Between the end of World War I and the beginning of World War II, the medical world, and society more generally, adopted the view of homosexuality as “abnormal” and therefore an illness. During World War II, questioning and psychiatric tests were used to prevent homosexuals from entering the services, with limited success. By 1942, the first restrictions on inducting homosexuals were enacted, and a year later a complete ban on homosexuals in the services became the rule. Those already in uniform “found” to be homosexual were deemed unsuitable for military service and received undesirable discharges. Alan Berube argues that, regardless of policy, because of manpower shortages during World War II, most homosexuals were tolerated. Scholars of gay and lesbian history point to an unintended result of this wartime focus on homosexuality—the creation of homosexual identity and subcultures among these military personnel that lasted long after the war ended.
During the 1970s and 1980s, legal challenges to the ban on homosexuals increased, and in 1993, President Bill Clinton sought to use his executive authority to allow homosexuals in the armed forces. However, strong public and military opposition to that stand left the ban in place, modified somewhat by Senator Sam Nunn's “Don't Ask, Don't Tell” compromise policy.
Hans Fahrmeyer on FH:
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