This will definitely be my shortest Remembering LGBT History diary to date, and probably my shortest ever.
I was checking JoeMyGod earlier today, as I do regularly, when I came across this. Joe got it from Upworthy, which in turn got it from Hypervocal. It was simply too beautiful, tragic, and romantic not to share. And yes, I shed a few tears over this.
I wrote extensively last year about gay men and lesbians during World War II. I talked about the relationship between the military and its gay soldiers, the anti-gay policies, homoerotic barracks life, and a number of other things--all leading up to the main point that World War II was a watershed event both in the "long" gay movement and in the lives of individual gays and lesbians. The letter that I am going to share illustrates the latter point in the most touching of ways. Follow me below the fold.
The following letter, written by a gay World War II soldier named Brian Keith to his former lover Dave, was first published in 1961. It was first published in ONE, a gay magazine that originally came out of the Mattachine Society. Hypervocal, which I linked to above, claims that the original copy of the letter is being held in the Library of Congress (I don't know if that is accurate or not). Here it is--I'll let the letter speak for itself:
Keith's letter puts a very human face on the love--the love that remained unspeakable until the repeal of DADT--shared between gay soldiers throughout American history. And I'm sure I'm not alone in thinking that this story is the foundation for a potentially incredible, award-winning film.