Crossing the Lines

The abstract summarizes an event held at Scotty and Mal's Cocktail Bar in Wellington, where Brent Coutts and Stuart Pearce discussed the history of LGBTQ+ individuals in the New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF), particularly across the mid-20th century. Pearce, an officer at Ohakea Air Force Base and member of the OverWatch LGBTQ+ support group, opened by acknowledging New Zealand's current status as an inclusive military force. Pearce reflected on the significant shifts from the repressive environments prior to the 1993 Human Rights Act, which allowed service members to serve openly.

Brent Coutts spoke as the author of "Crossing The Lines", a ten-year research endeavour illuminating the lives and experiences of gay soldiers during World War II. Coutts stressed the importance of recognizing the hardships faced by these servicemembers, illuminating the rarity and significance of stories depicting New Zealand's queer military history.

Coutts highlighted the significance of LGBTQ+ inclusion in the NZDF since 1993, referencing the progressive advancements and their commendable international recognition. The talk delved into the support from various institutions such as the Ministry of Defence, LAGANZ, Archives New Zealand, and the Defence Force Archive at Trentham Military Camp, all of which had contributed to Coutts' research.

The author's book focuses on the lives of three servicemen: Ralph Dyer, Douglas Morris, and Harold Robinson. It recounts their journeys from drafting to performing in concert parties for troops, against the backdrop of the societal views of the time. Coutts explored their integration within the military's communities, regardless of the official stances on same-sex relationships, emphasizing the establishment of queer subcultures and supportive networks during the horrors of the war.

Coutts detailed the men's engagements with entertainment units, which served as focal points to meet others with similar identities, including encounters with American soldiers. The narrative recognizes the complex social constructs within the military, the resilience of these men, and the way their close-knit friendships and relationships offered a sense of belonging, even under the weight of discrimination and the demands of war service.

Through a deeply humanizing lens, the book chronicles their pre- and post-war lives, demonstrating how wartime was transformative yet maintained threads of pre-war identities. The author's closing remarks lauded the NZDF's inclusive evolution, while urging the audience to acknowledge the many untold LGBTQ+ histories waiting to be discovered in New Zealand's broader narrative.

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Brent Coutts Stuart Pearce

1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1zb (radio), adolf hitler, aotearoa new zealand, archives new zealand, army, auckland, batman (military), bbc, brent coutts, civil rights, comedy, conscription, crossing the lines (book), discrimination, douglas morison, dresses, dunedin, egypt, el alamein, emma vickers, female impersonation, fiji, harold robinson, homosexual, homosexual law reform act (1986), homosocial, human rights act (1993), inclusion, indecent act, jack marshall, john crawford, kippenberger research library (waiouru), lesbian and gay archives of new zealand (laganz), marriage, mono island (solomon islands), mount albert grammar school, navy, new caledonia, new zealand army, new zealand defence force (nzdf), noel hulme, norfolk island, nzdf personnel archives and medals (pam) - trentham military camp, ohakune, one of the boys: homosexuality in the military during world war ii (book), otago university press, overwatch (nz defence force), pacific, papua new guinea, paul jackson, peter rule, phil jay, queen and country: same-sex desire in the british armed forces, 1939–45 (book), queer, rainbow tick, ralph dyer, royal new zealand air force, royal society te aparangi teaching fellowship, scotty and mal's cocktail bar, solomon islands, stuart pearce, the kiwi concert party, tom martin, tui concert party, victory loan campaign, wally prictor, william dove, world war 2

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