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

Contents:

• I'M A GAY ARMY OFFICER—QUEER TROOPS MT FIGHT BACK
• GAYS THE U.S. MILARY ARE NOW PROTECTED AGAST 'WCH HUNTS'
• I THOUGHT I COULD SERVE AS AN OPENLY GAY MAN THE ARMY. THEN CAME THE DEATH THREATS.

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

Half a after the repeal of don’t ask, don’t tell, most lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr service members still felt reluctant to be open about their sexualy wh their lleagu and cha of mand, acrdg to a study released late study, published by the journal Sexualy Rearch and Social Policy, found that 59 percent of rponnts did not feel fortable beg out at work, eher bee of reer repercsns or bee of the burn of beg a token rponsible for tg their peers. ”Dpe the orrs om above, many veterans publicly opposed the 2011 repeal of the ban on gay, lbian and bisexual service for troops who had grown up that environment, the policy’s mise did not flip a swch terms of fort level ― theirs or their lleagu.

“The stctor was reported to e the pejorative term ‘fags’ durg class, disclose other people’s sexual mory inty to his stunts whout their permissn, and munite that he believed sexual mori were more promiscuo than heterosexuals, ” acrdg the the study, based on a rponse om a gay soldier. I am about to be put on a board for major and I do not want to not even have that opportuny to put myself where they n easily be like, ‘Get rid of this guy; if we have to cut 55 percent of the officers up for , he’s one of the easy on we n jt fd a reason to jt ver [ourselv], ' " said one rponnt, a gay Mare. “I had a few iends there [ trag] that I got to know pretty well, but I knew a uple of them had some pretty strong relig backgrounds and I did not really feel like ttg the waters at that pot, ” one rponnt, a gay soldier, said.

I’m like well, the bt way to keep people om beg homophobic is to have them have someone that they know and rpect, who is gay, ” one sailor said.

GAYS THE U.S. MILARY ARE NOW PROTECTED AGAST 'WCH HUNTS'

RELATEDAnd on Monday, the Supreme Court led that the employers nnot discrimate agast their homosexual or transgenr employe. "An employer who fir an dividual for beg homosexual or transgenr fir that person for tras or actns would not have qutned members of a different sex, ” Jtice Neil Gorsuch wrote the cisn. 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 THOUGHT I COULD SERVE AS AN OPENLY GAY MAN THE ARMY. THEN CAME THE DEATH THREATS.

“I was explicly asked on my [enlistment] forms: Are you gay? 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.

“Gay” ed to be one too, or at least was when “homosexual” was the monly-ed term.