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Remembering the Hidden Heroes

Today we would like to join in Remembrance Day with a small tribute to all LGBTQI+ people who also participated in the First World War. Most members of our community had to hide their sexuality, which was illegal until 1967.

Photograph by Montague Glover

During World War One homosexuality was not in fact banned by British army regulations – this was not until 1955. However male homosexuality was illegal throughout the UK at this time, so most homosexual soldiers kept their sexuality secret. Homosexual soldiers who spoke openly about their sexuality were reported to their superiors for “indecency” and at least 230 soldiers were court-martialled and sent to prison for this. Many others were prosecuted and sentenced in civilian courts. As any evidence of homosexual acts meant corporal punishment or two years’ imprisonment, recordings of experiences are rare.

We have a few examples of LGBTQI+ people in the war. Arguably the most well-known are the poets Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon who met during their stay at Craiglockhart War Hospital, where they developed a strong relationship. It is suggested that the pair were homosexuals, although they kept their identities hidden at the time, post-war ‘love letters’ from Owen to Sassoon were discovered. Owen died tragically a week before the signing of the armistice and Sassoon survived the war. Their poems include ‘Anthem for Doomed Youth’, ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’, “Suicide in the Trenches” and “Aftermath”.

Siegfried Sassoon by George Charles Beresford, 1915; Wilfred Owen by John Gunston, 1916 Image credit: The TLS

Surviving private correspondence from fellow poet, Rupert Brooke, indicated that he was attracted to both men and women, and that he had sexual relations with both during his lifetime. However, they also show that he struggled to understand and accept his bisexuality.

Rupert Brooke as Comus, circa early 1910’s
Ethel Mary Smyth  Image Credit: George Grantham Bain Collection

Ethel Mary Smyth was a suffragette and was briefly imprisoned for her activities in 1912. During WW1 she served with the British Red Cross in Italy and France, and trained as a radiographer. Prior to serving Ethel was known to have romantic relationships with women and frequently wore male clothing. It must be noted that although there was no direct law against female homosexuality, there were still risks involved.

Despite the importance of the historical moment of WW1 we do not have many cinematic examples of queer war stories. It is worth highlighting that even though it is not a queer film, the first gay kiss between two men dates back to 1927, in the film WINGS. The film, awarded Best Picture at the Oscars, follows the story of two soldiers Jack and Dave competing for the love of a girl before finding out their true love for each other. Throughout the film, the soldiers’ relationship is described as a friendship, but it is very clear that it is more of a romantic connection that ends with a dramatic kiss in each other’s arms. The final dialogue between the soldiers reveals the true nature of their relationship: ‘You know there is nothing in the world that means so much to me as your friendship’.

Richard Arlen and Charles Rogers in Wings (1927)

We also have the recent example of BENEDICTION, which portrays the experiences of the poet Siegfried Sassoon during the war who was hospitalised in a psychiatric institution for his anti-war stand.

Edward and Vera Brittain

A different perspective through the eyes of nurse Vera Brittain is the film TESTAMENT OF YOUTH, which without being an LGBTQI+ film, portrays in a secondary way Vera’s brother, Edward Brittain, who was awarded the Military Cross for his services at the Battle of the Somme in 1916, where more than 20,000 people died. Edward Brittain died in 1918. At the end of the war, Vera revealed that the day before his death her brother had been accused of homosexual activity, after a letter from him was opened by the censor. Historians now believe that he walked into enemy fire as a form of suicide.

The LGBTQI+ community remained hidden within the military until the year 2000 when the ban on homosexuality was lifted. Although we cannot change what has happened in the past, we can take a moment to remember those who risked their lives, in more ways than one, to serve and hope for a better future.

Please never forget:
Wilfred Owen, Siegfried Sassoon, Rupert Brooke, Ethel Mary Smyth, Alfred Boyd, Frederic Llewellyn, Lieutenant Wilfrid Marsden, F.R. West, Edward Brittain, E.M. Forster, May Toupie Lowther and Joseph Randall Ackerley amongst the many hidden heroes in World War 1.

The first gay kiss on Film – Wings (1927)

Your ideal weekend. Three days of quality LGBT cinema.

Enjoy some time-in this weekend fulfilling your queer cinema itch as two of Peccadillo’s best have been selected for TV showings.

The Peccadillo TV weekend consists of the beautiful Weekend, showing Saturday on Channel 4 at 11.20pm, and the gorgeously understated Tomboy, on BBC 4 at 10.30pm. 
Céline Sciamma’s Tomboy is a wonderfully subtle exploration of the nature/nurture debate and to what extent gender is just something that we wear. Set during summertime in a picturesque and petite-bourgeoisie town outside Paris, it follows a ten year old named Laure, who with her impish face and pixie hair could easily be mistaken for a boy. So she is, in fact, when a new friend named Lisa develops a crush on her. Laure decides to adopt the role of Mickäel, and for this pretense she is able to fight, play football and altogether have fun. But a new school term is impending, and she can’t keep up this role forever.

Tomboy main image for press

Whether she is actually transgender or simply boyish, we don’t find out, and nor does Tomboy concern itself with in-depth analysis. It’s a snapshot of how children make sense of their identity through the gender, and an adorable, low-key gem that never rises to the drama that its subject could allow.
It’s difficult to stress just how good and unmissable Andrew Haigh’s Weekend actually is. A romance drama film, it put director Andrew Haigh – who is now directing HBO’s new hip gay comedy show Looking, essentially a gay version ofGirls – on the map as an impressive new talent in British cinema.
Taking an understated approach that captures realism as its best, Weekend observes a love developing rapidly and organically, taking its two participants by utter surprise and almost to their inconvenience. What starts as a simple one night stand started by cruising at a gay bar becomes increasingly more complex as the pair discover their connection runs deeper than just attraction.
Weekend Blog Image
The dialogue is so natural, the performances so nuanced, and the sex scenes so genuinely passionate it makes for an absorbing and quite moving experience. It’s also stunningly shot. Haigh has created a work of effective simplicity. It’s also a rare thing for a gay film to barely make any bold references to their homosexuality, these are just two people falling in love. The fact they are gay isn’t really much of a concern of Weekend, rather, it is just interested in the way love can spring upon two people one day when they least expect it, occurring more quickly than they can fathom.
Peccadillo are beyond chuffed to have been behind pieces of such stunning, memorable and timeless drama.
In addition to contemporary LGBT cinema, you can also be transported to ’80s Thatcherite London with the classic My Beautiful Laundrette. The gay comedy-drama that launched Daniel Day Lewis’ career will be shown on Saturday at 10.30 on BBC2.
It’s refreshing to see not just one, but three quality LGBT films made accessible to a wide audience. And here we were assuming films on TV were just endless, uninspiring re-runs, mostly consisting of  ’90s action movies and dull westerns. 
It’s fine to stay in once in a while.
Purchase Weekend on DVD here and on Blu Ray here 
Purchase Tomboy here and on Blu Ray here 
Purchase My Beautiful Laundrette here