2010 in Review: Gays & the Military

Author: Antonio Gonzalez Cerna
December 28, 2010
From WWII To DADT
One of the biggest LGBT literary trends of the past 15 months is also an important talking point in contemporary mainstream politics: gays and the military. From acclaimed WWII biographies to critical investigations of DADT to books on gender and war to romantic tales of service men and women, here is a sample of the military-inspired books that crossed our desk this year.
MEMOIRS & NONFICTION
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MY QUEER WAR By James Lord Farrar Straus and Giroux Hardcover, 9780374217488, 352p April 2010 Acclaimed memoirist and critic, James Lord, recalls his experiences as a young man during WWII. Paperback edition comes drops May, 2011. Review forthcoming |
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UNFRIENDLY FIRE: How the Gay Ban Undermines the Military and Weakens America By Nathaniel Frank St. Martin’s Griffin Paperback, 9780312603533, 368p March 2010 Lambda Literary Award Finalist A devastating multi-frontal assault on the gay ban’s history and ideological underpinnings, amply illustrating the shaky ground upon which justifications for the gay ban were founded, promoted, and continually supported. Reviewed by Nathan Tipton |
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ONE OF THE BOYS: Homosexuality in the Military during World War II By Paul Jackson McGill-Queen’s University Press Paperback, 9780773537149, 376p April 2010 Combines policy analysis and social history into one thought-provoking book. According to Paul Jackson, parallels can be made between the Canadian military and its attitudes toward homosexuality during WWII and its 21st century attitudes toward “the war on terror.” Reviewed by Rachel Wexelbaum |
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CITIZEN, INVERT, QUEER: Lesbianism and War in Early Twentieth-Century Britain By Deborah Cohler University of Minnesota Press Paperback, 9780816649761, 296p April 2010 Deborah Cohler examines the shifting intersections of nationalism and sexuality before, during, and after the Great War, and how they shape our ideas about female homosexuality. Review forthcoming |
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ONCE A MARINE: by A Memoir of Coming Out Under Fire by Eric Alva; Sam Gallegos Alyson Books Hardcover, 9781593501662, 300p TBA One of the year’s most anticipated military memoirs—U.S. Marine Corps Staff Sergeant Eric Alva’s gripping autobiography—never actually saw a release. Hopefully this no-doubt moving memoir will be published in 2011. |
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PLAYING BY THE RULES by Justin Elzie Queer Mojo (A Rebel Satori Imprint) Paperback, 9781608640423, 260p Nov 2010 “Elzie recounts his personal story as the first Marine to be discharged (and later reinstated) under the U.S. military’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy, and his years as an openly gay Marine and civil rights activist. Iconic gay activist David Mixner contributed a foreword.” Featured by John Morgan Wilson |
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COMING OUT UNDER FIRE: The History of Gay Men and Women in World War II By Allan Berube Forward by John D’Emilio and Estelle B. Freedman University of North Carolina Press Paperback, 9780807871775, 377p Sept 2010 20th Anniversary Edition |
FICTIONALIZED ACCOUNTS
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BLIND FALL By Christopher Rice Mass Market Paperback, 9780743294003, 320p Jan 2010 In Christopher Rice’s bestselling novel (released in Mass Market Paperback this year) features an Iraq War vet who seeks redemption and revenge when the fellow Marine he failed to protect during the war is brutally murdered. |
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BITTER EDEN By Tatamkhulu Afrika Arcadia Books Paperback, 9781905147946, 340p May 2010 The author’s own World War II experience as a captive in North Africa and a prisoner of war in Italy and Germany shape this novel of “repressed passion in POW Camps” (Times). |
ON GENDER & WAR
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THE MALE BODY AT WAR: American Masculinity During World War II By Christina S. Jarvis Northern Illinois University Press Paperback, 9780875806389, 243p April 2010 “A very important work, one of the first books to examine how the efforts of state and military officials during the Second World War reconfigured constructions of American masculinity.”—Leisa D. Meyer, College of William and Mary |
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THE LONELY SOLDIER: The Private War of Women Serving in Iraq By Helen Benedict Beacon Press Paperback, 9780807061497, 280p April 2010 In the paperback edition, Benedict weaves the stories of forty Iraq War veterans and recalls the complex issues of war and misogyny, class, race, homophobia, and post-traumatic stress disorder. |
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NIMO’S WAR, EMMA’S WAR: Making Feminist Sense of the Iraq War By Cynthia Enloe University of California Press Paperback, 9780520260788, 320p June 2010 Cynthia Enloe looks closely at the lives of eight ordinary women, four Iraqis and four Americans, during the Iraq War examining the gendered dimensions of combat. |
ROMANCE & EROTICA
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NO RULES OF ENGAGEMENT By Tracey Richardson Bella Books Paperback, 9781594931598, 317p Oct 2009 Lambda Literary Award Finalist Richardson tackles the tragedy of war, the trials of coming home, the challenges of family and rewards of relationships in her latest novel. Reviewed by Andrea Peterson |
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THE LONELY WAR By Alan Chin Zumaya Boundless Paperback, 9781934841440, 328p Oct 2009 Not long after Pearl Harbor, a young sailor will risk everything to save his beloved commanding officer. |
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WHATEVER GODS MAY BE By Sophia Kell Hagin Bold Strokes Books Paperback, 9781602821835, 284p Oct 2010 Seventeen-year-old Jamie Gwynmorgan enlists in the Marine Corps because she has nowhere else to go, but she never expects to find love. Reviewed by Pamela Bigelow |
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INTO THE MIST by Sharon G. Clark Regal Crest/Quest Paperback, 9781935053347, 212p July 2010 Psychiatric nurse, Lieutenant Kasey Houston, has snuck off the USS Console, to join the Marines in their fight against the Japanese soldiers, in May of 1945. She awakens in the future. |
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HONORABLE SILENCE: Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell by Maura Anderson, William Maltese, George Seaton, Lex Valentine MLR Press e-book, 9781608202539, 69K words Nov 2010 Four MM romance authors weave tales of closeted servicemen from fighter pilots to snipers to infantrymen. Featured by Dick Smart |
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CARICATURE by Jardonn Smith MLR Press e-book “A former POW from WWII comes to terms with the evils done to him by his captors through the help of a fellow veteran during a forty-year reunion, igniting passions that will sustain the two soldiers throughout their golden years.” Featured by Dick Smart |
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ALWAYS FAITHFUL by Isabella Sapphire Books e-book, 9780982860809, 238p Aug 2010 Two women are brought together when one’s husband dies while in military service. $1.00 for each sale of the book is donated to the Wounded Warrior Project. |
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SPECIAL FORCES: Gay Military Erotica Edited by Phillip MacKenzie, Jr. Cleis Press Paperback, 9781573443722, 189p Oct 2009 Erotic stories from Jack Fritscher (“Wild Blue Yonder”), T. Hitman (“To the Victors Go the Spoiled”), Simon Sheppard (“Stockholm Syndrome”), Jay Starre (“Between Shots Fire”), among others. |
PHOTOGRAPHY BOOKS
DON’T ASK, DON’T TELL:
Volume 1 & Volume 2
by Jeff Sheng
Jeff Sheng Studios
Softcover, 9780984447435/9780984447411
PROUD TO SERVE
by Jo Ann Santangelo
Self Published
On August 25, 2010, Santangelo began a twenty-eight day road trip around the US, driving 10,167 miles, 31 states from New York to California and back to photograph and record the stories of LGBT Servicemembers.