But some leaders, as well as rank and file members, of the Nazi Party held attitudes that were more varied and ambivalent. There were known gay men in the Nazi movement, most notably Ernst Röhm. Röhm used the word “
gleichgeschlechtlich,” same-sex oriented, to describe himself. He was the leader of the
SA (
Sturmabteilung, commonly called Stormtroopers), a violent and radical Nazi paramilitary.
For Röhm, his sexuality did not conflict with Nazi ideology or compromise his role as SA leader. In Röhm’s understanding, legalizing sexual relations between men was not about encouraging liberal democratic rights or tolerance. Rather, he believed it was about the overthrow of mainstream morality. Röhm wrote that the “prudery” of some of his fellow Nazis “does not seem revolutionary to me.”
Röhm’s sexuality was an open secret in the Nazi Party that turned into a public scandal in 1931. A leftist newspaper outed Röhm as gay. His sexuality was then used in the election propaganda of the moderate-left Social Democratic Party (
Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands). Despite the controversy, Hitler defended Röhm. Röhm remained in charge of the SA until Hitler had him murdered in 1934.