Tammy Smh: First Openly Gay U.S. General : NPR

Contents:

• WOMAN BE FIRST OPENLY GAY GENERAL
• ARMY GENERAL BE FIRST OPENLY GAY FLAG OFFICER
• SMH SERV AND PROTECTS AS FIRST OPENLY GAY FLAG OFFICER
• MEET BRIG. GEN. TAMMY SMH, THE FIRST OPENLY GAY U.S. GENERAL
• SALUTE IS ORR FOR NEW GAY GENERAL
• MILARY'S FIRST OPENLY GAY FLAG OFFICER
• FEMALE ARMY BRIGADIER GENERAL BE ARY'S FIRST OPENLY GAY FLAG OFFICER
• ARMY GETS FIRST OPENLY GAY FLAG OFFICER
• ARMY WOMAN IS FIRST OPENLY GAY OFFICER PROMOTED TO FLAG RANK
• FEMALE U.S. ARMY OFFICER BE FIRST OPENLY GAY FLAG OFFICER.
• TAMMY SMH: FIRST OPENLY GAY U.S. GENERAL
• THE FIRST OPENLY GAY ELECTED OFFICIAL THE US WAS SHOT TO DEATH
• GAY RIGHTS

WOMAN BE FIRST OPENLY GAY GENERAL

12, 2012WASHINGTON — An Army officer beg promoted to brigadier general openly acknowledged her homosexualy on Friday by havg her wife p her star to her uniform, th beg the first openly gay officer of flag rank the Uned Stat officer, Brig.

The star was affixed by Tracey Hepner, who was a -founr last year of the Milary Partners and Fai Coaln, which “provis support, rourc, tn and advocy for lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr ary partners and their fai, ” acrdg to s Web uple married March 2012 the District of ary dropped s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy for gay service members on Sept.

”ImageSue Fulton, a spokwoman for OutServe, a two-year-old anizatn of lbians and gay men the ary, said Sunday that was “highly unlikely” that General Smh was the only gay officer of her rank. It was this year, March — not we handle rrectnsA versn of this article appears prt on, Sectn A, Page 8 of the New York edn wh the headle: Woman Be First Openly Gay General.

ARMY GENERAL BE FIRST OPENLY GAY FLAG OFFICER

"Smh's promotn me jt unr a year after the repeal of the ntroversial Clton-era policy "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT), which prohibed gays om openly servg the new job has her servg as the Director of the Army Rerve Human Capal Core Enterprise (HCCE), overseeg the profsnal velopment and recment of Army Rerve soldiers. " Even though a majory of the rank and file opposed DADT before was repealed, Smh's promotn signifi an creased acceptance of gays the ary that go beyond the actual law, Seeied has "ntued to pave the path" for gays the ary, partly by breakg the tradnal mold "that you n only rise if you f , " he says. )The first and so far only female four-star general, Ann Dunwoody, was promoted to the hight rank ’s promotn is signifint on s own ary mer, but the new brigadier general gave the untry another kd of amazg example by dog somethg as lovg and normal as havg her spoe at her si for her year, the Uned Stat end the centuri-old ban on gays the ary, along wh two s of a dranian “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” policy.

On Friday, Tammy Smh beme the natn’s first openly gay flag-rankg ary new, five-poted jewelry was pned on her uniform at a ceremony Arlgton by her wife, Tracey Hepner.

SMH SERV AND PROTECTS AS FIRST OPENLY GAY FLAG OFFICER

Hepner is a founr of the Milary Partners and Fai Coaln, which "advot for lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr ary partners and their fai. "It is ed a new era Ameri's ary when our most acplished lears are able to regnize who they are and serve the untry they love at the same time, " said Aubrey Sarvis, executive director of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, an anizatn promotg lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr equaly the U. LGBT is still a popular term ed to discs genr and sexual mori, but all GSRM are wele beyond lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr people who nsent to participate a safe space.

Ary after beg promoted to Army brigadier general on promotn a year after the repeal of the "don't ask, don't tell" law that banned gays om servg openly the U. The ary newspaper Stars and Strip reported Smh "is also publicly acknowledgg her sexualy for the first time, makg her the first general officer to e out as gay while still servg. She also publicly acknowledged her sexualy for the first time, makg her the first general officer to e out as gay while still servg, acrdg to Stars and Strip.

An Army officer beg promoted to brigadier general openly acknowledged her homosexualy on Friday by havg her wife p her star to her uniform, th beg the first openly gay officer of flag rank the Uned Stat ary. If you are a gay or lbian member of the ary and have e out sce the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell, " please give a ll and tell your story at 800-989-8255. And I also read that, you know, before you were able to be openly gay the ary that, you know, a lot of thgs had to - everythg you did or thought about had to sort of be planned, a way.

MEET BRIG. GEN. TAMMY SMH, THE FIRST OPENLY GAY U.S. GENERAL

SMITH: Well - and you characterized that as a gay woman, but I would have to say more jt as a woman the ary, that are there the Hmm. Well, I wanted to ask you, you are - I know that you shy away om this, but you have to know that you are a role mol as a woman, as you said, and also, aga, as a gay woman.

So there will be some folks who will look up to me for beg gay - and not so much bee I'm gay, bee that's not really signifint, so much as that I upheld my personal tegry a way that is fortable for me. And she was reced to Naval Intelligence and live a closeted life, fact, married a gay man when she was telligence so they uld mata their ver.

Named for Navy veteran and genr and gay rights advote Harvey Milk, the ship is the send an expected class of 20 fleet unrway replenishment ships schled to replace the agg Henry J.

SALUTE IS ORR FOR NEW GAY GENERAL

Milk beme the first openly gay person elected to public office California 1977 wh his electn to San Francis's Board of Supervisors.

SAN FRANCISCO – While the pri flag is bright and lorful, history shows the ti between law enforcement and the LGBTQ muny has been dark and full of 1969, the Stonewall Rts took place and are wily nsired a watershed moment the stggle for LGBTQ Stonewall Inn New York Cy was a haven for the cy's gay, lbian, and transgenr muny. Contug to meet members of the muny where they're at, " explaed told KPIX 5 that the relatnship between the LGBTQ muny and the SFPD is not mend by simply have gay, lbian, and trans officers.

MILARY'S FIRST OPENLY GAY FLAG OFFICER

When he applied for Kennedy’s new Peace Corps as a senr llege, he didn’t hate to lie, wrg on the secury clearance that he’d never had a homosexual experience.

The untry’s strict fundamentalist terpretatns of Islamic law punish homosexual behavr wh lashgs, wh stongs, wh ath, and while there probably is some sort of gay culture here, ’s not visible to him. He’s never had a gay iend, or a boyiend, and for a long time don’t occur to him that he uld have eher (or, impossibly, both). He spent a few months Los Angel, where he ught up wh Don Kilhefner, who’s nng the Gay Communy Servic Center out of a broken-down mansn near MacArthur Park.

FEMALE ARMY BRIGADIER GENERAL BE ARY'S FIRST OPENLY GAY FLAG OFFICER

When he leav the Lost and Found one night, all sweaty sk and poundg heart, there’s a flyer on his r for a volunteer meetg for the Gay Swchboard, 387-3777, and an addrs Adams Man. People ll the Swchboard about all kds of stuff—where to go for VD tts or fd a rap group or a roommate, which drag ntts are g up, referrals to gay-owned bs. The st of livg his dream would be a very cramped, small life, days and nights some fabulo rince he n’t brg anyone home to, no possibily of sneakg out to a gay bar or whatever.

A group of openly gay and lbian officers has been workg ternally on preventg Diplomatic Secury om nyg clearanc on the basis of sexualy, and they’ve had some ws. He lls Tom back wh the answer: “One of the people we terviewed said that he was gay, and we are wonrg whether that meant he is reee and ivolo or is a homosexual. It’s a party for the 20th anniversary of the State Department’s gay-employee group, people he lik and admir but don’t know pecially well.

ARMY GETS FIRST OPENLY GAY FLAG OFFICER

Tom joed the foreign service 1965, and the early 1970s he risked his reer when he me out and beme the first openly gay foreign service officer.

Prop 6, which stoked homophobia among nservativ, aimed to remove any gays or lbians servg California’s public schools, allegg that they were at risk of moltg children (spe the fact that a much higher rate of sexual moltatn occurred among heterosexuals, by virtue of the fact that there were many more straight teachers than gays).

The Early Gay Rights Movement In 1924, Henry Gerber, a German immigrant, found Chigo the Society for Human Rights, the first documented gay rights anizatn the Uned Stat. Army service World War I, Gerber was spired to create his anizatn by the Scientific-Humanarian Commtee, a “homosexual emancipatn” group ’s small group published a few issu of s newsletter “Friendship and Freedom, ” the untry’s first gay-tert newsletter.

ARMY WOMAN IS FIRST OPENLY GAY OFFICER PROMOTED TO FLAG RANK

Ernment signated Gerber’s Chigo hoe a Natnal Historic Pk TriangleCorbis/Getty ImagHomosexual prisoners at the ncentratn mp at Sachsenhsen, Germany, wearg pk triangl on their uniforms on December 19, gay rights movement stagnated for the next few s, though LGBT dividuals around the world did e to the spotlight a few example, English poet and thor Radclyffe Hall stirred up ntroversy 1928 when she published her lbian-themed novel, The Well of Lonels. And durg World War II, the Nazis held homosexual men ncentratn mps, brandg them wh the famo pk triangle badge, which was also given to sexual predators.

Addnally, 1948, his book Sexual Behavr the Human Male, Aled Ksey proposed that male sexual orientatn li on a ntuum between exclively homosexual to exclively Homophile Years In 1950, Harry Hay found the Mattache Foundatn, one of the natn’s first gay rights group. ”Though started off small, the foundatn, which sought to improve the liv of gay men through discsn groups and related activi, expand after foundg member Dale Jenngs was arrted 1952 for solicatn and then later set ee due to a adlocked the end of the year, Jenngs formed another anizatn lled One, Inc., which weled women and published ONE, the untry’s first pro-gay magaze.

FEMALE U.S. ARMY OFFICER BE FIRST OPENLY GAY FLAG OFFICER.

Post Office, which 1954 clared the magaze “obscene” and refed to liver Mattache Society Mattache Foundatn members rtctured the anizatn to form the Mattache Society, which had lol chapters other parts of the untry and 1955 began publishg the untry’s send gay publitn, The Mattache Review.

That same year, four lbian upl San Francis found an anizatn lled the Dghters of Bilis, which soon began publishg a newsletter lled The Ladr, the first lbian publitn of any early years of the movement also faced some notable setbacks: the Amerin Psychiatric Associatn listed homosexualy as a form of mental disorr followg year, Print Dwight D. Eisenhower signed an executive orr that banned gay people—or, more specifilly, people guilty of “sexual perversn”—om feral jobs. In 1961, Illois beme the first state to do away wh s anti-sodomy laws, effectively crimalizg homosexualy, and a lol TV statn California aired the first documentary about homosexualy, lled The 1965, Dr.

TAMMY SMH: FIRST OPENLY GAY U.S. GENERAL

In fact, gay men and women New York Cy uld not be served alhol public due to liquor laws that nsired the gatherg of homosexuals to be “disorrly.

”In fear of beg shut down by thori, bartenrs would ny drks to patrons spected of beg gay or kick them out altogether; others would serve them drks but force them to s facg away om other ctomers to prevent them om 1966, members of the Mattache Society New York Cy staged a “sip-”—a twist on the “s-” protts of the 1960s— which they vised taverns, clared themselv gay, and waed to be turned away so they uld sue. They were nied service at the Greenwich Village tavern Juli, rultg much publicy and the quick reversal of the anti-gay liquor Stonewall Inn A few years later, 1969, a now-famo event talyzed the gay rights movement: The Stonewall clanste gay club Stonewall Inn was an stutn Greenwich Village bee was large, cheap, allowed dancg and weled drag queens and homels the early hours of June 28, 1969, New York Cy police raid the Stonewall Inn.

THE FIRST OPENLY GAY ELECTED OFFICIAL THE US WAS SHOT TO DEATH

Sylvia Rivera was a Lata-Amerin drag queen who beme one of the most radil gay and transgenr activists of the 1960s and '70s. As -founr of the Gay Liberatn Front, Rivera was known for participatg the Stonewall Rts and tablishg the polil anizatn STAR (Street Transvte Actn Revolutnari).

After the Stonewall Rts, a msage was pated on the outsi of the board-up bar readg, "We homosexuals plead wh out people to please help mata peaceful and quiet nduct on the streets of the village. " This sign was wrten by the Mattache Society–an early anizatn dited to fightg for gay reportg the events, The New York Daily News rorted to homophobic slurs s tailed verage, nng the headle: “Homo Nt Raid, Queen Be Are Stgg Mad. ”Over the next several nights, gay activists ntued to gather near the Stonewall, takg advantage of the moment to spread rmatn and build the muny that would fuel the growth of the gay rights movement.

GAY RIGHTS

They are pictured here marchg Tim Square,, Sylvia Ray Rivera (ont) and Arthur Bell are seen at a gay liberatn monstratn, New York Universy, 1970 Marsha P. Johnson is seen at a Gay Liberatn Front monstratn at Cy Hall New York, a large crowd memorat the 2nd anniversary of the Stonewall rts Greenwich Village of New York Cy 1971. 1 / 12: NY Daily News Archive/Getty ImagChristopher Street Liberatn Day Shortly after the Stonewall uprisg, members of the Mattache Society spl off to form the Gay Liberatn Front, a radil group that lnched public monstratns, protts and nontatns wh polil officials.

Siar groups followed, cludg the Gay Activists Alliance, Radilbians, and Street Transvt Actn Revolutnari (STAR) 1970, at the one-year anniversary of the Stonewall Rts, New York Cy muny members marched through lol streets memoratn of the event.

Activists also turned the once-disreputable Pk Triangle to a symbol of gay Polil Victori The creased visibily and activism of LGBTQ dividuals the 1970s helped the movement make progrs on multiple onts.