Newport Sex Scandal

[Jay Lerner-Z]

Posted: 10/2/23 at 4:41pm

How familiar are you all with military history?|

This shameful incident took place in 1919. Gay men of Newport, Rhode Island, would often gather at the local Army and Navy YMCA. A safe space where they could enjoy the company of other gay men. At the time, this was not accepted by a homophobic society. Naval officers would frequently visit, until one day a fellow officer named Ervin Arnold discovered their secret and went running to snitch on them.

Word of these activities rose up to the Assistant Secretary of the Navy, one Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The future president promptly ordered a thorough investigation, no expense spared. These gay demons must be held to account. A state detective was put on the case, who arranged for thirteen secret agents to infiltrate the illicit den of sin.

After reporting back to FDR's team. arrest warrants were issued for fifteen sailors. A brutal court martial soon followed, where these unfortunate men were publicly humiliated in graphic detail. The military trial lasted three weeks, and ended with nearly twenty sailors being charged with sodomy and gross misconduct. After being found guilty, fourteen men were sent to naval prison in Maine.

Believe it or not, not everybody agreed with the horrific treatment these sailors endured. A local clergyman had been implicated in the scandal, and his kinfolk rallied around him. A letter of protest was published in The Providence Journal, which soon attracted the ire of Assistant Secretary Roosevelt. This was navy business, not theirs.

Shortly after, in July 1920, FDR resigned as Secretary Assistant of the Navy to accept the Vice President position on the Democrat Party's election ticket. An election he would go on to lose. It was a relief for him to escape the gays. He did not miss the navy. In 1921, a subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Naval Affairs strongly denounced FDR for the way his investigation had taken place. It was considered shameful that not only were these gay men unfairly cornered, but that it was also shameful to use other sailors as bait. The word the committee used to describe these actions was "reprehensible".

Events of history that followed would ensure that this sorry episode would stay forgotten in the FDR history book.

It remained illegal for gay people to serve in the navy for another ninety years.

[Jay Lerner-Z]

Posted: 10/3/23 at 5:18pm

"The Navy Department has become convinced that such conditions of vice and depravity exist in and around Newport as to require a most searching and rigid investigation, with a view to finally prosecuting and clearing out those people who are responsible for it"

                                 Franklin D. Roosevelt, Assistant Secretary of the Navy, March 22nd 1919