Don’t Ask Don’t Tell: LGBT service In The Military’s Violent Role Reversal.
The date could be the 22nd January 2008. Or 1948. Or 1848. What has remained consistent for centuries is the vicious targeting of LGBT people from the military they put their lives on the line to serve, an institutionalized cruelty rendered ironic as well as senseless when it is pointed out that the military as we know it today was founded by armies made up of gay men.
In the wake of Donald Trump’s recent ban of Transgender personnel from the military, it is worth considering the substantial history the LGBTQ community has with the military. The Sacred Band of Thebes was an army made up of 150 pairs of male lovers, the most famous embodiment of a Greek practice where men were encouraged to form intimate relationships with the men in their bands. The hope was that the urge to protect lov...