News & Current Events

[Lyle (Mooska)]

I think it was a running joke during the draft that saying you were gay was no sure way to get out of the military.  Otherwise a lot fewer people would have gone to Canada.

There was a movie that came out in 1969 with this premise:

The Gay Deceivers

The Gay Deceivers is a 1969 gay-themed comedy film with a twist ending. The film derives much of its alleged humor through the use of stereotypes. According to gay film historian Vito Russo in his book The Celluloid Closet, co-star Michael Greer, who played the flamboyantly gay Malcolm and who was himself gay, tried to work with the screenwriter and director to minimize the negativity of the characterization and present Malcolm in a positive light.

Plot
The Gay Deceivers follows Danny and Elliot, two friends who try to get out of the draft by pretending to be gay. They're placed under surveillance by the Army and have to keep up the pretense. They move into a gay apartment building and try to blend in with the residents, all the while trying to maintain their romantic relationships with women and not get caught by the Army.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gay_Deceivers

If you watch this film keeping in mind the times in which it was made, it can be amusing.
And Michael Greer was an early activist, mostly because he refused to remain in the closet.

[oilgun]

There was a movie that came out in 1969 with this premise:

The Gay Deceivers

The Gay Deceivers is a 1969 gay-themed comedy film with a twist ending. The film derives much of its alleged humor through the use of stereotypes. According to gay film historian Vito Russo in his book The Celluloid Closet, co-star Michael Greer, who played the flamboyantly gay Malcolm and who was himself gay, tried to work with the screenwriter and director to minimize the negativity of the characterization and present Malcolm in a positive light.

Plot
The Gay Deceivers follows Danny and Elliot, two friends who try to get out of the draft by pretending to be gay. They're placed under surveillance by the Army and have to keep up the pretense. They move into a gay apartment building and try to blend in with the residents, all the while trying to maintain their romantic relationships with women and not get caught by the Army.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gay_Deceivers

If you watch this film keeping in mind the times in which it was made, it can be amusing.
And Michael Greer was an early activist, mostly because he refused to remain in the closet.

Not a good film to see if your a teen struggling with your sexuality.  I can vouch for that, lol!  (Or THE SERGEANT)

[doodler]

Wow, Oil, from your photo... that IS you, right?... I thought you were at least in your 20s.

[tfferg]

UN restores gay reference to violence measure
Louis Charbonneau, Reuters December 22, 2010, 12:55 pm

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United States succeeded on Tuesday in getting the United Nations to restore a reference to killings due to sexual orientation that had been deleted from a resolution condemning unjustified executions.

Western delegations were disappointed last month when the U.N. General Assembly's human rights committee approved an Arab and African proposal to cut the reference to slayings due to sexual orientation from a resolution on extrajudicial, summary and arbitrary executions.

(snip)


(Additional reporting by Patrick Worsnip; Editing by Bill Trott and Eric Walsh)

http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/world/8550923/u-n-restores-gay-reference-to-violence-measure/

[Dal]

I think it was a running joke during the draft that saying you were gay was no sure way to get out of the military.  Otherwise a lot fewer people would have gone to Canada.

Some author author (Randy Shilts in Out under Fire, maybe?) noted that the services tended to look the other way when recruitment was barely matching requirements, e.g. WW2.  Soon as the war was over, things were back to normal again;  any undesirables who did not want to be demobilized were promptly dishonorably  discharged.

Now, what would be really revolutionary, would be to see Senator's sons and daughters clamoring for the right to fight in the military!

Yes, and not in a privileged unit along with the Dallas Cowboys, either.  I believe it was Aeschylus who instructed that his grave bear reference only to his military service to Athens, not mentioning his plays at all. 

Not a good film to see if your a teen struggling with your sexuality.  I can vouch for that, lol!

I saw that flick, too.  After that, I was sure I was not gay, thank God!

[Passion]

Wow, Oil, from your photo... that IS you, right?... I thought you were at least in your 20s.

Doodler....put your glasses on and look at oilgun's picture more closely!  HaHa!

[CellarDweller115]

Wow, Oil, from your photo... that IS you, right?... I thought you were at least in your 20s.

Doodler....put your glasses on and look at oilgun's picture more closer!  HaHa!

(of course, Gil's avatar doeesn't have all those crazy graphics on it)

[doodler]

Well, bless my soul!

Off to the optometrist.

[Marge_Innavera]

I think you're thinking of Cpl Klinger.  He wasn't "gay", but would dress as a woman instead of wearing his army uniform, in an effort to be seen as "insane" and get a Section 8 discharge.

There was an episode in the M*A*S*H TV series about a soldier in the Post-Op who was gay and Frank Burns was threatening to out him.  It was one of those episodes where the writers didn't factor in the historical period -- Hawkeye's reaction is really atypical of the early 1950s -- but still fairly enlightened for the late 1970s-early 1980s when the episode aired.  

[CellarDweller115]

There was an episode in the M*A*S*H TV series about a soldier in the Post-Op who was gay and Frank Burns was threatening to out him.  It was one of those episodes where the writers didn't factor in the historical period -- Hawkeye's reaction is really atypical of the early 1950s -- but still fairly enlightened for the late 1970s-early 1980s when the episode aired. 

Really?  I wasn't a regular viewer of the show, but I did catch random episodes here and there.  I don't think I've seen this one.

Thanks for the info!

[garyd]

The MASH episode was entitled "George" and it actually aired at some point in February 1974. I have the script somewhere if I can find it. It is probably included in box sets.

[fritzkep]

Some author author (Randy Shilts in Out under Fire, maybe?) noted that the services tended to look the other way when recruitment was barely matching requirements, e.g. WW2.  Soon as the war was over, things were back to normal again;  any undesirables who did not want to be demobilized were promptly dishonorably  discharged.Yes, and not in a privileged unit along with the Dallas Cowboys, either.  I believe it was Aeschylus who instructed that his grave bear reference only to his military service to Athens, not mentioning his plays at all.  I saw that flick, too.  After that, I was sure I was not gay, thank God!

That's one of the more ironic facts about gay people being discharged from the military. In peacetime the opponent politicians say that the presence of gays in the armed forces would disrupt unit cohesion, yet in a real war such as WW2, gay people were fairly immune to being discharged, as long as combat was going on. Hypocrites.

[oilgun]

A very interesting interview with Julian Assange on Al Jazeera:

(24 min. and well worth it.)
http://www.towleroad.com/2010/12/watch-al-jazeera-interviews-wikileaks-founder-julian-assange.html

[kathy]

**Yes, oilgun.  Very well worth it.**

kathy 

[oilgun]

Wow, Oil, from your photo... that IS you, right?... I thought you were at least in your 20s.

Thank you for thinking it was me!  But no, I'm just a 54 year old Heathen.