Lets Talk About Pride Month

Lets talk about Pride Month

It’s almost that wonderful time of year when gay people feel proud to embrace who they are. It’s the one special month out of the year when gays and queers step out onto the street to protest how long they had to suffer. but it’s also that time of year that veterans gets thrown around in the cross fire of homophobia.

many gay and lesbian men and women served in WWII and the Vietnam war. the military was a place a lot of queer people could prosper. it was not only patriotic and beneficial to their country, but helped them identify who they could trust and who they couldn’t. sometimes it didn’t work out well. some queer’s who were discovered received a blue discharged which left a mark on their record and withheld them from any GI benefits after the war.

due to the closeness the queer men and women developed, they created a sub-group of GI’s who performed drag shows. they were performed on every warfront and were enjoyed by a lot of servicemen.

Many lesbians joined the WAAC to complete their service. Phyllis Abry, a lesbian in the WAAC, is featured in a propaganda picture alongside her lover. Abry remarked later on how she thought it was ironic they selected two homosexuals to represent the WAAC.

in 1953, during Eisenhower’s time as president, he signed the executive order 10450 which banned homosexuals from federal employment. this caused over 5,000 people to loose their jobs due to allegations of homosexuality.

after the raid on stonewall in 1969, a gay rights movement sparked in the US. The queer men and women who fought against military discrimination built a cornerstone for the gay rights movement. and until 2010, gay men and women were unable to serve their time as openly gay.

Alan Turing is another important queer person in history. he is considered the father of modern day technology and broke the Enigma code during WWII. He was arrested after the war for accused homosexuality and was chemically castrated instead of serving prison time. he later claimed his life with a cyanide covered apple.

queer people have played massively important roles in our history and our military. please do not pull veterans into the conversation of gay pride. veterans have two months of the year dedicated to themselves; May and November. And there are plenty of queer veterans out there who celebrate all three months. June is a time of protest as LGBTQ+ rights are continuously stripped away due to ignorance. The LGBTQ+ community is a community dedicated to love. do not block it and destroy it with ignorance.

Lets Talk About Pride Month

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