Confronting a Masculine Military Ideal: the experience of LGBTQ military personnel

Confronting a masculine military ideal: the experience of male working-class LGBTQ service personnel since 1945.
The stories of LGBTQ military personnel have traditionally been framed within a culture of secrecy and a climate of fear of discovery: the spectre of dismissal has often silenced voices. Research into the two World Wars has allowed some of these voices to speak, but generally, 'queer history has largely ignored the militarised body.' Working-class queer voices have also largely been ignored, research having been focussed on the urban experience or middle and upper-class experiences. Recent research has shown a surprising level of fluidity and tolerance within working-class cultures towards same-sex behaviours, pre-1967 decriminalisation. Paradoxically, the 1967 Sexual Offences Act gave light to a recognisable subculture which may have removed this fluidity and tolerance, replacing it with a more rigid working-class homophobia. This thesis will try to establish if male working-class experience of life in the Armed Forces subscribed to this model of tolerance being followed by a renewed prejudice. As women were allowed to actively serve only relatively recently, it would seem fair to preclude them from this research: considerations of the female experience, and the female queer experience is beyond the scope of this investigation. Testimonies of service personnel will be the focus of this project and will be framed within an examination of self-perception and emotional sensibilities.