Navy's first openly gay SEAL builds his life anew - Los Angel Tim

Contents:

• THIS VETERAN'S JOB WAS DISCHARGG GAY SAILORS IN THE NAVY — BUT HE HAD A SECRET
• TELL: AN INTIMATE HISTORY OF GAY MEN THE MILARY
• GAY SAILORS STOCK PHOTOS AND IMAG
• WHEN GAY SAILOR WAS OUTED, HE FOUND HIS NAVY BUDDI HAD HIS BACK
• NAVY’S FIRST OPENLY GAY SEAL BUILDS HIS LIFE ANEW
• GAY NAVY SAILOR'S HOMEG KISS WH HBAND AFTER 7-MONTH DEPLOYMENT SETS OFF OUTRAGE

THIS VETERAN'S JOB WAS DISCHARGG GAY SAILORS IN THE NAVY — BUT HE HAD A SECRET

Throughout 1952, Otto Bremerman sat at his ary sk the personnel office of the Pearl Harbor Naval Base, typg up dishonorable discharg for sailors who had been acced of homosexualy. He knew that the sailors had selflsly taken on the same risks as their heterosexual unterparts to serve their untry durg the Korean War, but bee they were gay, they would now suffer the nsequenc of dishonorable discharge for the rt of their liv.

Wh each keystroke, Bremerman was remd of his own vulnerabily — he was a gay Amerin himself, hidg his inty a untry unwillg to accept his open many stat, om Bremerman’s time until current day, a dishonorable discharge is treated as a felony. ” Dpe his prer posn of thory, Bremerman seized every opportuny available to secretly warn sailors acced of homosexualy before they nfsed. He now knew for certa that he was gay, but until he had his first sexual experience wh a man, he still assumed that this was a temporary phase and when he left the service he would move back home, marry a woman, and have children.

In a Senate mtee report released the midst of Cold War hysteria over the threat of Communist filtratn, homosexualy was characterized as a morally praved danger to natnal secury on the grounds that homosexuals were more vulnerable to extortn for nfintial rmatn by foreign agents. The mtee argued that homosexuals would betray their untry rather than live wh the nsequenc of beg outed for their sexual orientatn. ” This orr jtified the firg of feral employe for “sexual perversn, ” a classifitn that enpassed homosexualy.

TELL: AN INTIMATE HISTORY OF GAY MEN THE MILARY

Stripped of their livelihoods, shamed, and facg potential lastg unemployment, an unknown number of outed gay and lbian feral employe mted suici shortly after they were damagg homophobic stereotyp that solidified durg this perd of history persisted until the 1960s, when the LGBT muny began to fight back. [They would] grow up to bee doctors and lawyers, civil rights advot, and…homosexuals, ” he add wh a said he and his bt iend Charlie me out to each other on Long Island after sneakg to the 1964 World’s Fair wh a group of iends. However, the gay feelgs wouldn’t leave him, and so a fal attempt to “fix” his sexualy, his fay and spirual advisers sent him to gay reparative therapy.

”Sala says the therapist uldn’t fd a psychologil ratnale to expla his homosexualy, so the therapist attempted to persua him that he had been molted as a child and didn’t remember. In 1942, ary psychiatrists clared that homosexuals had “psychopathic personaly disorrs" that ma them unf to fight.

While servg silence durg that perd, many members of the armed forc were verbally huiated, tortured, or raped bee of their real or perceived homosexualy, and now suffer om bilatg mental illns such as prsn, anxiety, and post-trmatic strs livg the barracks at Camp Pendleton, Evelyn Thomas, the Dert Storm veteran, said that her roommat broke to her locker and stole a letter om her mother, which mentned a woman Thomas was datg. Followg World War II, thoands of gay veterans settled San Francis, a port cy where many dishonorably discharged sailors were released om the Navy.

GAY SAILORS STOCK PHOTOS AND IMAG

This diaspora ntued throughout future tim of war; the San Francis Bay Area quickly beme known as the “gay mec” of the Uned Stat for s vibrant and polilly active gay muny. It took s, but we saw chang, ” said the mid-1980s, the HIV/AIDS crisis was vastatg the San Francis gay muny. “It’s heart-achg work, but fulfillg work, ” said endurg stutnalized homophobia through three difficult tours of Iraq, Sala says his exposure to opprsn has transformed the nature of his patrtism.

In an effort to honor one gay veteran’s legacy, Stolakis ma Otto Bremerman’s divid allegiance to his untry and his sexualy the foc of her documentary The Typist, which she filmed while earng her MFA at Stanford Universy. “Readg about Bremerman and the way he was able to shg off the homophobia and live a really happy and full life San Francis felt almost like a foil for my uncle, who eply ternalized the transphobia and was never able to live his life as an out transgenr person, ” said Stolakis. On Memorial Day, gay, lbian, bisexual, and transgenr veterans reflect not only on the honorable sacrifice of Ameri’s fallen soldiers, but also on the fear, disrpect, and abe they endured while servg their untry.

The long history of discrimatn agast LGBT service members spans wars and generatns, takg forms rangg om homophobic remarks and dishonorable discharge to rape, torture, and memorate the long history of LGBT service the ary, the Natnal LGBT Veterans Memorial Project is currently fundraisg to build a memorial at the Congrsnal Cemetery Washgton, D. ”The pleted memorial will ri near the grave of Leonard Matlovich, a gay war hero who beme a revolutnary lear the gay rights movement after he was discharged om the Air Force the early 1970s.

WHEN GAY SAILOR WAS OUTED, HE FOUND HIS NAVY BUDDI HAD HIS BACK

”And turns out Kelley has an equally imprsive knack for life as a his first year the Navy, Kelley was voted to be the print of Strike Fighter Squadron 115′s Coaln of Sailors Agast Dtctive Decisns, beme the public affairs officer for the rrier Reagan’s Gay, Lbian and Supportg Sailors associatn, was named VFA-115′s Blue Jacket of the Year and earned his first Navy-Mare Corps Achievement Medal, a Navy release said. ”Kelley, who was named the pageant queen 2015′s Miss Gay Harrisburg, ntu to fd joy performg drag and as a sailor aboard the Reagan.

“Competg Miss Gay Harrisburg was siar to boardg for Blue Jacket of the Year, ” Kelley said the Navy release. The are the voic explag what has been like to be a gay man1 the Amerin ary over the prev seventy or so years, om World War II veterans their late eighti to young servicemen on active duty.

Life Today as a Gay ServicemanHow we got here: In 1992, many people thought that the discrimatn was nearly over. "I remember beg the Castro, " says John Forrett (army rerve, 1987–99), "and watchg the TV at a bar wh some iends, watchg Al Gore and Bill Clton swearg that if they beme the tag team for Ameri they were gog to get rid of the harassment of gays and lbians servg the ary. " Gay people were allowed the ary but only as long as they didn’t reveal their sexualy; to facilate this, all members of the ary were also prohibed om quirg about anyone’s possible orientatn.

NAVY’S FIRST OPENLY GAY SEAL BUILDS HIS LIFE ANEW

Gay people were only acceptable, effect, to the gree to which they uld succsfully masquera as nongay. Servicemen were advised that until then the policy would still apply, and that they uld potentially face s sanctns if they intify themselv publicly as gay. ’ "Air Force #1: "Two of my iends were disvered, both officers—’s a long and arduo procs for an officer to get kicked out for beg gay.

"Air Force #2 (senr airman, three years): "No one at my job would ever, ever spect that I was gay at all. You’re a Mare, you don’t md gettg dirty, gog out to the field and not showerg for weeks at a, if you were gay, when you have to shower wh all the other guys you’d get all exced.

GAY NAVY SAILOR'S HOMEG KISS WH HBAND AFTER 7-MONTH DEPLOYMENT SETS OFF OUTRAGE

I mean, if you want to hi, the Mare Corps is one of the bt plac to do that, bee nobody wants to adm they are standg next to a gay guy. I had ma about halfway through and the recer was trated wh how long was takg me, and he said, ’Well, basilly, are you gay? One Man’s Operatn Iraqi FreedomMany gay servicemen the morn era—cludg Eric Alva (Mar, 1991–2004)—have pleted long ary reers whout their sexualy ever beg revealed.