PRIDE MONTH 2026

In June, the Forte di Fortezza invites you to a three-part online lecture series on the topic of queerness in the military. The series explores historical developments, personal experiences, and current perspectives on sexual and gender diversity within military structures.
To this day, the military remains a space in which ideas of masculinity, discipline, order, and belonging are particularly strongly shaped. The lecture series examines how queer individuals have become, and continue to become, visible within these structures, what forms of exclusion they have experienced, and what changes have emerged over the past decades.
The series brings together voices from academia, society, and practice, inviting participants to consider a long-marginalized topic from multiple perspectives.

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Schedule

Tuesday, 16 June 2026, 3:00 PM
Daniel Gunz

Historian Daniel Gunz researches same-sex sexuality in the armed forces of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In his lecture, he sheds light on historical perspectives on sexuality, the military, and concepts of masculinity in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Wednesday, 24 June 2026, 3:00 PM
Mario Falak-Eismayer and Charles Falak-Eismayer
Queer in the Army
Mario Falak-Eismayer and Charles Falak-Eismayer provide insights into queer experiences in the Austrian Armed Forces. Their story became known to a wider audience through the film Eismayer. The focus is on issues of coming out, recognition, visibility, and change within the military environment.

Tuesday, 30 June 2026, 3:00 PM
Prof. Dr. Isabelle Deflers and Dr. Alissa L’Abbé
University of the Bundeswehr Munich
Isabelle Deflers and Alissa L’Abbé address questions of gender, visibility, and institutional structures. From a historical perspective, they examine exclusion, gaps, and the search for voices that have so far remained largely invisible in male-dominated fields.

The lectures will take place online.
Participation is free of charge.
The access link will be announced in due time.