A Brief History of Gay Milary Policy and Improvg Acceptance, Integratn and Health among LGBT Service Members | USC Social Work

Contents:

• "COMG OUT UNR FIRE": THE STORY OF GAY AND LBIAN SERVICEMEMBERS
• DISCRIMATN AGAST GAYS THE MILARY REARCH PAPER
• NEW PROTECTN AGAST DISCRIMATN OF GAYS, LBIANS THE ARY
• PREVALENCE OF MILARY SEXUAL TRMA AND SEXUAL ORIENTATN DISCRIMATN AMONG LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENR MILARY PERSONNEL: A DCRIPTIVE STUDY
• PENTAGON BARS DISCRIMATN AGAST GAYS, LBIANS UNIFORM

"COMG OUT UNR FIRE": THE STORY OF GAY AND LBIAN SERVICEMEMBERS

Ary agast gay and lbian service members, revealg that more than 29, 000 dividuals kicked out bee of their sexualy were nied honorable have long been timat suggtg about 14, 000 service members were separated om the ary unr "don't ask, don't tell, " the policy that banned gay men and women om servg openly om 1994 to 2011, but the ary has never before shared a tailed breakdown of how many dividuals were nied honorable discharg durg and before "don't ask, don't tell, " when gays and lbians were prohibed om servg at all. The new data, which the nonprof legal servic anizatn Legal Aid At Work obtaed through a Freedom of Informatn Act requt and shared wh CBS News, vers the three s om 1980 until the feral urts lifted the ban agast gay and lbian soldiers, sailors and airmen 2010.

Acrdg to the data, 35, 801 dividuals "received a discharge or separatn bee of real or perceived homosexualy, homosexual nduct, sexual perversn, or any other related reason om the perd October 1, 1980 to September 20, 2011.

When CBS News reached out to the Defense Department about the new figur, officials there produced different numbers om s Office of Legal Policy ditg most service members separated on the basis of homosexual nduct om 1970 to 2011 were discharged unr honorable ndns. While some ary laws directly crimalized homosexual activy, other statut were ed as ver charg to dm gay men and women out of the service, meang the numbers may only reveal a actn of the te toll. As recently as three years ago, gay, lbian, and bisexual Amerins the armed forc were forced to keep their sexualy a secret or risk beg discharged—a risk that would bee a certaty if attemptg to marry a person of the same sex.

DISCRIMATN AGAST GAYS THE MILARY REARCH PAPER

In 2010, Congrs repealed the discrimatory “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, or DADT, which prevented gay, lbian, and bisexual service members om servg openly and wh honty.

It is unclear if gay and lbian veterans will receive spoal benefs if they do not ri a state that regniz same-sex marriage; nservativ are attemptg to make easier for service members to harass gay and lbian troops by tablishg broad exemptns for the relig views of service members; transgenr Amerins are still prohibed om servg any pacy; and some veterans who were kicked out for beg gay or lbian are still fightg for a discharge upgra, which affects their abily to ga health re verage and fd employment. The Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Repeal Act of 2010 was a monumental piece of legislatn for our ary and for gay and lbian service members, but the bill did not firmly put an end to discrimatn for LGBT members of our ary.

Opponents of equaly are also tryg to make easier for service members to harass gay and lbian troops by tablishg broad exemptns for the relig views of service members. ” Essentially, service members uld not be punished for any discrimatory language or nduct—such as harassg gay service members bee they view homosexualy as immoral—as long as they are actg out of relig belief. Moreover, gay and lbian service members will be eligible to receive feral spoal benefs through the ary even if they are statned a state that do not regnize their marriag.

NEW PROTECTN AGAST DISCRIMATN OF GAYS, LBIANS THE ARY

Dpe the ary swiftly and effectively implementg the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, nservativ are ntually pavg the way for service members to harass gay and lbian troops by tablishg broad exemptns for the relig views of service members.

This would merely prerve the stat quo for gay and lbian service members but would actively prevent opponents om givg dividual service members a license to discrimate and tyg the hands of manrs who wish to prevent such nduct. Though the ary’s ban on nsensual sodomy is arguably unenforceable sce the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, many view the law as a relic of the ary’s history of discrimatn agast gay and lbian service members, as appears the same sentence wh btialy the UCMJ. The 1994 documentary Comg Out Unr Fire giv voice to the experienc of thoands of gay and lbian servicemembers who joed the ary durg World War II, a story that is largely ignored by historians and mms across the untry.

PREVALENCE OF MILARY SEXUAL TRMA AND SEXUAL ORIENTATN DISCRIMATN AMONG LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENR MILARY PERSONNEL: A DCRIPTIVE STUDY

Gay and lbian recs were forced to answer qutns vaguely, or lie about their sexualy, orr to be allowed to serve; otherwise, they would n the risk of beg sent home and brand as “sex perverts. Servicemembers on every waront enjoyed drag show entertament; an entire gay lexin was veloped om the wrgs of Dorothy Parker; and eventually an unrground queer newspaper emerged. The feral discrimatory actns drove LGBTQ people further to the shadows of society and embolned law enforcement and policians, who beme more vlent toward gay and lbian cizens.

My only hope is that anizatns around the untry m to pturg the voic of gay, lbian, and transgenr veterans and that we fd a place our history to honor their service as well. We sat down wh Sir John Dermot Turg, Alan Turg’s nephew and thor of a new book on Bletchley Park, to discs his uncle’s role pivotal role puter science and his persecutn for beg gay the 1950s. Although the move was ially blocked a seri of feral urt lgs, the Supreme Court eventually allowed the trans ary ban to go to the rate of sexual harassment and asslt was signifintly higher for gay and bisexual men than heterosexual men, Schyuler noted the likelihood was roughly equal for queer women.

Around 70 percent of lbian, bisexual, and heterosexual women enlisted the ary, for stance, all reported experiencg a statement to the LGBTQ+ news webse Gay Cy News, Schyler poted to the “value system that valu mascule ials” as one reason for the discrepancy between the self-reported rat among queer women and men. LGBT service members are more likely to experience sexual harassment, stalkg, and sexual asslt than their non-LGBT unterparts, and stigma is such that 59 percent of LGBT service members are not openly gay their workplace. However, unlike racism and sexism anizatns, relatively ltle attentn has been paid to heterosexism, or the antigay attus, prejudice, and discrimatn enuntered by gay men and lbians the workplace.

PENTAGON BARS DISCRIMATN AGAST GAYS, LBIANS UNIFORM

In the ary, heterosexuals avoid associatg wh gay and lbian workers bee they fear that they will be perceived as beg gay if they simply extend the “urty” of socializg wh gay lleagu.

“Instead of lockg homosexuals the brig for years or even s–emed not only humane, but also stly and efficient durg World War II–the ary simply discharged them om the service” (Est, p.

Gays and lbians are more likely to be victims of hate crim the Uned Stat than are members of many other social groups associated wh homosexuals, particularly gay men, is related to the AIDS epimic: about 40% of the Amerin populatn holds the outdated belief that AIDS is spread primarily through homosexual behavr (Brouwer, p.