Twelve years after repeal of the ban on gay and lbian troops servg openly, no one the ary or Veterans Admistratn knows how many vets are still whout the benefs they're owed.
Contents:
- I THOUGHT I COULD SERVE AS AN OPENLY GAY MAN THE ARMY. THEN CAME THE DEATH THREATS.
- I'M A GAY ARMY OFFICER—QUEER TROOPS MT FIGHT BACK
- US ARMY GENERAL COM OUT AS GAY, INTRODUC HIS ‘HBAND’ AT PENTAGON GAY PRI EVENT
I THOUGHT I COULD SERVE AS AN OPENLY GAY MAN THE ARMY. THEN CAME THE DEATH THREATS.
* army is gay *
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. Mike and Abe were to mentor me on how to survive as a gay serviceman. As long as gay soldiers kept their mouths shut, the burn of proof fell on those makg the accatns.
I'M A GAY ARMY OFFICER—QUEER TROOPS MT FIGHT BACK
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. 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. 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.
At the time, gay troops weren't allowed the ary. But two years to his enlistment, Steffanis got spotted at a gay bar near his base. "They cut my locker open and found some gay magaz, " he says.
US ARMY GENERAL COM OUT AS GAY, INTRODUC HIS ‘HBAND’ AT PENTAGON GAY PRI EVENT
Not only was agast the ary regulatns, gay sex was still illegal Virgia, and many other stat. "They threw me the brig, put me on bread and water — was huiatg --for beg gay, " says Steffanis.
" As long as they kept secret, gay and lbian troops uld serve. Rumors sprouted about how he wasn't datg women or had reported on others for g homophobic slurs.