At the start of World War II, the United States Army moved in two opposing directions at once: new directives were passed that toughened the army's stand on homosexuality, classifying it as a form of mental illness made punishable by imprisonment. At the same time, however, the army needed every recruit it could muster, so the initial enforcement of the ban was nominal. Inductees were simply asked if they liked boys. Even when the answer was "Yes," as one speaker explains in the film Coming Out Under Fire, the draft board often just looked the other way.
This ironic history is the subject matter of this new documentary, the award-winning film based on the book by Allan Berube. The movie presents the personal experiences of veterans of the so-called Good War, as they relate the unsettling contradictions of serving in a system that wouldn't admit that gays existed.
A gay former member of the military police describes how he used to vamp it up while on duty. A lesbian member of the Women's Army Corps explains how she fudged the test to enter the WACs by insisting that she didn't have sex with men because she was saving herself for marriage. Another vet notes that he faced the dual difficulties of being black and gay.
Despite all of the hassles they encountered, however, virtually every speaker in Coming Out Under Fire felt at home in the army — it was the army that felt uncomfortable with them. As World War II drew to a close, the relaxed handling of the ban evolved into a purge mentality — no longer needed, the gay and lesbian officers and enlisted people suddenly became visible long enough to be identified and discharged.
Coming Out Under Fire is a well-made and enjoyable look at a peculiar mentality which decreed that a person's dedication, talent and skills were less important than their sexual habits.
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