On this date the American historian, activist, scholar and self-described “community based” researcher ALLAN BERUBE was born (d. 2007).  The award-winning author was best known for his research and writing about homosexual members of the American Armed Forces during World War II. He also wrote essays about the intersection of class and race in Gay culture, and about growing up in a poor, working class family, his French- Canadian roots, and about his experience of anti-AIDS activism.

Among Bérubé’s published works was the 1990 book Coming Out Under Fire, which examined the stories of Gay men and women in the US military between 1941 and 1945.