Fighting Proud: A Gay History of the World Wars
More Interviews
•
27m
At the end of World War Two the British public wanted to get back to ‘normal’. The gay men who had served their King and country found themselves subjected to a vigorous enforcement of the draconian law that would put them into prison if they were found guilty of indecency. But servicemen living in close proximity were made aware that men who chose to have sexual relationships with other men were not suffering from sexual perversion or a deadly disease, nor were they cowards or the stereotypical limp-wristed effeminates. ‘Fighting Proud’, a new book by Stephen Bourne, is about equality: being equally brave, scared, decisive, uniformed, wounded, and equally dead. War is the great leveler in which we are tested, tried and traumatised. No one ever emerges from war quite the same, whether it is battleground, air raid or that telegram with its irrevocable news. Fighting proud is heart-thumping and rousing; loving proud should be the same. In this episode, Stephen Bourne discusses the role of gay servicemen in the world wars, as well as the challenges of publishing gay history.
Up Next in More Interviews
-
The Knights Templar: With Dan Jones
They might be more famous today for their cameos in The Da Vinci Code and Assassin’s Creed, but in real life they were an army of valiant, daring Crusaders famous for their self-discipline, who fought in the Middle Ages' most bloody battles. They were allowed no sex, no personal possessions, and ...
-
The Crusaders' Last Battle for the Ho...
Roger Crowley is the author of the new book, Accursed Tower: The Crusaders' Last Battle for the Holy Land. The city of Acre, powerfully fortified and richly provisioned, was the last crusader stronghold. When it fell in 1291, two hundred years of Christian crusading in the Holy Land came to a blo...
-
Ernest Shackleton: With Ranulph Fiennes
In this fascinating interview, Dan Snow chats to the world's greatest living explorer Ranulph Fiennes about Ernest Shackleton and his heroic expeditions in the Golden Age of Antarctic Exploration.
