WASHINGTON -- Sce Maj. Gen. Tammy Smh, the ary’s hight-rankg openly gay officer, me out 2012, she has tried beg an example of livg...
Contents:
- I THOUGHT I COULD SERVE AS AN OPENLY GAY MAN THE ARMY. THEN CAME THE DEATH THREATS.
- GAYS THE MILARY/LGBT LAW
- TELL: AN INTIMATE HISTORY OF GAY MEN THE MILARY
- I WAS GAY THE BRISH ARMY WHEN WAS ILLEGAL. IT DROVE ME TO DRK AND AN ATTEMPT ON MY OWN LIFE
- I'M A GAY ARMY OFFICER—QUEER TROOPS MT FIGHT BACK
- ARMY’S FIRST OPENLY GAY GENERAL RETIR AFTER SPIRG OTHERS
I THOUGHT I COULD SERVE AS AN OPENLY GAY MAN THE ARMY. THEN CAME THE DEATH THREATS.
Most lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr service members are still reluctant to disclose their sexual orientatn or inty. * when would you be gay in the army *
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. 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.
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.
GAYS THE MILARY/LGBT LAW
As "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" to an end, we sent Chris Heath to terview dozens of gay servicemen om the past and prent to fd out what life was really like as Ameri's ary stggled wh s last great inty crisis * when would you be gay in the army *
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. If "the service member has engaged , attempted to engage , or soliced another to engage a homosexual act or acts";. * Allow qualified gay, lbian, and bisexual dividuals who have been voluntarily discharged based on sexual orientatn to rume ary service.
TELL: AN INTIMATE HISTORY OF GAY MEN THE MILARY
Brish Army veteran Trevor Skgle tells his story, two s after the UK's ban on gay, lbian and bisexual people the ary was lifted. * when would you be gay in the army *
Ameri’s alli, cludg the Uned Kgdom, Canada, Israel, and Atralia, allow openly gay, lbian, and bisexual persons to serve the ary, and this has no adverse effect on ary reads or disciple (Belk, 2001, 2003; Belk & Bateman, 2003; Belk & Levt, 2001; Belk & McNichol, 2001). In ntrast to the 24 untri around the globe that officially wele gay, lbian, and bisexual ary service members, the U.
I WAS GAY THE BRISH ARMY WHEN WAS ILLEGAL. IT DROVE ME TO DRK AND AN ATTEMPT ON MY OWN LIFE
* when would you be gay in the army *
In fact, a stop-loss policy durg the Persian Gulf War prevented discharg for homosexualy, strongly suggtg that the U. Ary enacted the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) policy 1993, about 12, 000 lbian, gay, and bisexual ary personnel have been voluntarily discharged solely bee of their sexual orientatn, at least 8% of whom had missn-cril skills.
I'M A GAY ARMY OFFICER—QUEER TROOPS MT FIGHT BACK
The DADT policy, however, works agast effective mental health accs for gay, lbian and bisexual ary personnel for at least three reasons. Send, sce disclosure of sexual orientatn is officially prohibed, gay, lbian, and bisexual service members are liable to avoid accsg mental health servic when they need them (Johnson & Buhrke, 2006). Third, is reasonable to assume that forced secrecy and the fear of beg exposed as gay, lbian or bisexual are likely to disproportnally crease anxiety and dispt optimal performance.
ARMY’S FIRST OPENLY GAY GENERAL RETIR AFTER SPIRG OTHERS
Consistent wh a long-standg body of social psychology rearch based on Allport’s (1954) ntact hypothis, scientists have repeatedly found evince for rced prejudice levels toward gay, lbian or bisexual people among heterosexuals who are acquated wh openly gay, lbian or bisexual members of society (e.
The thors of a prehensive recent meta-analysis of the last six s of rearch this area monstrate that the rrelatn of ntact between heterosexuals and gay and lbian persons wh lower levels of sexual prejudice is signifintly higher than prejudice rctn lked to ntact wh any other target group, e. This is reflected a reprentative recent survey of ary personnel, which 23% of rponnts stated they were certa they worked wh a gay or lbian dividual their ary un. Public opn polls recent years have nsistently shown that two-thirds of the public, on average, believe that gay, lbian, and bisexual service members should be allowed to serve openly the U.
The percentage of ary service members strongly opposed to allowg gay and lbian persons serve the ary has cled nsirably over the last , wh only 5% of personnel the ary a 2006 poll statg that they are “very unfortable” teractg wh gay and lbian persons the ary, ntrasted wh 73% who were somewhat or very fortable this regard (Zogby et al., 2006). Likewise, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the Feral Bure of Invtigatn (FBI), and the Natnal Secury Agency (NSA) do not discrimate agast gay, lbian or bisexual persons.