Gay Propaganda of WWII

With the recent SCOTUS ruling making gay marriage officially legal in the US, I've been reflecting on how far the States and many other countries have come in LGBT rights. 

 

It's also been a time to reflect on how cultural attitudes regarding homosexuality and notions of what we consider homoerotic have changed. 

 

During World War II all sides produced propaganda to rally their forces. What's interesting about some of the material however is how homoerotic it seems to contemporary eyes. 

 

However, many people of the time would have seen these posters and pamphlets and not drawn that conclusion. It's particularly interesting when you consider that at the time gay people in most countries were deeply closeted, couldn't serve openly in their nation's armed forces, risked imprisonment if they were open about their sexuality, or in case you were under Nazi rule, risked being sent to a Concentration Camp.  

 

These are some of the more explicit pieces I've come across. 

 

 

1) American 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2) Soviet 

 

3) Japanese 

4) German