7 Reasons to Vis Fort Lrdale, Florida’s Gay Capal

ONE GAY MAN'S ARMY

* fort hood gay *

Merrill is a gay man who enlisted for a bat arms un — that is, the people who do the fightg — as soon as Don't Ask Don't Tell end.

He'd known sce junr high that he wanted to serve, but the anti-gay policy kept him out. A ltle ls than a year later, he was beg huiated ont of almost three dozen people for beg gay. " "Do your parents know you're gay?

" "Why did you choose to be homosexual? Ary nnot be homogeno, the people who succeed the ary are different om most of . Merrill is a gay man a bat arms un — that is, the people who do the fightg — and right now, he's Afghanistan.

FORT HOOD SOLDIER SHAR HIS EXPERIENCE IN THE MILARY AS A GAY MAN OF COLOR

I started emailg wh Merrill July after a soldier iend at Fort Hood who served wh my hband Iraq told me about an openly gay soldier his battaln.

" Merrill wasn't even out of the closet yet — not to his fellow soldiers, not to his fay, and not even pletely to you don't know ary jargon, your ey might glaze over durg bat about the policy trici termg who gets to fight for their untry, whether 's gay soldiers or women bat or whatever. Jam Amos argued that "assiatg openly homosexual Mar to the tightly woven fabric of our bat uns has strong potential for disptn.

" Amos warned bat uns wh gay soldiers uld see more sualti — more Mar whout legs. Argued agast "a major cultural and policy change the middle of a war, " cg a Pentagon survey that "clearly stat that over 40 percent of our bat arms soldiers believe" a gay soldier their ranks would hurt effectivens, tst, and morale.