Violette Morris

Violette Morris (1893-1944) was a decorated French athlete, race car driver, military nurse and Nazi intelligence operative.

A wild child from a French noble family, Morris spent her teenage years in a convent where she displayed an incredible aptitude for sports. At the age of 15 she was competing at the highest levels of boxing, swimming, weightlifting, javelin, shot put and discus. She was fond of describing herself with her cheeky motto "Anything a man can do, Violette can do".

Morris married Cyprien Gouraud in 1914 just before the outbreak of the First World War. During the war she served as military nurse driving an ambulance on the front lines during the Battle of Verdun and the Battle of the Somme. She also served as a warzone motorcycle courier, wrecking her bike on the crater-filled terrain at least three times, but always completing her mission.

After the war Morris returned to sports, playing for various French Women's Football teams and winning Olympic gold medals for discus, javelin and shot put. Her life driving on the front lines had given her a passion for speed and she competed twice in the Bol d'Or driving a 750cc Benjamin Ruby cyclecar. In 1923 she became the the French national boxing champion. Morris also defied society's expectations of women in her personal life, dressing in men's clothes, smoking heavily and swearing frequently. She was publicly known to be bisexual and was photographed attending the Parisian lesbian nightclub, Le Monocle. In 1929 she had a double mastectomy, stating that her large breasts interfered with her race car driving.

Public opinion eventually turned against Morris. She was banned from entering the 1928 Olympics and was subsequently smeared in the French press. Repeatedly forbidden from entering sporting competitions, Morris became bitter toward French society and in 1935 she agreed to become a spy for Nazi Germany. She was rewarded with a personal invitation from Adolf Hitler to be an honoured guest at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin. Morris provided Germany with French tank schematics and plans of France's defenses along the the Maginot Line, information which proved integral to the German invasion of France in World War 2.

Following the German occupation of France, Morris became a member of the Carlingue, the French wing of the Gestapo secret police. She operated in counter-intelligence working against British SOE forces that were supporting the French Resistance. She was so effective in infiltrating resistance networks and extracting information through torture that she became known as the 'Gestapo's Hyena'. Her notorious success eventually led to resistance forces plotting to assassinate her. On April 26th 1944 Morris was driving her sports car when she was fatally ambushed by Resistance commandos armed with machine guns. Nobody claimed her body and she was buried in a communal grave.

Catherina Linck

Catherina Margaretha Linck (c.1687 - 1721) was a Prussian soldier who lived in the early 18th century. Linck spent most of their adult life presenting themselves as a man and it is a subject of discussion as to whether Linck can be best described as a transman, a lesbian woman who impersonated a man, or genderfluid.

An illegitimate child of a widow, Linck was raised in an orphanage in Halle, which they then left aged 14. They spent a number of years with a religious group known as 'Inspirants', likely a form of Quakers. Linck went on to disguise themselves as a man in order to enlist as a soldier in the army of Hanover, using the name 'Anastasius Lagrantinus Rosenstengel'. They served in the army for 3 years until they deserted in 1708. When arrested for desertion Linck declared themself to be a woman in order to avoid being hanged, which was then verified by a medical examination.

Over the next several years Linck served in a number of armed forces across Prussia, including a Polish garrison and the army of of Hesse. However these periods of service repeatedly came to an end either due to Linck deserting or being exposed as a woman. When out of the army Linck worked in the cloth trade, often alternating their dress between male and female. When presenting as a man Linck used a horn to allow them to urinate while standing and wore a strap-on dildo made of stuffed leather when having intercourse with women.

In 1717 an impoverished Linck married an 18-year old woman named Catharina Margaretha Mühlhahn, using the same alias of Anastasius. The marriage was disapproved of by Mühlhahn's mother, who ultimately tore off Linck's clothes in a violent confrontation and reported them to the authorities. Both Linck and Mühlhahn were put on trial for the crime of 'female sodomy', to which Linck pleaded guilty. However Linck also professed that their intentions toward Mühlhahn had been honourable and that Mühlhahn had not fully understood the nature of their sexual intercourse. This was accepted and Mühlhahn was given a lesser sentence of 3 years imprisonment, followed by exile.

The trial caused controversy as officials could not agree if Linck's had committed sodomy under the biblical definition, punishable by death, or a lesser crime. The case was referred to King Frederick William I, who sentenced Linck to death by beheading. This was an unusual decision for it's time and in 1721 Linck became the last person in Europe to be executed for lesbian sexual activity.

Zoe Dunning

“Zoe Dunning (born as Maria Zoe Dunning) was the only openly gay person allowed to remain on active duty in the U.S. military prior to the end of the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy. She graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1985, and was commissioned an Ensign in the Navy Supply Corps. After attending Navy Supply Corps School in Athens, Georgia, she was assigned to the USS Lexington homeported in Pensacola, FL. At the end of her obligated active duty service, she transferred into the United States Navy Reserve and attended Stanford Graduate School of Business.

At a January 1993 rally in support of Keith Meinhold, who had outed himself to the Navy in 1992 to fight the pre-Don’t Ask Don’t Tell ban on gays in the military, Dunning announced, “I am both a naval officer and a lesbian, and I refuse to live a lie anymore.”

On June 10, 1993, a three-member Navy administrative board recommended that she be honorably discharged despite arguments that the action violated a Federal judge’s ruling the previous winter.

Dunning appealed and argued that she made a statement of status and not conduct. In December 1994, another three-member Navy administrative board unanimously agreed with Dunning’s argument that her public statement that she was a lesbian did not violate Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. She was also promoted between those hearings. Afterwards the military released regulations that made any future use of that defense impossible.

In a letter dated May 24, 1995, the Chief of Naval Personnel wrote Dunning, “Your administrative separation case proceedings are closed, and you will be retained in the Naval Service,” ending a two-year battle.

Dunning retired from the Navy Reserve in 2007. By the time of her retirement she had risen to the rank of commander and had been awarded the Navy & Marine Corps Achievement Medal, and the Navy & Marine Corps Commendation Medal.”

From an anonymous submission to The Female Soldier tumblr.

Catalina de Erauso

Catalina de Erauso, also known as the ‘Nun Lieutenant’, was a legendary Basque soldier and duellist in the 17th century. 

Raised in a convent, De Erauso ran away at age 15 shortly before taking her vows as a nun. As Spanish society allowed little freedom for women, she took to disguising herself as a young man. After a few years roaming Spain as a page, she signed up on a ship to Peru as a cabin boy.

She worked in the Peruvian town of Trujillo in a store, but had to leave after injuring a relative of her employer in a duel. She moved to Lima but again had to leave in shame following a scandal involving a young woman. This led to her enlisting in the Spanish army and fighting in Chile during the Arauco War. At one point she was under the command of her own brother, Miguel, who never recognized her.

On the front lines in Chile, De Erauso reached the rank of lieutenant and became famed for her sword-fighting skills, however she fell into disfavour for killing an enemy leader who her superiors wanted captured alive. Disgraced, she fell into the habits of drinking and gambling, which in turn led to her fighting in a number of duels. This led to tragedy when she inadvertently killed her own brother in a duel gone wrong.

Grief-stricken she became an outlaw and con-artist, on one occasion absconding with a dowry paid to her to marry a young woman. She eventually entered into a convent in Lima after confessing her sex to a bishop. On return to Europe in 1624 De Erauso’s story had become public knowledge and she toured Italy as a celebrity. She was so famous that she was reportedly granted special dispensation by Pope Urban VIII to wear men’s clothing.

She returned to New Spain in 1645, using the name Antonio de Erauso, where she worked as a mule driver on the road from Veracruz. She died in Cuetlaxtla in 1650. Her autobiography, Memoir of a Basque Transvestite in the New World, is still widely read today.

Anne Bonny and Mary Read

Anne Bonny and Mary Read were a famous duo of female pirates who had a violent career in the early 18th century.

Both had unusual teenage years. Anne ran away from Ireland to the Bahamas married to a pirate named John Bonny, although she quickly moved through a string of lovers before setting sail on the Revenge, captained by John “Calico Jack” Rackam. While ostensibly onboard as Rackam’s lover, Anne fought in battles dressed as a man and acquired a bloodthirsty reputation, once stabbing a sailor who complained about her gender.

From the age of 13 Mary Read had been disguised as a boy to serve as a ‘powder monkey’ on a British man-of-war, and later served on a Dutch ship headed to the West Indies. Captured by pirates, she became part of Rackam’s crew, where she met Anne who learned her true identity.

The two became close friends (and possibly lovers), who fought side-by-side in battle wielding pistols and machetes. They served in Rackam’s crew during the height of his campaign in 1720, during which they captured 7 boats and 2 sloops.

This came to an end that October, when their ship was attacked by a ship commissioned by the Governor of Jamaica. The attack came at night when most of the crew were too drunk to fight and the Revenge was quickly disabled. Anne and Mary however refused to surrender and faced off against the enemy crew, but were only able to hold them off for a short time.

The two were sentenced to death in Jamaica but were given a stay of execution as both claimed to be pregnant. Mary died in prison, and Anne’s ultimate fate is unknown.