Embedded Files
LGBT Treatment in the US Military
LGBT Treatment in the US Military
Baron Friedrich von Steuben, the Prussian soldier hired by George Washington to create the continental army was an openly gay officer
Throughout US history, LGBT people have been prosecuted in not only the military, but their everyday lives. Before World War I, there was no actual legislation prohibiting gay people from entering, in fact, back to the time of the revolutionary war there is record of various gay individuals serving. The first legitimate restriction was a law in 1916 that prevented against rape and assault. Four years later consensual homosexual acts were also banned. Starting in the 1940’s, there began an all out ban on gay people in the military on the grounds that psychiatrists categorized homosexuality as a “personality disorder”. This categorization also included men with more feminine body types and lack of facial hair.
Because of the massive need for soldiers in World War II, the majority of these bans were swept under the rug to induct more men. This meant that homosexuality during the majority of this war wasn’t included in the umbrella of “physiologically unwell”. The exclusion didn’t last for long though, because in 1941 it was re-added to the list. Persecution and imprisonment of gay people did end during this time, as it was treated like any mental illness was at the time with treatments relating to conversion therapy.
Perry Watkins, an openly gay black soldier drafted to Vietnam
By 1943, there was strict regulation and guidelines to follow in order to “catch” a gay person. These centered around stereotypes like thin bodies, feminine features, voices, and clothing. Any “confirmed perverts”, people accused to be gay through various levels of proof which were mostly unfounded, were to be either court marshaled or sent away to treatment to be “salvaged”. Salvageable soldiers were sent to conversion therapy and sent back to the army. In 1950, the Uniform Code of Military Justice was introduced. Article 125 of this code prohibited all types of sodomy (including the heterosexual kind) with a maximum sentence of 5 years. The Cold war was a time of national, widespread fear. This fear quickly spread from not just foreigners but also to marginalized groups, especially the LGBT community. As a result of this, discharge rates of suspected gay soldiers drastically increased in the mid 1960's.
On the other hand, during the Vietnam War the number of discharged gay soldiers decreased by tenfold. Right around this time were also the Stonewall riots, a series of early morning displays of violence from the queer community lead by Marsha P. Johnson. There are multiple cases of known gay men being drafted into the Vietnam War. Most notably was Perry Watkins, a black man who was openly gay and drafted into the war where he continued to serve for fifteen years until he was abruptly discharged for it. After this though, no major changes occurred toward laws regarding gay people until the Clinton administration
The Stonewall Riots that began the gay rights movement
President Obama signing the order to get rid of the "Don't ask Don't tell" policy in 2010
Clinton wanted to end discrimination towards sexual minorities in the US military. Though he got plenty of pushback, in 1994 the “don’t ask don’t tell policy” was instituted. This policy banned superiors and recruiters from asking about orientation, but was essentially still able to discharge with solid evidence. The policy basically said, “you can be gay, but if you do anything about it you’re getting fired.” On December 22, 2010; President Obama signed the order to repeal the “Don’t ask Don’t tell,” policy. This allowed gay and lesbian soldiers to openly serve in the military.
Vietnam War
Vietnam War
Timeline taken directly from here, I do not claim to have made this particular timeline but I used it diligently throughout the writing process
A chronology of key events, important ones for novel take place between 1960 and 1970.
1858 - French colonial rule begins.
1930 - Ho Chi Minh founds the Indochinese Communist Party (ICP).
1941 - ICP organises a guerrilla force, Viet Minh, in response to invasion by Japan during World War II.
1945 - The Viet Minh seizes power. Ho Chi Minh announces Vietnam's independence.
1946 - French forces attack Viet Minh in Haiphong in November, sparking the war of resistance against the colonial power.
1950 - Democratic Republic of Vietnam is recognised by China and USSR.
1954 - Viet Minh forces attack an isolated French military outpost in the town of Dien Bien Phu. The attempt to take the outpost lasts two months, during which time the French government agrees to peace talks in Geneva.
Vietnam is split into North and South at Geneva conference.
1956 - South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem begins campaign against political dissidents.
1957 - Beginning of Communist insurgency in the South.
1959 - Weapons and men from North Vietnam begin infiltrating the South.
1960 - American aid to Diem increased.
1962 - Number of US military advisors in South Vietnam rises to 12,000.
1963 - Viet Cong, the communist guerrillas operating in South Vietnam, defeat units of the ARVN, the South Vietnamese Army.
President Diem is overthrown and then killed in a US-backed military coup.
US enters the war
1964 - Gulf of Tonkin incident: the US says North Vietnamese patrol boats fire on two US Navy destroyers. US Congress approves Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, authorising military action in region.
1965 - 200,000 American combat troops arrive in South Vietnam, Battle of la Drang.
1966 - US troop numbers in Vietnam rise to 400,000, then to 500,000 the following year.
1968 - Tet Offensive - a combined assault by Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese army on US positions - begins. More than 500 civilians die in the US massacre at My Lai. Thousands are killed by communist forces during their occupation of the city of Hue.
1969 - Ho Chi Minh dies. President Nixon begins to reduce US ground troops in Vietnam as domestic public opposition to the war grows.
1970 - Nixon's national security advisor, Henry Kissinger, and Le Duc Tho, for the Hanoi government, start talks in Paris.
1973 - Ceasefire agreement in Paris, US troop pull-out completed by March.
The battle of le Drang Valley, the main piece of combat in this book.
1975 - North Vietnamese troops invade South Vietnam and take control of the whole country after South Vietnamese President Duong Van Minh surrenders.
Thousands of Vietnamese ''boat people'' fled abroad in overcrowded vessels
Page updated
Report abuse