The “Most Liberal in nato”?

Homosexuality was a topic that all armed forces were compelled to address at some point – and still are. A comparison between armed forces from around the world helps to put the actions of one state in the context of a bigger picture. This is not only the approach of historians today, but, as this research surprisingly shows, was the approach of the (West) German Federal Ministry of Defence (FMoD) in the late 1960s and after. Using archival sources from the German FMoD, this article examines how the (West) German MoD was interested in and viewed the regulations of other countries’ armed forces when dealing with homosexual service members, and whether and how these insights influenced the actions of the Defence Ministry.1