Navy yeoman remembers his time as a gay serviceman the 'Don't Ask Don't Tell' era : NPR

Contents:

• NAVY YEOMAN REMEMBERS HIS TIME AS A GAY SERVICEMAN THE 'DON'T ASK DON'T TELL' ERA
• NAVY SECRETARY: CHAPLA FED BY ‘CHOICE’ TO INTIFY AS GAY
• TELL: AN INTIMATE HISTORY OF GAY MEN THE MILARY
• “I DID FOR THE UPLIFT OF HUMANY AND THE NAVY”: FDR'S GAY SEX-ENTRAPMENT STG
• US NAVY LNCH SHIP NAMED FOR GAY RIGHTS ACTIVIST HARVEY MILK
• THE U.S. NAVY HAS CHRISTENED A SHIP NAMED AFTER SLA GAY RIGHTS LEAR HARVEY MILK
• NAVY’S FIRST OPENLY GAY SEAL BUILDS HIS LIFE ANEW

NAVY YEOMAN REMEMBERS HIS TIME AS A GAY SERVICEMAN THE 'DON'T ASK DON'T TELL' ERA

DoD LGBTQ+ Timele: This timele not signifint events and polici chronologil orr that had a signifint impact on Department of Defense (DoD) polici, stctns, or orrs as they relate to the Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgenr, and Queer (LGBTQ+) muny. Navy yeoman remembers his time as a gay serviceman the 'Don't Ask Don't Tell' era Navy Yeoman Jab Tate remembers his time as a gay serviceman durg the "Don't Ask Don't Tell" era, which kept openly LGBTQ service members om servg the ary.,. Navy Yeoman Jab Tate remembers his time as a gay serviceman durg the "Don't Ask Don't Tell" era, which kept openly LGBTQ service members om servg the ary.

(Screenshot/YouTube)Edor’s Note: This story has been Secretary Carlos Del Toro told an openly gay chapla that homosexualy is a choice durg an onle town hall event that took place on Monday. They’re fed by your choice to be homosexual, and that we’ve got to work together and have hope and that we will, you know, ntue to make progrs time, ” Del Toro said the vio was posted by Lt. ”Del Toro’s vio answer me om a qutn Newell asked about makg the Navy and the chapla rps ls Navy secretary thanked Newell for his urage askg the qutn and noted that “homophobia is still very much prent many, many circl.

NAVY SECRETARY: CHAPLA FED BY ‘CHOICE’ TO INTIFY AS GAY

The are the voic explag what has been like to be a gay man1 the Amerin ary over the prev seventy or so years, om World War II veterans their late eighti to young servicemen on active duty.

TELL: AN INTIMATE HISTORY OF GAY MEN THE MILARY

"I remember beg the Castro, " says John Forrett (army rerve, 1987–99), "and watchg the TV at a bar wh some iends, watchg Al Gore and Bill Clton swearg that if they beme the tag team for Ameri they were gog to get rid of the harassment of gays and lbians servg the ary. " Gay people were allowed the ary but only as long as they didn’t reveal their sexualy; to facilate this, all members of the ary were also prohibed om quirg about anyone’s possible orientatn.

Servicemen were advised that until then the policy would still apply, and that they uld potentially face s sanctns if they intify themselv publicly as gay. You’re a Mare, you don’t md gettg dirty, gog out to the field and not showerg for weeks at a, if you were gay, when you have to shower wh all the other guys you’d get all exced.

One Man’s Operatn Iraqi FreedomMany gay servicemen the morn era—cludg Eric Alva (Mar, 1991–2004)—have pleted long ary reers whout their sexualy ever beg revealed. And therefore few people realized that the first Amerin serly wound the vasn of Iraq durg the send Gulf war was a gay Alva signed up, before "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, " he had to lie on his paperwork. Lbians have suffered unr the same prohibns and prejudic and share many of the same experienc, as well as some that are distct, but this article ncentrat on the experience of gay men.

“I DID FOR THE UPLIFT OF HUMANY AND THE NAVY”: FDR'S GAY SEX-ENTRAPMENT STG

And when, 2006, the battl over "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" the ary and gay marriage the wir muny were simmerg, Alva’s boyiend at the time poted out to him that he did have some notoriety that might be of e. (The meetgs have been arranged through a private onle work lled OutServe, set up only last year, which allows gay and lbian servicepeople a safe and secure way of fdg and munitg wh one another. To be the ary and still try to live any kd of life as a gay man, ’s not Force #4 (senr airman, four years): "Right now our relatnships don’t exist.

In the shadow of "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, " whenever gay servicemen did face any kd of homophobic harassment, they were powerls to draw attentn to whout potentially triggerg the end of their ary reer. The le self beme the very tool of their opprsn: "The ’Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy, " says Joseph Rocha (navy, 2004–7), "punish homosexuals who ply, and protects bigots.

Of a number of latg events—Rocha was also force-fed dog food and locked to a sh-filled dog kennel—the most abive and explicly homophobic was when he was orred by his manr to act a dog-trag scenar, repeated over and over so that every dog the un uld be n through .

US NAVY LNCH SHIP NAMED FOR GAY RIGHTS ACTIVIST HARVEY MILK

Lovg so much that each scenar was gayer and more disgtg—the troductn of fake semen, that I would have to wipe my face, or that I would have to make slurpg nois. Anyone who gets off thkg that ’Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ unr the Bh admistratn anyone uld have gone and said, ’Hey, I’m beg antagonized unr the prciple that I might be gay’ and feel safe is absurd.

THE U.S. NAVY HAS CHRISTENED A SHIP NAMED AFTER SLA GAY RIGHTS LEAR HARVEY MILK

Life Seventy Years Ago as a Gay Serviceman: World War IIIt was only really around the Send World War that ary discrimatn beme dified and anized, and that the foc moved om simply sanctns agast homosexual acts to an attempt to intify and weed out homosexual tennci—though, as would be seen aga and aga, when fightg bodi were need badly enough, such ncerns would often evaporate. "JM: "I found out right after the war that if someone were discharged as homosexual, a notice of that fact was sent home to their lol draft board, so that their whole muny would e to know that they were gay. And this led directly to the formatn of gay ghettos the major ci, where people who uldn’t go home, bee their sexualy had been revealed by the army, had to move to Greenwich Village or the San Francis Castro.

NAVY’S FIRST OPENLY GAY SEAL BUILDS HIS LIFE ANEW

Manzella operated fully wh the vtigatn; when he was asked for evince that he wasn’t jt claimg to be gay orr to trigger a discharge, he even supplied photos, and footage of him and his boyiend passnately kissg on a road trip. "While he was ployed, the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, a mpaigng group who had been givg him guidance, told him that 60 Mut wanted to do a piece about an openly gay man servg a bat zone, persuadg him that would give a voice to the "65, 000 men and women the ary" who weren’t able to live as openly as he was.

I was nfed until beme clear that, partly by chance and partly by a cha of personal remendatns over the years, this trailer park had bee some kd of gay-veteran hot spot: There are eight or ten others livg here, and more nearby. He says that he didn’t seek promotn past a certa pot bee would have required an vtigatn to get him clearance, and he was ncerned they would disver his subscriptns to gay magaz.

One Man’s Vietnam"Back the ’50s Oregon, " rells Tom Norton (Army, 1968-71), "they were still puttg people jail for homosexual activy, and that certaly sends a strong msage to a young kid.