Most lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr service members are still reluctant to disclose their sexual orientatn or inty.
Contents:
- I'M A GAY ARMY OFFICER—QUEER TROOPS MT FIGHT BACK
- I THOUGHT I COULD SERVE AS AN OPENLY GAY MAN THE ARMY. THEN CAME THE DEATH THREATS.
- CAN GAY PEOPLE JO THE ARY?
I'M A GAY ARMY OFFICER—QUEER TROOPS MT FIGHT BACK
* can you join the military if you are gay *
Sce 2011, openly gay, lbian and bisexual men and women have been permted to serve the ary.
I THOUGHT I COULD SERVE AS AN OPENLY GAY MAN THE ARMY. THEN CAME THE DEATH THREATS.
It wasn’t until 1982 that the ary enacted a policy explicly banng gay men and lbians om their ranks.
And the early 1940s, was classified as a mental illns, disqualifyg gay men and lbians om service. Eighteen years later, Congrs repealed the policy, allowg openly gay, lbian and bisexual people to serve the ary.
CAN GAY PEOPLE JO THE ARY?
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. 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.