re: #94 Cato the Elder

Actually, a large number of the leaders and the rank-and-file members of the SA were militant gays, including Erich Rhm, the top guy.

Another hindrance was the more or less open homosexuality of Rhm and other SA leaders such as his deputy Edmund Heines. [4][5] In 1931, the Mnchener Post, a Social Democratic newspaper, obtained and published Rhm’s letters to a friend in which Rhm discussed his sexual affairs with men. This resulted in a national scandal.

But this was not a mark in their favor with Hitler. In fact, it was one of the main reasons for the Night of the Long Knives.

From my (admittedly lacking in places) knowledge of this period, my take was that Rhm, and a couple others were gay, but the vast majority of the SA youths were similar to neo-nazi youths of the present day. Also, the main reason for the SA purge was that in 1933 they were pushing to become a part of (or actually replace) the German Army - which the military didn’t want any part of. By this time, Hitler had ascended as leader of Germany, and the rest, as they say, is history.