US ary lifts ban on openly gay troops | US ary | The Guardian

Contents:

• ARMY’S FIRST OPENLY GAY GENERAL RETIR AFTER SPIRG OTHERS
• I THOUGHT I COULD SERVE AS AN OPENLY GAY MAN THE ARMY. THEN CAME THE DEATH THREATS.
• US ARY LIFTS BAN ON OPENLY GAY TROOPS
• THE FIRST OPENLY GAY ARMY SECRETARY U.S. HISTORY

ARMY’S FIRST OPENLY GAY GENERAL RETIR AFTER SPIRG OTHERS

Tammy Smh, the ary’s hight-rankg openly gay officer, me out 2012, she has tried beg an example of livg thentilly while also beg a bean of visibily to other Soldiers and their fai.

I THOUGHT I COULD SERVE AS AN OPENLY GAY MAN THE ARMY. THEN CAME THE DEATH THREATS.

The policy banned lbians, gay men and bisexuals om servg the ary. It terrified her to e out as gay such a public way, but she felt a rponsibily to do , she said. As difficult as was for her, g out publicly as gay “may not have been as easy for someone who was at a lower rank, ” Smh said an terview last week.

“When I me durg the 80s, thgs were different for women and gay people, and now 2021, the societal l are different aga. “People mt fd fort and ph back some of that ternalized homophobia, and build a b on the journey between hont and thentic.

US ARY LIFTS BAN ON OPENLY GAY TROOPS

In rponse, and apparently to monstrate his petency his assigned posn, the nonmissned officer had taken upon himself to approach the person he nsired cled toward mtg a siar offense the future: me, the only openly gay soldier my un. Together we approached our un’s learship, where she sisted that the ments had stemmed om the reprentative’s own homophobic feelgs and remend that he be reprimand and removed om his posn as the un’s sexual harassment watchdog.

But by then was hard to ignore the anxiety I felt durg required social activi — “mandatory fun, ” as ’s lled the ary — or the tensn om my fellow moment I cid to bee a soldier and the moment I chose to live openly as a gay man occurred so closely time that ’s hard to remember which me first. It was still four months before the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell, ” a double-edged policy prohibg askg any service member about his or her sexualy while enforcg a ban on openly gay service members.

Mike and Abe were to mentor me on how to survive as a gay serviceman. As long as gay soldiers kept their mouths shut, the burn of proof fell on those makg the accatns. A uple were more elaborate: tailed scriptns of what might happen to me if I was ught alone, and proclamatns about the wrongns of gays the ary.

THE FIRST OPENLY GAY ARMY SECRETARY U.S. HISTORY

There are moments when feels wrong to claim my stat as a veteran; as if beg gay ma me ls of a soldier and somehow validated my service. Every memory evok an emotn: rage that I had to serve wh a nstant sense of fear of my fellow soldiers; paralyzg sadns for those who endured ab worse than I n know; and, the worst, guilt over the service members — gay or straight or transgenr — who died while servg the ary while my body is still whole.

Five years ago, the Uned Stat ary ma history by officially allowg gay and lbian people to openly serve the armed forc whout fear of beg kicked out due to their sexual orientatn. Don't Ask, Don't Tell – the US ary's 18-year ban on openly gay and lbian service personnel – has officially been repealed, herg a new era for the untry's armed a statement Print Barack Obama weled the end of a policy that he said had forced gay and lbian members to "lie about who they are" repeal, which took effect om midnight on Tuday, was celebrated as "momento news" by gay lobby groups across the US, who have long fought agast the policy, and among the ary's timated 65, 000 servg gay and lbian servicemen and said he was nfint that liftg the ban would enhance natnal secury. Prevly, servg gay and lbians who did not keep their sexualy a secret faced beg discharged om the ary.

Opponents had argued that allowg openly gay troops to serve would hamper ary effectivens. "As of today, our armed forc will no longer lose the extraordary skills and bat experience of so many gay and lbian service members. "Last December, the print signed legislatn to repeal the Don't Ask Don't Tell policy (DADT), which had been passed by ngrs and signed to law 1993 unr then-Print Bill paid tribute to gay and lbian troops who had been discharged as a rult of the policy, and to those who had lost their liv to serve their than 14, 500 US service personnel have been thrown out of ary service sce the DADT policy took effect, acrdg to the non-prof watchdog and lobby group, the Servicemembers Legal DefenseDefence a memo, the Pentagon said that the policy would not harm ary reads, un hn or recg and retag members.