Allan Bérubé Allan Ronald Bérubé ( December 3 , 1946 – December 11 , 2007 ) was an American historian , activist , independent scholar , self - described " community - based " researcher and college drop - out , and award - winning author , best known for his research and writing about homosexual members of the American Armed Forces during World War II . He also wrote essays about the intersection of class and race in gay culture , and about growing up in a poor , working - class family , his French - Canadian roots , and about his experience of anti - AIDS activism . Among Bérubé ' s published works was the 1990 book " Coming Out Under Fire " , which examined the stories of gay men and women in the U . S . military between 1941 and 1945 . The book used interviews with gay veterans , government documents , and other sources to discuss the social and political issues that faced over 9 , 000 servicemen and women during World War II . The book earned Bérubé the Lambda Literary Award for outstanding Gay Men ' s Nonfiction book of 1990 and was later adapted as a film in 1994 , narrated by Salome Jens and Max Cole , with a screenplay by Bérubé and the film ' s director , Arthur Dong . The film received a Peabody Award for excellence in documentary media in 1995 . Bérubé received a MacArthur Fellowship ( often called the " genius grant " ) from the John D . and Catherine T . MacArthur Foundation in 1996 . He received a Rockefeller grant from the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in 1994 to research a book on the Marine Cooks and Stewards Union , and he was working on this book at the time of his death . Bérubé was born in Springfield , Massachusetts , and lived with his family in Monson , Massachusetts , and later in a trailer park near the waterfront in Bayonne , New Jersey . He lived for a time in Boston and for many years in San Francisco . He moved to New York City , and finally settled in Liberty , New York , where he died in 2007 . Starting in 1979 , Bérubé was interviewed about his work in publications including " Time magazine " , " The New York Times " , the " Washington Post " , " The Advocate " , " magazine " , " Gay Community News ( Boston ) " , and the " San Francisco Examiner " . His many radio and television appearances included interviews by Studs Terkel , Sonia Freedman on CNN , and two by Terry Gross on National Public Radio ' s " Fresh Air " . Bérubé was twice elected Trustee , Village of Liberty , Liberty , NY , 2003 and 2005 . He also played a major role in saving the historic Munson Diner , which was moved to Liberty from Manhattan in 2005 . Personal and professional papers . The records of Bérubé ' s life and work are preserved by the GLBT Historical Society in San Francisco , of which he was a founding member . Bérubé donated the research and administrative files of his World War II Project to the society in 1995 , with an accretion in 2000 ( collection no . 1995 - 16 ) . That collection is processed and open to researchers ; a finding aid is available on the Web at the Online Archive of California . Bérubé also donated the records of the Forget - Me - Nots ( collection no . 1989 - 10 ) , an affinity group of which he was a member ; the group performed civil disobedience at the United States Supreme Court during the 1987 Second National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights , with each participant protesting in honor of an individual who had died of AIDS . Following Bérubé ' s death , the executors of his estate donated his complete personal and professional papers to the Historical Society . The society has processed the papers , opened them to researchers and posted an online finding aid ; the collection includes more than 75 linear feet ( 150 - plus boxes ) of records . A number of other collections of personal papers and organizational records at the GLBT Historical Society also include correspondence from Bérubé and other material documenting his work ; details are available by searching the society ' s online catalog of manuscript collections . Bibliography . S . , K . " Outing History : Allan Berube , X ' 68 , wrote Coming Out Under Fire to tell the history of gay men and lesbian women in World War II . " University of Chicago Magazine , February 1997 . available online United States Senate . Quotations from Allan Bérubé . " I do my work now in the borderlands between social classes , between the university and the community , between heterosexual and homosexual , between educated speech and down - to - earth talk , between Franco - American and Québécois , between my family and the gay community . " From the essay " Intellectual Desire . " " None of us can do our best work until we believe that the life of the mind really does belong to us . " From the essay " Intellectual Desire . " References . This biography and list of accomplishments is being compiled from documents and notes in Bérubé ' s files and from research in other cited sources .