13. Having lied to get into the Navy, Lenny Bruce lied to get out
As the war drew to a close, Lenny grew bored with the Navy. A slapstick performance in which he dressed in drag upset his officers, and that gave him an idea: he checked into the Brooklyn’s sick bay to report that he was feeling gay. He described having been normal when he joined the Navy, but his shipmates gave him “abnormal attention”, including feeling his body and kissing him. As a result, he became attracted to some of his comrades. The medical officer reported to the captain that 19 year old Lenny was suppressing homosexual tendencies, but the desire and temptation kept getting stronger. The Navy sent him for a psychiatric evaluation because he had “a tremendous amount of homosexual drive“.