Gay Warriors: A Documentary History from the Ancient World to the Present

Most readers know about same-sex romance in ancient Greece and Rome. Fewer may be aware of its prevalence among soldiers in those societies, and even fewer will know of such relationships in modern-day militaries. In Gay Warriors: A Documentary History from the Ancient World to the Present, B.R. Burg (Sodomy and the Pirate Tradition), Professor of History at Arizona State University, presents records of gays and lesbians on the battlefield from the Amazons through U.S. soldiers in the Gulf War. John Boswell discusses ""the association of homosexuals with democracy and the military"" circa 300 B.C.; Anne Gilmour-Bryson explores ""Sodomy and the Knights Templar,"" a medieval religious and military order; and in 1952 the U.S. Army delivered a ""Lecture for the `Indoctrination of WAVE Recruits on Subject of Homosexuality.' "" (Jan. 1)