I'm a Gay Army Officer—Queer Troops Mt Fight Back

Contents:

• GAYS THE MILARY
• I'M A GAY ARMY OFFICER—QUEER TROOPS MT FIGHT BACK
• ARMY’S FIRST OPENLY GAY GENERAL RETIR AFTER SPIRG OTHERS
• EP 10. GAYS IN THE MILARY
• I THOUGHT I COULD SERVE AS AN OPENLY GAY MAN THE ARMY. THEN CAME THE DEATH THREATS.

GAYS THE MILARY

Army Rerve, participat a lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr and queer panel discsn June 24, 2021. WASHINGTON -- Soldiers reprentg the lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr and queer muny virtually celebrated Pri Month Thursday as part of a discsn that marked another step the Army’s growg regnn toward the LGBTQ muny. Every June, Pri Month is a natnal observance that is held to memorate the Stonewall Uprisg Manhattan, New York, 1969, a historic tippg pot wh the gay liberatn movement to empower all LGBTQ Amerins.

The directive was a promise measure that barred LGBTQ-intifyg persons om ary service, but also prohibed ary personnel om discrimatg agast, or harassg, closeted gay and lbian troops.

Even 2011, after lawmakers repealed the directive, the repeal only ensured gay, lbian and bisexual troops uld openly serve. “I was explicly asked on my [enlistment] forms: Are you gay?

I'M A GAY ARMY OFFICER—QUEER TROOPS MT FIGHT BACK

Tammy Smh participate a lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr and queer panel discsn June 24, 2021. “I didn’t know whether the two uld align: me beg gay and servg the Army, ” he said.

But as a gay man, I have been fightg my whole life to enjoy the very privileg I am entled to as both a beholr and protector of them. I was one of few soldiers who joed the service before graduatg high school, but the admistratn at the time, which I believe was homophobic, chose to act as if I never existed bee of my queer hate that I experienced growg up on Long Island was my first enunter wh how others would treat me as a queer soldier. 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. 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.

ARMY’S FIRST OPENLY GAY GENERAL RETIR AFTER SPIRG OTHERS

“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. In Livg Color season 4 episo 10, tled "Gays In The Milary, " explor the ntroversial topic of allowg gay dividuals to serve openly the armed forc.

Throughout the episo, there are var segments that highlight the experienc and challeng of gay soldiers. In a sketch tled "Basic Trag, " a group of gay soldiers stggle to keep their sexualy a secret while unrgog ary trag. The sketch is an tertg cril look at the stutnalized discrimatn that occurs wh the ary agast gays and other margalized groups.

Another sketch, "Gays In The Milary Drill Team, " featur a group of gay soldiers who e their drill team to mpaign for equal rights wh the ary.

EP 10. GAYS IN THE MILARY

In addn to explorg gay soldiers' experienc, the episo also featur other edic sketch that poke fun at the ary general. Overall, "Gays In The Milary" is a satiril look at the plexi and absurdi of the ary and s relatnship wh the LGBTQ+ muny. In Livg Color: Gays the Milary (1992).

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.

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

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. 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.