Eric Fanng, first openly gay Army secretary, on embracg ‘honor’ and fixg a ‘tired' Army

Contents:

• ERIC FANNG, FIRST OPENLY GAY ARMY SECRETARY, CONFIRMED BY U.S. SENATE
• SENATE NFIRMS FIRST OPENLY GAY OFFICIAL TO TOP CIVILIAN ARMY POST
• ERIC FANNG, FIRST OPENLY GAY ARMY SECRETARY, ON EMBRACG 'HONOR' AND FIXG A 'TIRED' ARMY
• ARMY’S FIRST OPENLY GAY GENERAL RETIR AFTER SPIRG OTHERS
• MEET THE MAN WHO MAY BEE THE FIRST OPENLY GAY ARMY SECRETARY
• UK DEFENCE SECRETARY BEN WALLACE SAYS HE WAS ‘PROBABLY WRONG’ TO CLAIM GAY PEOPLE E ‘SEXUAL ICTN’ ARMED FORC
• BRISH SOLDIERS SACKED FOR BEG GAY N GET THEIR MEDALS BACK
• HISTORY OF GAYS THE MILARY--PICTURES

ERIC FANNG, FIRST OPENLY GAY ARMY SECRETARY, CONFIRMED BY U.S. SENATE

This June, we celebrate Pri Month across the Department by regnizg the extraordary achievements of our lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr service members and civilian employe. So he took up a new fight urtrooms across the untry—a fight for his right to serve his untry as an openly gay man. Kameny was later hired as an astronomer for the Army Map Service -- until he was fired 1957 for beg gay.

Frank Kameny spent the rt of his life at the foreont of the gay-rights movement – by mentorg the next generatn of activists, cludg Leonard Matlovich; by marchg protts; by foundg the Mattache Society of Washgton, a pneerg gay-rights advocy anizatn; and, 1961, by brgg the first civil-rights claim based on sexual orientatn all the way up to the U. But I’m nfint that we’ll get there bee of all of you… and bee of all the lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr service members and civilians around the world who never stop livg the valu that they so bravely fend. Fanng be the first openly gay lear of any U.

Ary service — a tone not lost on gay rights groups, g five years after the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell, " which had prohibed gay and lbian service members om beg open about their Fanng at the 30th Space Symposium Corporate Partnership dner Colorado Sprgs, Colorado, May Wood / U.

SENATE NFIRMS FIRST OPENLY GAY OFFICIAL TO TOP CIVILIAN ARMY POST

Related: Obama to Nomate Eric Fanng for Army, Would Be 1st Openly Gay Service ChiefFanng prevly served as the Army secretary's prcipal adviser on management and operatn. "Related: First Openly Gay Army Secretary Nomee Stalled by Sgle SenatorFanng's path to the post began roughly eight months ago, but was stymied when Roberts held up nfirmatn.

The Senate on Tuday nfirmed Eric Fanng to be secretary of the Army, makg him the first openly gay secretary of a U. “The first openly gay lear of a U. Army Secretary Eric Fanng, the first openly gay lear of any U.

ERIC FANNG, FIRST OPENLY GAY ARMY SECRETARY, ON EMBRACG 'HONOR' AND FIXG A 'TIRED' ARMY

”"It is the bt job that I have ever had — and an credible honor, " Fanng Senate nfirmed Fanng’s nomatn last month, a move that me five years after Congrs repealed the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that had banned openly gay service members om servg the U.

RELATED: Wele to NBC OUT — elevatg the nversatn around LGBTQ news“I was first this buildg the Clton admistratn as a 24-year-old junr ai and I end up leavg, bee I didn't see that there was a future for me as an openly gay man, ” he said. “I feel a rponsibily as secretary of the Army, not jt bee of the historil nature of the appotment bee I'm gay, ” he said. A report released today found LGBT members of the armed forc had suffered sexual abe, vlence and homophobic bullyg.

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. 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.

ARMY’S FIRST OPENLY GAY GENERAL RETIR AFTER SPIRG OTHERS

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. If nfirmed by the Senate, the first openly gay US Army secretary, Eric Fanng, uld help lead Ameri’s rps of fightg men and women to uncharted terrory, on many onts.

Fanng, who has already served actg Secretary of the Air Force the Obama admistratn, has the power to fluence policy and promotn and, th, set a tone for Army culture remas ristant, to an extent, to open tegratn of gay soldiers to the ranks and the promotn of women to bat 2011, soldiers were regularly expelled om the ranks after brass found out that they were gay. Fanng “undoubtedly has a masterful grasp on ary policy … [and] further, havg an openly gay dividual high level posns wh the Department of Defense sets the tone at the top” to better unrstand the needs of gay soldiers and their fai, said Matt Thorn, terim executive director of OutServe-Service members Legal Defense Network, a Washgton-based anizatn that seeks LGBT equaly the ary. "Ined, sce the US end s 17-year-long “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy 2011, predictns that straight soldiers would leave the service and morale would plummet have not been borne out by facts on the ground, acrdg to anonymo admistratn officials ced by The New York soldiers expelled as homosexuals are now fightg for honorable discharg.

MEET THE MAN WHO MAY BEE THE FIRST OPENLY GAY ARMY SECRETARY

In dog so, Fanng beme the first out gay head of any branch of the U. Conservative Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has dismissed his prev belief that gay people would “weaken” the armed forc as “bbish. The Tory mister was challenged by the Stland’s Prs and Journal newspaper over views he had exprsed 1999 about gay people the ary, while he was stg the Sttish Parliament.

UK DEFENCE SECRETARY BEN WALLACE SAYS HE WAS ‘PROBABLY WRONG’ TO CLAIM GAY PEOPLE E ‘SEXUAL ICTN’ ARMED FORC

Wrg the same newspaper at the time, Wallace had cricised a European Court of Human Rights lg that stck down the ban on gay people servg the ary.

Dpe claimg that his views about gay people the armed forc have evolved, Wallace was one of jt 98 MPs who voted agast extendg same-sex marriage to the UK’s overseas ary bas 2014. Thoands of Brish ary personnel who were dismissed on grounds of homosexualy will be able to have their service medals rtored if they had been taken away when they were kicked out of the armed rights mpaigners weled the move as the “first step on a journey” but said that issu such as endurg crimal rerds, lost pensn rights and still blemished service rerds now need to be alt wh by the Mistry of law, gay men and lbian women were banned om servg the Brish ary until 2000. Those found guilty of beg homosexual sometim went on to a serve a prison term, typilly several months Mercer, the veterans mister, said the announcement “addrs a historic jtice”.

BRISH SOLDIERS SACKED FOR BEG GAY N GET THEIR MEDALS BACK

Photograph: Yui Mok/PAThe last serviceman to be sent to prison for beg homosexual was David Bonney, who was found guilty at a urt martial Cornwall 1993.

Bonney had joed the RAF aged 17 1987 and said he had “learned and accepted I was gay” when he served durg the first Gulf said he was subject to a two-year vtigatn after a py of Gay Tim had been found his room.

That clud, he said, “buggg my room, havg people follow me, placg officers outsi the lol gay bars to spy on people gog , g the lol police statns to take my iends to, to terview them and altogether create terror and fear among my iends and associat” urt martial sentenced him to six months prison, of which he served four cludg one month of solary nfement, and left him wh a crimal rerd – although followg an appeal his discharge was changed to honourable. Before the repeal, gay troops uld serve but uldn’t reveal their orientatn.

HISTORY OF GAYS THE MILARY--PICTURES

At the same time, a mandg officer was prohibed om askg a service member is he or she was gay.

Dpe sayg he is on the "left of the party", Wallace voted agast the troductn of gay marriage 2014. Gat, the former secretary of fense and director of the Central Intelligence Agency, was elected print of the Boy Suts of Ameri on Thursday, formally takg learship of an anizatn that ntu to be roiled by s policy on gay Suts and Gat, 70, who has also been print of Texas A&M Universy, is the rare Boy Suts print to have a natnal reputatn before beg elected, which uld bee important as prsure on the group persists om rporatns, relig groups and advot for equal rights. While servg as fense secretary, he supported the 2010 repeal of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy on gay men and lbians servg openly the Gat created a stir this year his tobgraphy, when he was cril of Print Obama.

”Sce last May, when the Boy Suts’ natnal board voted to allow openly gay children to bee Suts but to ntue to bar openly gay adults om learship posns, the group has been cricized by some for havg gone too far, and by others for not gog far enough.