World War I impacted the lives of everyone who had to live through it. Every country felt repercussions from the aftermath, whether they were involved in the war. One group of people that saw a lot of change after the war was the LGBTQ+ community, specifically gay soldiers. Many men spent abundant amounts of time away from home with their troop mates. Straight or gay, all soldiers missed and craved the feeling of romance and intimacy. This manifested itself in the men finding what they desired amongst one another. This resulted in a tight-knit group of soldiers who trusted each other with their lives. Many of these soldiers had homosexual relations with other troop members. Queer men found they could be themselves, and due to everyone's focus on survival, no one was judged for their coping mechanisms. After the war, many soldiers had to adjust and re-enter the closet. Even though they were heroes and brave men, the world only saw them for who they loved. Not all places were like this, though; right after the war, Germany had certain towns that were very accepting of people of all genders and sexual orientations. However, that did not last long, as the Nazi regime soon rose to power. Although being a gay soldier during WWI had ups and downs, it also provided previously unavailable opportunities for gay men to find love, connection, and self-realization.

The army forced hypermasculine expectations on their soldiers, which led to many soldiers having relations with one another. When World War I started, many countries needed to find soldiers fast. They wanted strong soldiers to fight against enemy forces. This led to propaganda and news outlets talking about how ideal soldiers should be the definition of masculinity. Many men had to meet high expectations, such as being abstinent for their wives back home or trying to function correctly even though they knew they could die. Due to this, multiple people thought of themselves as inferior to the model soldier. They started to look down on themselves and compared their accomplishments to other soldiers. This was the start of many homoerotic relations in the army.

There was, however, a difference between homoerotic relationships and homosexual relations. Homoerotic would describe many men who found comfort in one another, whether through cuddling or having intimate emotional relationships. These men might have had sexual relationships with other soldiers but would not identify themselves as homosexual. Homosexual relationships were between people who did identify as gay and yearned for a relationship with a man throughout life. In an interview with IWM, Albert Arthur Heron detailed his experience of being a soldier and being a homosexual man. He mentioned that the army knew about many relationships between soldiers. It was so common they had to warn newcomers about how they would be kicked out if they were caught in a relationship with another man. But he also said that many of the generals worried more about the war than who their men were sleeping with. When speaking of newcomers and how they were treated, Heron mentioned something interesting, "Many newcomers were taken under the wing of older men… these men wanted to possess their mind, body, and soul, and would get quite jealous if they saw them talking with other people. Around 30% of these relationships were indeed homosexual." He talks about a clear difference between homosexual and homoerotic relationships, and soldiers could tell what relationship was what. Also, many of the men were either tired of not having sex or just found comfort in their peers. Some men also had relationships with men they strived to be. The gender structure that many men experienced in their home life disappeared, so many turned to comradeship. 

This notion of comradeship had elements of masculinity and femininity, which soldiers used to cope with the mass amounts of stress they experienced. The media also portrayed weak soldiers as very feminine and fragile. According to Thomas Kühne, this was when soldiers blended masculine and feminine traits to fill all of the roles in their comradeship. This fantasy was created for soldiers to become women to try and alleviate the strain they felt due to the war. This caused some men to play stereotypically female roles in the trenches with their male mates. Homosexual men found that they did not have to hide who they were and could lift a weight off of their soldiers as many of the men in the trenches understood the feelings they were going through. Not only were their comrades understanding, but their leaders did not care. To them, the war effort was central and prioritized everything else, so a couple of people having relationships in barracks was not enough to raise the alarm. This is combined with the fact there were more pressing issues causing leaders to not look into their men's relationships. 

After the war, many soldiers came home to the same oppressive environment they left. Many of the men were used to an environment where they could be open about their sexuality and gender identity. However, they realized that they had to go back to the way things were before the war when returning home, back to being trapped in an environment where no one accepted their sexual orientation. If a soldier was openly gay, many people just assumed that he was mentally ill or suffered from the war. So when doctors decided that people needed to be cured, sending soldiers to mental institutions to be a part of the LGBTQ+ became the norm. Many of these men had to suffer in harsh conditions and be treated like they were less than for something they could not control. Soldiers had to endure electroshock therapy and boiling baths that lasted hours.

Another big thing was lobotomies, which would make them a shell of a person and have no emotions or independent thoughts. Not only did they have to come back to the world they left, but homophobia was more present than ever. Many people believed that the torture gay men experienced at the hands of doctors worked due to propaganda shared by the government. The war used a lot of propaganda to make sure the population was on board with the idea of tot. This included ways the army recruited soldiers; many of the posters seen from that time were powerful and masculine men as the center of attention. As well as slogans that imply this is the perfect man. So even though soldiers were heroes that fought for their countries in a global war if they didn't fit into society's narrow-minded idea of routine, they were shunned. With society's narrowmindedness came fear. 

With the fear of both being shunned by the people they know and potentially getting sent to a mental hospital, many men suppressed who they were. Due to this, the previously productive male relationships they witnessed during the war disappeared, and their relationships with other men quickly diminished. Albert Arthur Heron talked about life after the war in his interview with IWM, "It was common for sailors to go to huge halls filled with prostitutes. Many of the men who were previously in homoerotic relationships would frequent the halls. The gay men would also come and sleep with any male prostitutes working that day." Coming back home from the war caused many of the men to not be able to form genuine relationships with other gay men. Some men went back to the lives they hated, having to marry a woman and return home to their family. At the same time, others lived the rest of their lives in discontent.

After the war, Weimar Germany was one of the few places that changed its opinions and philosophies about society progressively. While most of Germany struggled economically and became more close-minded, Weimar and a few other cities flourished. Since the imperial forces occupying and controlling Germany fell, new ideas were brought forth, and people realized they did not need to fit into the boxes the government carved out for them. Fantastic art and political movements came out of Weimar, a prominent one being the Bauhaus Movement. This was an art movement that believed that architecture and design were a realm that could bring beauty being beauty to everything. They also let women vote in 1919. Outside-of-the-box ideas such as the Bauhaus movement were only understood in places like Weimar. People in Britain or the U.S. would not understand many of the points the people of Weimar were trying to make. Everyone that lived there was very forward-thinking. It was encouraged to experiment with sexual orientation and gender expression. After the war, many soldiers found comfort in cities like Weimar; they could be themselves and found other like-minded individuals. People living in Weimar were constantly immersed in rich culture and bright colors, and staying out late to party was all the rage. Many met up with other people at different social events to critique how Germany was run.

Another thing that many soldiers found contentedness in was the fact that money in Weimar was worthless. Hyperinflation in Germany was so extreme that many people used the money for strange purposes, such as starting fires with them or using them as kids toys. Since many people didn't have to worry about money anymore, they had time in their lives to appreciate the finer things in life. This was another reason many people were so open to new ideas and expressing themselves.

A few years after the boom in Weimar, the Nazis took over and destroyed what little hope many gay veterans had. The Nazi party was a socialist, fascist party that believed the Aryan race was the superior race; there was no way to become a part of this race unless you were blonde, blue-eyed, and white. They discriminated against many people, specifically Jewish people. The Nazis also hated LGBTQ+ people. They thought they would weaken their dream race. So to exterminate that part of their population, they sent over 50,000 gay people to jail and murdered thousands of others. Weimar, the city with many brilliant and talented people who helped build up from nothing, fell. Nazis targeted gay bars, clubs, and associations. They silenced any gay media that would try and bring awareness to the mounting Nazi regime. Many of the soldiers who once felt safe in their communities had to go back into hiding. This made people feel very lonely, and many fell into despair. No longer could they meet with other people who had similar experiences. Now it was like before the war, they couldn't find partners or people to love, and if they did, they risked being caught and thrown in prison. Even if someone was a soldier in the past, it meant nothing to this new regime. It would not be called a mental illness that needed to be cured, instead, it was seen as a disease that needed to be stamped out and eradicated.

Many people in the army still face persecution for who they love or identify with. This was not just an issue in WWI and WWII; oppressive regimes such as the Nazi party and narrow-minded social views are still in place. On April 12, 2019, the Transgender Military Ban was put in place, and this law barred trans people from joining the military. The same closed-off way of thinking used over 100 years to discriminate against LGBTQ+ people is still very much alive. Many people who have political power have a reactionary form of thinking. Rather than trying to progress, they want to go back to a supposedly "better time" and try to reenact past political ideas. A person's sexuality or gender identity does not affect how they will perform in the military, and it is merely a part of their identity. The U.S. government has created a system that encourages the hatred of others that do not seem to fit into their nationalist group. Looking back in time shows what will happen if nobody takes action.

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