One of the Boys: Homosexuality in the Military During World War IIHomosexuality and military service have always made strange bedfellows. Military leaders, generally traditionalists, have typically seen homosexuals as unmanly, immoral, and a threat to cohesion. While the U.S. military has garnered international headlines as a result of its exclusionary policies, the issue is far from new and struggles with it have not been limited to the United States. The Canadian military was acutely concerned with homosexuality during the Second World War. At the outset of the war the mammoth task of mobilizing hundreds of thousands of troops overshadowed concerns about their sexual behaviour or orientation. A determined to rid the services of those engaged in disgraceful conduct of an indecent kind. Using an wide array of sources - including long-closed court martial records, psychiatric and personnel files, unit war diaries, films, and oral histories - Paul Jackson relates the struggle of queer servicemen of all ranks and branches of the Canadian military to fit in and avoid losing their careers and reputations. He argues that homosexual men were often accepted and popular within their units. Nonetheless, if accused of homosexual behaviour, they were subjected to psychiatric assessments, courts-martial proceedings, prison terms, and dishonourable discharges. Open Secrets, a National Film Board of Canada documentary, was based on this book. |
Contents
In Search of a Policy | 29 |
Military Law and Queer Servicemen | 78 |
Military Psychiatry | 110 |
Queer Servicemen in Canada | 147 |
Queer Servicemen Overseas | 182 |
Esprit de Corps Cohesion and Morale | 221 |
Figures | 273 |
Note on Sources | 287 |
Other editions - View all
One of the Boys: Homosexuality in the Military during World War II Paul Jackson Limited preview - 2004 |
One of the Boys: Homosexuality in the Military During World War II Paul Jackson Limited preview - 2004 |
Common terms and phrases
accepted accused air force airman anti-homosexual Army personnel file awol barracks Bert Sutcliffe Bill Dunstan boys British camp Camp Borden Canada Canadian Army Canadian forces Canadian military Canadian Provost Corps Canadian soldiers Captain Carleton County civilian cohesion commanding officers comrades court-martial courts martial culture defending officer detention discharged disgraceful conduct doctors evidence fact file hqc gender guilty heterosexual homo homosexual activity homosexual behaviour homosexual desires homosexual offences homosexual relations indecent interview investigators Lance Corporal lesbian Lieutenant male man’s masculine medical officers Medical Services military law military police military’s moral mosexual navy night ofthe one’s patients platoon Private prosecuting psychiatric psychiatrists psychopathic psychopathic personality punishment queer servicemen ranks rcaf rcaf personnel file records recruits reel Regiment relationships Royal Canadian sailors Sambian Second World Second World War sentenced Sergeant servicepeople sexual orientation sexual relations social society suggests tion Toronto unit veterans wartime women