In the 1940's, sodomy was a criminal act in the United States. Although there were many people who were openly gay, and who were often ignored or tolerated by society as long as they kept their preferences discreet, it was a precarious existence. At any moment someone might ob This was a fascinating, and sometimes heartbreaking and infuriating, look at the GLBT men and women who came out while serving in the armed forces during WWII. It includes information on being gay on the home front as well.

In the 1940's, sodomy was a criminal act in the United States. Although there were many people who were openly gay, and who were often ignored or tolerated by society as long as they kept their preferences discreet, it was a precarious existence. At any moment someone might object to a gesture or even a look, report you in the wrong quarters, and the result could be a long prison sentence.

In the armed forces, things were no less precarious. With the draft, GBT men were given no choice about joining up. Many also volunteered, wanting to protect their homes and loved ones from the threat overseas. The war brought those men, and the women volunteers in female units, into close contact with members of their own sex under conditions of stress, fear and isolation from home. And then forbade them to fall in love, or in lust. Naturally, many of them did anyway.

Military reactions were unpredictable. Being gay was still considered a mental illness (sexual psychopathy) and was a reason for rejection from the armed services. Psychiatrists even talked about two other forms of homosexuality - paranoid personalities who suffered "Homosexual panic" and schizoid personalities who displayed "homosexual symptoms." Recruits who admitted to being gay at intake might be just rejected, or they might be labeled psychotic and psychoanalyzed, or even disbelieved as malingering and sent off to basic training. And those who did not come out at their intake interview received almost as mixed a reaction once they began to serve.

With large same-sex groups living together, some homosexual behavior was condoned. The shows that were put together to entertain the troops almost all included performers in drag, and camping it up might be taken with amusement. Or it might not. There was often a gay subculture where men or women in the know could meet and interact. But there was always the risk of being found out.

Many of the men and women were confused and afraid of their own sexual leanings. Some only became aware that they were gay from the enforced same-sex contact they experienced after enlisting. Some consulted Armed Forces psychiatrists. They received little in the way of real help in understanding themselves, given that homosexuality was considered a pathology. At best they might find a sympathetic ear. At other times the psychiatrists, who were charged with reporting a man's or woman's fitness for duty, might betray and report them.

The stress had to have been extreme. On the front, men saw their lovers maimed and killed. Some were fortunate enough to have a blind or even sympathetic eye turned by the "normal" men around them. In forward units, camaraderie between the men often overrode other considerations. Other men who lost lovers felt unsafe even admitting their pain and forced themselves to carry on as if their heart hadn't just been ripped to shreds. And they never knew when some zealot might accuse and expose them. Which might result in a commanding officer looking the other way and telling them they were valuable to the unit and to just keep it under wraps. Or which might end in a formal charge.

Once trapped in the machinery of a sodomy charge, conditions could be brutal. Men were sometimes put in chains, transported under the guns of soldiers who might be bigoted enough that the gay man wondered if he would get out of the transport alive. They were imprisoned, sometimes under severe conditions, often in a form of solitary confinement to prevent them from having contact with any other men. They were lumped together with all the other criminals. Article 93 called for similar treatment for "manslaughter, mayhem, arson, burglary, housebreaking, robbery, larceny, embezzlement, perjury, forgery, sodomy, assault (including rape)..." Gay men might be treated even more harshly than the criminals, in some cases forced to sleep with the lights on 24-7 to theoretically prevent sexual acts. Some were abused, or forced to provide blow jobs to their supposedly heterosexual guards. The women were similarly treated, sometimes even more extremely reviled by their comrades in arms and their officers.

In a vicious cycle of feedback, some of the gay men under arrest became more campy than they had ever been before, perhaps to show that they could not be broken or made less gay by the treatment. That raised distaste in some straight officers and men. Gay men still in the closet in the forces were both painfully sympathetic and embarrassed. Visiting a man arrested for sodomy was risky, as you might end up suspect yourself. Arrestees were asked to report on everyone they had encountered in situations where homosexual activity was taking place, and were sometimes made to sign dictated confessions of sodomy and homosexual activity with other named individuals.

Despite all this, many gay men and women served throughout the war with distinction. Some high level officials objected to the stigmatization of the gay soldiers under their command. But many did not. After the war, arguments continued to rage over the release of Armed Forces personnel records to organizations like the FBI, which was charged with "ensuring public safety by identifying the homosexual menace". As the post-war climate became even more hostile to gays, some records, personal letters, confessions and medical files were passed to the FBI and the police, especially from the offices of Naval and Army intelligence. Men and women who had passed through the war unscathed might find themselves the target of law enforcement.

This book is long, well referenced, and painful to read. The one light at the end of the tunnel is the realization of how far we have actually come in half a century. Gay marriage is legal in several US states - how sweet that is, coming from a position where being gay was considered insane and criminal?

I was left with a sense of awe. These men and women risked so much, just for being who they were. That they lived and fought and served, and also loved and laughed and danced, is a tribute to the human spirit. Humans have such capacity for cruelty to each other, and such capacity for love. Please God, that we are moving away from one toward the other. ...more

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Jul 23, 2019 laurel [the suspected bibliophile] rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobooks, nonfic, 2019-read, lgbtq

An extensive and detailed history of the gay and lesbian experience in World War II.

At times it was fairly repetitive and tried to wrap the entire gay and lesbian experience into a single narrative, but it was incredibly detailed, thoroughly researched and understood the limits of its own research (as in, there is no way to tell how many gays and lesbians served).

While it doesn't talk about any transgender or bisexual service members (at least, it mentions servicemembers who did have partners of An extensive and detailed history of the gay and lesbian experience in World War II.

At times it was fairly repetitive and tried to wrap the entire gay and lesbian experience into a single narrative, but it was incredibly detailed, thoroughly researched and understood the limits of its own research (as in, there is no way to tell how many gays and lesbians served).

While it doesn't talk about any transgender or bisexual service members (at least, it mentions servicemembers who did have partners of both sexes but called them either "experimenting" with their sexuality or releasing tension), it did do a pretty good job detailing the lives of gays and lesbians in the US military.

The book really stands out with the personal narratives of various servicemembers detailing their experience—from camping to camp shows, to the queer stockades and gay clubs, to living openly and having to hide everything, to being jailed for sodomy to being given a blue discharge for homosexuality.

The haphazard enforcement of the "no-homosexual" rules in the military really broke my heart, along with the queer stockades—where men were kept in cages in open areas as examples for other servicemembers to gawk and stare at—and those men who were jailed for homosexual acts and kept completely segregated in the jails and treated as sexual perverts. Additionally, there were queer witch hunts, where individuals suspected of homosexuality were interrogated at length and forced to betray their friends and themselves—often without the benefit of legal counsel (and if they confessed their feelings to a doctor, psychologist or chaplain their secret had to be reported to the command).

As a queer veteran who served during the repeal of DODT and DOMA, this entire book was eye-opening and made me appreciate how much things have changed, and how much more inclusive the military has become over the years (and how much further we need to go, particularly in terms of homophobia in the ranks and the transgender ban). I feel so badly for the hell those men and women who were caught and drummed out faced, because the repercussions of the blue discharge lasted their entire lives, and carried into the Lavender Scare of the 1950s.

Definitely a must-read if you're interested in gay and lesbian military history. ...more

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Jun 07, 2019 Christopher Saunders rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2019-reads

Groundbreaking study of the American LGBT experience during World War II. Drawing on dozens of interviews with veterans, Berube shows how traditional gender roles were confused and complicated by mass military service. The military officially spurned homosexuality, subjecting suspected gay and lesbian enlistees to psychological exams, imprisonment and dishonorable discharge. Yet the homosocial climate and extreme value placed on wartime camaraderie (from the "buddy system" encouraged by officers ...more

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Sep 02, 2020 Mareike rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: history, non-fiction

The generation of gay men and women who served in World War II grew into adulthood fighting one war for their country and another to protect themselves from their government's escalating mobilization against them.

This is a deeply researched account of - primarily - the lives of lesbian women and gay men in the U.S. Armed Forces during WWII. Bérubé draws on archival research and interviews with former service members to paint a comprehensive picture of how anti-homosexual policies were drafted, i ...more

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Mar 08, 2013 Alicja rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: nonfiction, lgbt-lesbian, favorites, male-author, early-20th-century, world-war-ii, lgbt-nonfiction, history, lgbt-gay, lgbt-bisexual

rating: 5.5/5

This nonfiction history work presents a complex analysis of the intersection of homosexuality and society, culture, military rules and regulations, and soldiers (drafted and volunteered alike) during World War II. It doesn't paint gays and lesbians as victims but delves deep into history to find the battles fought outside of the battlefields; battles between culture and military need during wartime, imprisonment and need for practicality, vice squads and soldiers, military hierarch ...more

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Nov 15, 2020 emma added it

Shelves: non-fiction, lgbtq

The best book I've read all year. Wow. ...more

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Jun 17, 2020 Fionnuala rated it liked it

3.5, really. A little dry at times, but an incredible treasure trove of stories about American gay men and some women (all cis, almost all white) who served and fought during WW2. Particularly enjoyed the image of all the straight guys submitting questions to medical and psychiatric lecturers during and after the war about what, exactly, those fellas were getting up to in their bunks.

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Oct 03, 2020 Suanne Laqueur rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This was FASCINATING. I kept highlighting sections and sending them to my dad. Highly, highly recommend.

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Feb 03, 2018 carlageek rated it really liked it

Shelves: mid-century-madness

In chronicling the range of experiences of gay men and lesbians who served in the US military in WWII, Bérubé argues that the military's treatment of homosexuality was a crucial catalyst in the subsequent development of the notion of gays as a political class with rights to fight for, and thence for the gay-rights movement.

Prior to the war, the military dealt with homosexual acts via criminal codes and court-martial. With the Selective Service and the induction of hundreds of thousands of men t In chronicling the range of experiences of gay men and lesbians who served in the US military in WWII, Bérubé argues that the military's treatment of homosexuality was a crucial catalyst in the subsequent development of the notion of gays as a political class with rights to fight for, and thence for the gay-rights movement.

Prior to the war, the military dealt with homosexual acts via criminal codes and court-martial. With the Selective Service and the induction of hundreds of thousands of men to fight in the new war, though, a need arose to screen out draftees who were undesirable or thought to be unsuited for combat. This, combined with some time-honored stereotypes about gay men, led to the notion of homosexuality as a personality trait (or mental disorder, depending upon whom you asked) to be screened for and excluded. This shift of focus from homosexual conduct to homosexual persons, Bérubé argues, was a crucial change of attitude that extended beyond the war into civilian life, and changed both the way society at large thought about homosexuality and the way gay people thought about themselves.

Bérubé also argues that the progression of the war saw a general liberalization of policies toward homosexuals, borne mostly out of necessity; court-martial or administrative hearings for every gay soldier would have been a tremendous drain on resources, and discharging them all would have reduced the available pool of soldiers at a time when every one was badly needed. Different soldiers received vastly different treatment, depending upon where they were (big administrative posts tended to be harsher toward gay soldiers than deployed units in active combat, where tightly-bonded groups depended upon tolerance for survival), which psychiatrists examined them, who their commanding officers were, and other vagaries.

After the war, though, after a brief period of gratitude and tolerance in which many public voices decried discrimination against soldiers discharged for homosexuality and agitated to make them eligible for GI Bill benefits, the general cultural trend toward conformity and strict enforcement of gender roles swung the pendulum back and drove a new wave of discrimination which in turn furthered the development of the fledgling political movement for gay rights.

Bérubé chronicles all of this with a readable blend of pieces of the historical record and the oral histories of gay servicemen and women. If that "and women" sounds like a bit of an afterthought, it sort of is. Bérubé tries to include the stories of lesbians in his discussion, but the book is really 90% about policies toward, and experiences of, men. This is partly because the vast majority of soldiers were men; millions of American men served in the war and only a couple hundred thousand women. And it's partly because lesbian sexuality often flies under the radar among male policymakers who have no concept of female sexuality independent of the presence of and desires of men. But it's only partly so. What Bérubé offers of the stories of lesbian WACs, WAVES, and nurses is rich and fascinating. And the policy considerations that pointed toward or away from excluding lesbians from service were quite different from those that drove the treatment of gay male soldiers, an equally fascinating point that Bérubé treats only briefly. One does have the feeling that Bérubé could have balanced his focus more if he had wanted to. ...more

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May 28, 2011 Vasha7 rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Coming Out Under Fire is a thoroughly fascinating, detailed study of a crucial transitional period in American society. It's extremely well-documented throughout, and although the author's style might be considered dry, the pages come to life because of the words and lives of the people portrayed. Berubé really did a great job of finding and putting together diverse material, and the quotes from the people he interviewed are always illuminating.

Besides the story of how gay soldiers tried to make Coming Out Under Fire is a thoroughly fascinating, detailed study of a crucial transitional period in American society. It's extremely well-documented throughout, and although the author's style might be considered dry, the pages come to life because of the words and lives of the people portrayed. Berubé really did a great job of finding and putting together diverse material, and the quotes from the people he interviewed are always illuminating.

Besides the story of how gay soldiers tried to make a place for themselves in the army, find each other, and survive hostility, this book is illuminating as to a shift in social attitudes that was largely started off by the psychiatric profession. Psychiatrists, by trying to shift the military procedures from criminalization of sex acts to the medical handling of "latent" or "confirmed" homosexuals, began (whether they realized it or not) to create the basis for recognizing the homosexual person as a problem, independent of what they did. In a hostile society, this could lead to a person's positive achievements being entirely discounted. Some (a few) psychiatrists started with the idea that homosexuality was a personality trait that didn't necessarily cause any problems, and ironically, a few who were tasked with interviewing large numbers of soldiers for discharge came to that conclusion -- their completely ineffective protests against the army's punitive attitude were some of the earliest defenses of homosexuality in the US.

Gay soldiers often came out of the war with a better sense of themselves as gay, whether because of the chance that cameraderie had given them to feel "normal", because of meeting many others like themselves, or precisely because of the segregation and discrimination imposed on them if they were caught up in anti-homosexuality policies. Challenging their undesirable discharges encouraged some to speak up for themselves, as did the experience of those who went home unwilling to hide their new sense of themselves. For the first time, they began to think of themselves as a minority and speak in terms of rights and justice. The controversy over blue discharges even led to public discussion that was not always unsympathetic to homosexuals. This was a remarkable transitional period before the hysterically conformist crackdown of the fifties.

This book gave me a new perspective on a decade of American history that I had wrongly thought familiar, and made for a vivid picture of the social life of the people concerned. ...more

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Nov 06, 2018 Erik Ryberg rated it really liked it

This is the key text for homosexual experience in WWII and it remains so. Berube did a great job of seeking out information from homosexuals and government documents. If one spends time seeking out those documents one can appreciate the time and effort necessary for creating this book. There is great breadth covered from the role of psychiatrists, military leaders, the experiences of gays and lesbians in the US military, repression as well as acceptance that does not seem to have too much unifor ...more

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Jan 05, 2017 Ai Miller rated it liked it

Shelves: queer-history, owned-books

Hoo boy. I want to start this off by first acknowledging the important work Berube did in this book; this book was definitely groundbreaking when it was published, and importantly, legitimized the service of gay and lesbian veterans of World War II. Berube's work here also served a materially political purpose, which is something that many academics cannot say.

That being said, if you, like me, are suspicious at best of the citizen-soldier construct, this book can be difficult to get through. I ...more

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Nov 17, 2012 Brianna rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This book was fantastic, and never a dull moment (including the Introduction). It begins with the military's policy on "screening" for homosexuals in the draft (and how psychologists thought gays and lesbians could be identified by brief Q&A or physical attributes).

The stories from those who served, interviewed by the author, were told brilliantly to keep the story moving but still bring us the personal anecdotes. ...more

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Oct 01, 2019 Isaac R. Fellman rated it it was amazing

A model for other works of queer history. Berube is thorough, thoughtful, insightful, fearless, and a strong writer of prose. I could enumerate all the things I got from this, but I’d rather you just read it — I’d rather everyone just read it.

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Sep 30, 2011 Gerry Burnie rated it it was amazing

Shelves: homosexual-content, gay-history, gay-american-history, non-fiction, gay-military, wwii

Gerry B's Book Reviews - http://gerrycan.wordpress.com

If I were asked to design a definitive course on the history of Gays and Lesbians in North America, I would include three books as required reading: Gay American History, by Jonathon Katz; From the Closet to the Courtroom, by Carlos Ball; and Coming out Under Fire, by Allan Bérubé [Free Press, 1990]. Moreover, I think the students would thank me afterward for choosing books that are authoritative, informative and relatively easy to read.

For ...more

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Jan 13, 2018 Michael rated it really liked it

Shelves: 1st-library-jack, 1st-library-zotero, history-us

Review by Elaine Taylor May points out that Berube's is a pioneering work in the social history of gays in World War II. He finds that the experience of WWII was both that of increased surveillance and of a greater solidarity as a gay subculture developed in the military during wartime. In a time when the military needed manpower, the services were ambivalent about what to do about gays in the military. As military's psychiatrists sought to discover the gay personality type, new ways of dealing Review by Elaine Taylor May points out that Berube's is a pioneering work in the social history of gays in World War II. He finds that the experience of WWII was both that of increased surveillance and of a greater solidarity as a gay subculture developed in the military during wartime. In a time when the military needed manpower, the services were ambivalent about what to do about gays in the military. As military's psychiatrists sought to discover the gay personality type, new ways of dealing with gay servicemen included the "queer stockade" and "blue discharges" (less than honorable discharge) as well as rehabilitation for return to duty. A minority of these psychiatrists did not feel that homosexuality affected battlefield performance. The fact that the military did not allow women in combat zones meant that those who entertained the troops returned to the age old convention of men playing the parts of women. Developing a drag performance style designated as "camping," the gay servicemen claimed their own cultural space. Berube also recounts the battlefield performance of gay men, which included many acts of heroism. The period of tolerance in the immediate post-war period quickly yielded to homophobic witch hunts in the cold war.

Among the more interesting sections of this book is the one that deals with medicine's treatment of homosexuality. In "Pioneer Experts: Psychiatrists Discover the Gay GI," he describes the research undertaken by military psychiatrists to better diagnose homosexuality in men. They began by working on tests that determined if a serviceman had a gag reflex, which they assumed disappeared in gay men who had performed frequent oral sex on other men. They moved on to studies which categorized the personality characteristics of gay men -- effeminacy, superiority and fear. One main objective of this work was to weed out true homosexuals from straight men who used homosexuality as an excuse to get out of the military. Though this was not as common as it would be later in Vietnam, malingering was still seen as a problem by military officers. Berube's account also explains how the compassion of many psychiatrists led them to purposefully "misdiagnose" the patient, rather than put "homosexual" on the medical record they made up other diagnoses like "psychoneurosis" to protect the patient. In one of the ironies of history, the first challenge to the military's anti-gay policies was launched by a group of psychiatrists reporting to LTC Lewis H. Loeser at the 36th station hospital in Devonshire, UK. Their research, documented by 450 case histories argued that homosexuality did not make men less capable soldiers and urged the Army to abandon discrimination against homosexuals in the military. ...more

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Jan 29, 2021 Fenriz Angelo rated it really liked it

Shelves: wwii-history, general-history

This was a fantastic and very informative read about the lives of usian gay men and women who fought in WWII.

The narration starts with some introductory chapters that read a bit repetitive since first it's about how the military and psychologists team up to find a way to detect gay people and reject them from joining the army. Second it's a recollection of how several people discovered they're gay or that there's more people like them in the world when they joined the military and had to move f This was a fantastic and very informative read about the lives of usian gay men and women who fought in WWII.

The narration starts with some introductory chapters that read a bit repetitive since first it's about how the military and psychologists team up to find a way to detect gay people and reject them from joining the army. Second it's a recollection of how several people discovered they're gay or that there's more people like them in the world when they joined the military and had to move from their small towns to the big cities where there headquarters were. But after that, the book takes you to a roller coaster of emotions by an enthralling narration of the way gay men and women got to find groups and enjoy their sexuality albeit with fear of discovery because the military from the very beginning put in motion a scheme to reject gay people from joining the military and during war run a series of terrifying interrogation onto suspicious homosexual subjects to discharge gay soldiers and put them in psych wards along with mentally ill people, and criminals. Which helped psychologists to observe and analyze the behavior of gay men thus becoming the first advocates of gay rights after realizing how normal they were. Sadly their commentary on the subject wasn't hear and after the war the US military spread a fear mongering campaign against blue discharged soldiers, by not only making them unsuitable to be in the army but also unsuitable to join civil society, get jobs, or join government programs for education for people who fought in the war. Situation that would lead to the future protests for gay rights.

The downside is the lack of mention of trans people and very few mentions of bisexuals. Also the title of the book is misleading if you don't read the blurb because it only talks about the U.S military.

The addition of both joyful and sad first hand experiences in the war from gay veterans, along with academic information made it an easy, enjoyable, though heartbreaking and sometimes infuriating read.
...more

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Dec 02, 2020 Sean Mobley rated it it was amazing

An amazing, eye-opening history of queer soldiers in World War II. The book relies on a wealth of original research to tell a variety of forgotten stories. Sections of the book focus on the individual experiences of soldiers in training and combat, the legal and policy changes that took place involved LGBT individuals over the course of the war as a reaction to the queer presence in the ranks, the fall and rise and fall again of drag in the 1940s, and the evolution of the psychological and socia ...more

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Apr 05, 2018 Dustin rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I was recommended this book during a presentation of some research of mine at a Phi Alpha Theta history conference in 2013, and I am so glad that I finally did. There are a lot of feelings and words that I don't think I can easily articulate at this moment but I want to say a thank you to Mr Berube for helping to shed light on gay, lesbian and other members of the community that, while fighting the visible war of World War II in a variety of specialized combat and non combat roles, proving their ...more

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Apr 27, 2018 Leslie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This was a good history book of gay and lesbian soldiers who met other queers or had same sex experiences while serving in WWII. I suspected the military brass looked the other way with regard to gays/lesbians in their ranks when they needed bodies during wartime, turns out they did. The witch hunts, I had heard about. They happened during my service in the 1980s. However, I had no idea of the back and forth policies that were implemented during and after WWII. Being arrested without committing ...more

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May 23, 2018 Nicole rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: nonfiction, queer

This book has it all - and it's also very accessible, so you can learn a lot without already being a military buff. The first chapters are about all the measures in place to catch queer people joining the military to begin with, and then there's a significant amount of time devoted to the social climate of the military. Towards the end there are segments on queer life at the front/past basic, and then the end of the book takes a look at queer veterans and postwar life. An amazing amount of prima ...more

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Jan 08, 2021 Anna Hepworth rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: z_2016-reading-challenge, other-people-s, non-fiction, rated-five

This has taken me a very long time to get through, with multiple false starts, because it is not easy reading.

The last section particularly, is so depressing. Which is not to say that several of the earlier sections were not depressing, but the discussion of gay men and women put into 'psychiatric' facilities and/or forced to sign 'confessions', followed by how horrible the government was to them on their return to civilian life was appalling. Unsurprising, but so hard to read. Particularly the ...more

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May 26, 2017 Shelley rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2017, history, wlw

Interesting and somewhat horrifying history of gay service people in world war ii. For many, it was their first chance at a gay community, and many found roles as mascots and entertainers for the troops. But at the same time, psychologists went after them for the first time, and the things they put them through were traumatic and awful--putting them in brigs that were really cages, displaying them for humiliation, turning them out of service for sexual psychopathy, which they then had to bring t ...more

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May 18, 2019 David rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: gay-nonfiction, read-these

Very well written and researched and fairly enlightening to how the military developed and enforced its anti-gay policies. I admire the amount of work this must have taken. Its also a lot less “academic” than the other gay history book Ive read was- Gay New York- and was easy to follow and understand.

You can tell this was originally written even before Dont Ask Dont Tell was implemented, but thats less a criticism and more an observation. Overall an important and worthwhile read if you are tryin ...more

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Jun 06, 2019 Claudia rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: lgbt, non-fiction, history, world-war-ii

Wow! This was such an interesting read. By moments heartbreaking, most of the time rage-inducing, but always fascinating.

The author highlights the influence that the military had in the treatment of queer people by EEUU's society. Incredibly well-documented, filled with quotes that brought the protagonists' voices to the fore, this is such a meaningful document...

Listening to this book, to all those experiences, to all that real people who lived through them makes you really understand what wa ...more

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Aug 15, 2019 Michael Davison rated it liked it

The information contained in this book is critical. I really enjoyed learning about homosexuals in the war. However, it could have been half as long and still been just as impactful. By the end I felt that I had read the same story a few times. The individuals were different, but the same points were made over and over again so it felt very repetitive. 8/10 for content matter and research, 5/10 for layout. But overall, this is an important book for a more complete view of homosexuals during the ...more

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Feb 16, 2021 Virginia rated it it was amazing

Shelves: academia

Reading this for academic purposes but I recommend it to anyone. The author uses a smooth, easy-to-grasp writing style which makes following arguments very easy.
There is a trove of interesting information in this book, I can't begin to fathom the amount of research Berube undertook for this monumental work. I think every queer or queer-friendly person who is interested in the history of the community's struggles should read this book. ...more

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Aug 13, 2019 Vivian rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: wwii, lgbt-history

An unfortunate misconception among young lgbt people today is that the gay rights movement started with Stonewall. This book elaborates on the rich history of gay men and women during (and a little after) WWII. It’s a must read for those interested in gay history. It took me two years to finish as I forgot about it halfway through, but it was worth digging it back up and finishing.

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Aug 18, 2020 Elia Winters rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: research, nonfiction, queer, wwii

I read this book after watching the documentary by the same name. I'm doing research for an upcoming book series, and this book was immensely helpful in its depth and breadth of content. I appreciate all of Bérubé's work and his efforts to give voice to some whose voices have for too long been left out of history. ...more

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Nov 04, 2018 Steven rated it it was ok

Well documented but so repetitive and with little narrative. Another in the unfinished pile sadly. While the book is well detailed in the topic, it manages to make something that could be exciting so boring and without any dramatic movement.

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About Allan Bérubé

Allan Bérubé

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Alan Berube, founder of the San Francisco Lesbian and Gay History Project, is best known for his 1990 book about homosexual life in the military during World War II.

Books by Allan Bérubé

My Desire for History: Essays in Gay, Community, and Labor History

Powers of Desire: The Politics of Sexuality

Sexualwissenschaft Und Sexualpolitik: Spannungsverh�ltnisse in Europa, Amerika Und Asien

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“Some gay soldiers and officers, particularly those with a college education, carried with them a mythology, developed from reading the classics and in conversations with other gay men, about "armies of lovers," such as the "Sacred Band of Thebes" in ancient Greece, and heroic military leaders, such as Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Frederick the Great, and Lawrence of Arabia, who like themselves had had male lovers. This folklore provided them with romantic historical images that could help allay self-doubts before their first combat missions. It confirmed that there had always been gay warriors who fought with courage and skill, sometimes spurred on by the desire to fight bravely by the side of their lovers.” — 2 likes

“No census was taken of the number of gay men and lesbians who entered the military. But if Alfred Kinsey's wartime surveys were accurate and applied as much to the military as to the civilian population, at least 650,000 and as many as 1.6 million male soldiers were homosexual.” — 1 likes

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Coming Out Under Fire: The History of Gay Men and Women in World War Two

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