2 generatns of gay Air Force officers scribe life before and after "Don't ask, Don't tell" - CBS News

Contents:

• OPENLY GAY AIR FORCE MAND CHIEF AT RAMSTE LENDS VOICE OF PERSONAL EXPERIENCE FOR PRI MONTH
• THE FIRST OPENLY GAY U.S. AIR FORCE AMY COMMANDANT
• GAY MAN ‘TORTURED’ FOR DAYS BY AIR FORCE AFTER SEXUALY UNVERED
• GAY SERGEANT CHALLENG THE AIR FORCE
• TELL: AN INTIMATE HISTORY OF GAY MEN THE MILARY
• AIR FORCE HONORS GAY RIGHTS IN THE SERVICE KICKED OUT 1975
• 2 GENERATNS OF GAY AIR FORCE OFFICERS SCRIBE LIFE BEFORE AND AFTER "DON'T ASK, DON'T TELL"
• AIR FORCE LOOKED AT SPRAY TO TURN ENEMY GAY

OPENLY GAY AIR FORCE MAND CHIEF AT RAMSTE LENDS VOICE OF PERSONAL EXPERIENCE FOR PRI MONTH

“No longer will our untry be nied the service of thoands of patrtic Amerins who were forced to leave the ary – regardls of their skills, no matter their bravery or their zeal, no matter their years of exemplary performance – bee they happen to be gay, ” said former Print Barack Obama. Milary psychiatrists theorized that heterosexual mal uld participate homosexual acts while alg wh the strs of war due to the lack of ‘normal’ sexual outlets war-torn areas. To protect Ameri’s servicemen om the ‘threat’ of homosexual men wh their ranks, the ary created more -pth physil and psychologil screengs of potential ary members.

The ary doctors believed that homosexualy uld be tected the physil featur and mannerisms of men and would dismiss recs who displayed the characteristics. “When was ascertaed that the basis of the maladjtment was homosexualy and this was reported to the dividual’s mandg officer, the subject ually received a ‘blue’ discharge, ” said Lt. Gay ary members no longer need to fear that their learship learng of their sexual orientatn will e them to lose chanc at promotn and advancement their reers.

THE FIRST OPENLY GAY U.S. AIR FORCE AMY COMMANDANT

Gay servicemen and women are protected unr the same laws as any other person and offered the same opportuni to excel and live wh a cent qualy of life whout fear of stroyg their reers. “That is why I say to all Amerins, gay or straight, who want nothg more than to fend this untry uniform: Your untry needs you, your untry wants you, and we will be honored to wele you to the ranks of the ft ary the world has ever known, ” stated Obama.

Air Force announced the lnch of two new diversy and cln programs, cludg a Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgenr and Queer/Qutng iative team (LIT) and the Indigeno Natns Equaly Teams (INET). Pri month was created 1999 by Print Bill Clton to regnize the gay and lbian muny and has sce been expand to clu the bisexual and transgenr muny. Michelle Johnson’s e-mail to staff, obtaed by the Colorado Sprgs Inpennt, pats a picture of an acplished officer — the former vice manr of the 59th Bomb Wg and wg manr of the 2nd Bomb Wg, wh experience flyg at least a half-dozen different typ of ary aircraft cludg the B-2 Spir stealth is standard, Johnson left Goodw’s personal life out of the bgraphy, although is signifint, as Goodw will be the first openly gay mandant at the amy.

The 2010 repeal the Clton-era “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” paved the way to allowg gay members of all branch to marry their partners and extend ary benefs to their fai and allow them to live on ’s likely that Goodw would rather be known for her acplishments as an officer, and for her upg tenure as mandant to be fed by the learship she provis ts, than her personal life. Neverthels, ’s not signifint that Goodw land this specific Air Force Amy has equently been embroiled ntroversi over accatns that senr lears there have built a zy relatnship wh fundamentalist Christian groups which have tried to dissemate anti-gay doctr at the ’s also relevant that the Air Force Amy is suated jt outsi Colorado Sprgs, which is home to more than 100 evangelil groups cludg Foc on the Fay, a proment anti-LGBT polil lobby anizatn.

GAY MAN ‘TORTURED’ FOR DAYS BY AIR FORCE AFTER SEXUALY UNVERED

Army photoCase pot, when the Army Tim published the headle that Eric Fanng was the first openly gay person to serve as actg secretary of the U.

However, while atten were generally upbeat and optimistic about the future, they weren’t shy about discsg what they saw as ridual homophobia that hadn’t ught up wh the change Sgt. Joe Carrillo, an fantry bat veteran and openly gay soldier, told War Is Borg that a “generatnal gap” led some senr officers to see the prence of gay troops as a disptive new cultural fad.

Print Donald Tmp — spe voicg his opposn to gay marriage — was mostly ambivalent on the mpaign trail about gays the ary and don’t seem to have strong feelgs on the issue. Mike Pence is outspoken about his belief that gay people are immoral, a harbger of “societal llapse” and that their existence threatens tradnal nuclear ’s fense secretary Jim Mattis had exprsed disfort wh repealg DADT, particularly when he was an active duty Mare. But by the time of his nfirmatn hearg January 2017, his views seemed to have New York senator Kirsten Gillibrand prsed Mattis on the future of gay troops the ary, his reply was “ankly senator, I’ve never red about two nsentg adults and who they go to bed wh.

GAY SERGEANT CHALLENG THE AIR FORCE

It has tght how to balance our prri and ultimately, has refed our ncept of out as a gay man tted the relatnships of those clost to me, yet members of my Air Force fay ntued their support and enuragement as if nothg had changed. ”I share this quote as a remr that we, as members of the lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr muny, have loved on we have vowed to protect jt like our fellow Airmen.

And while I am a gay man, I am proud to say that I intify first and foremost as an ’s LGBT Pri month celebratns are relatively new to as an Air Force, but the importance of s msage should ronate wh every me, pri go far beyond sexual orientatn or intifitn – speaks to the rilience and clivens of our force. It is an honor to put on the same uniform worn by the strongt and bravt dividuals our untry, and I do so every day wh appreciatn for their sacrifice and mment to excellence, tegry and a member of a married, dual-ary, gay uple, I n speak for both my hband and myself when I say I am proud to serve my untry alongsi the great men and women of the Air Force who have allowed and embolned to do so the only way we know how – wh pri. He add: “Although they say you n be open the forc, I would still dispute, if I walked to an army recment office or the mar and said ‘by the way I am gay, I want to jo up’, they would fd everythg they uld to stop me om jog up.

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TELL: AN INTIMATE HISTORY OF GAY MEN THE MILARY

But to actually be lockg ey wh Ellen and hold her, shakg hands as she said, "I'm gay, " on natnal televisn and for the first time, as she has shared outloud that way publicly, was such a profoundly extraordary and timate gift to that moment that I will forever be grateful for. Air Force Sergeant Leonard Matlovich, a rated veteran of the Vietnam War, is given a “general” discharge by the air force after publicly clarg his homosexualy.

Matlovich, who appeared his air force uniform on the ver of Time magaze above the headle “I AM A HOMOSEXUAL, ” was challengg the ban agast homosexuals the U. 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.

"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.

AIR FORCE HONORS GAY RIGHTS IN THE SERVICE KICKED OUT 1975

" 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. 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. 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.

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.

And therefore few people realized that the first Amerin serly wound the vasn of Iraq durg the send Gulf war was a gay Alva signed up, before "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, " he had to lie on his paperwork. Lbians have suffered unr the same prohibns and prejudic and share many of the same experienc, as well as some that are distct, but this article ncentrat on the experience of gay men.

2 GENERATNS OF GAY AIR FORCE OFFICERS SCRIBE LIFE BEFORE AND AFTER "DON'T ASK, DON'T TELL"

And when, 2006, the battl over "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" the ary and gay marriage the wir muny were simmerg, Alva’s boyiend at the time poted out to him that he did have some notoriety that might be of e. (The meetgs have been arranged through a private onle work lled OutServe, set up only last year, which allows gay and lbian servicepeople a safe and secure way of fdg and munitg wh one another.

To be the ary and still try to live any kd of life as a gay man, ’s not Force #4 (senr airman, four years): "Right now our relatnships don’t exist.

In the shadow of "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, " whenever gay servicemen did face any kd of homophobic harassment, they were powerls to draw attentn to whout potentially triggerg the end of their ary reer. The le self beme the very tool of their opprsn: "The ’Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy, " says Joseph Rocha (navy, 2004–7), "punish homosexuals who ply, and protects bigots. Of a number of latg events—Rocha was also force-fed dog food and locked to a sh-filled dog kennel—the most abive and explicly homophobic was when he was orred by his manr to act a dog-trag scenar, repeated over and over so that every dog the un uld be n through .

AIR FORCE LOOKED AT SPRAY TO TURN ENEMY GAY

Lovg so much that each scenar was gayer and more disgtg—the troductn of fake semen, that I would have to wipe my face, or that I would have to make slurpg nois. Anyone who gets off thkg that ’Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ unr the Bh admistratn anyone uld have gone and said, ’Hey, I’m beg antagonized unr the prciple that I might be gay’ and feel safe is absurd.

Life Seventy Years Ago as a Gay Serviceman: World War IIIt was only really around the Send World War that ary discrimatn beme dified and anized, and that the foc moved om simply sanctns agast homosexual acts to an attempt to intify and weed out homosexual tennci—though, as would be seen aga and aga, when fightg bodi were need badly enough, such ncerns would often evaporate. "JM: "I found out right after the war that if someone were discharged as homosexual, a notice of that fact was sent home to their lol draft board, so that their whole muny would e to know that they were gay.