The Pentagon is begng a year-long study to see what would take to implement chang to the Don't Ask, Don't Tell law. Mar near North Carola's Camp Lejne share their views on the possibily of servg wh openly gay troops. Most are tight-lipped.
Contents:
- TELL: AN INTIMATE HISTORY OF GAY MEN THE MILARY
- NAVY’S FIRST OPENLY GAY SEAL BUILDS HIS LIFE ANEW
- THIS GAY MARE VET JT MA A MOVIE BASED ON HIS LIFE THE CORPS DURG 'DON’T ASK, DON’T TELL'
- MARE LEARS WOULD PREFER GAY TROOPS NOT TELL
- MAR ON MILARY'S BAN ON GAYS
TELL: AN INTIMATE HISTORY OF GAY MEN THE MILARY
Most lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr service members are still reluctant to disclose their sexual orientatn or inty. * are marines gay *
At the begng of June the Mare Corps issued a forcewi msage regnn of lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr pri month. “Durg the month, we take the opportuny to regnize our LGBT Service Members and reflect upon the past, ” the MARADMIN msage msage as the ary nears the 10th anniversary of the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell ― a policy that eased the rtrictn on gay and lbian service members, but required them to hi their sexual orientatn or risk beg kicked out of the December 2010 Print Barack Obama signed to law the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, and September 2011 service members no longer faced discharge based on their sexual directn to celebrate the Corps’ growg diversy me to the spotlight Monday when the Facebook page for Mare Corps Rec Depot Parris Island, South Carola, posted a picture to honor pri month and LGBT post attracted attentn, and as of Tuday afternoon had more than 1, 800 ments and 1, 500 many of the ments supported the post and repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, other menters saw the post as an attack on relig eedom and a negative sign of the directn of the Mare Warrant Officer Bobby Yarbrough shows his support for the LGBT "warfighters" the Corps. ”One ment om Yarbrough did raise eyebrows the Pentagon, Warrant Officer Bobby Yarbrough Shows off the black socks he is wearg as he ments on the Mare Corps Rec Depot Parris Island Facebook page fense of gay, lbian, bisexual and transgenr Mar.
David Berger that directed the Corps to celebrate the gay, lbian, bisexual and transgenr Mar Corps along wh the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tel Chief Warrant Officer Bobby Yarbrough, fends the celebratn of gay, lbian, bisexual and transgenr Mar to a Facebook menter. Half a after the repeal of don’t ask, don’t tell, most lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr service members still felt reluctant to be open about their sexualy wh their lleagu and cha of mand, acrdg to a study released late study, published by the journal Sexualy Rearch and Social Policy, found that 59 percent of rponnts did not feel fortable beg out at work, eher bee of reer repercsns or bee of the burn of beg a token rponsible for tg their peers. ”Dpe the orrs om above, many veterans publicly opposed the 2011 repeal of the ban on gay, lbian and bisexual service for troops who had grown up that environment, the policy’s mise did not flip a swch terms of fort level ― theirs or their lleagu.
“The stctor was reported to e the pejorative term ‘fags’ durg class, disclose other people’s sexual mory inty to his stunts whout their permissn, and munite that he believed sexual mori were more promiscuo than heterosexuals, ” acrdg the the study, based on a rponse om a gay soldier. I am about to be put on a board for major and I do not want to not even have that opportuny to put myself where they n easily be like, ‘Get rid of this guy; if we have to cut 55 percent of the officers up for , he’s one of the easy on we n jt fd a reason to jt ver [ourselv], ' " said one rponnt, a gay Mare.
NAVY’S FIRST OPENLY GAY SEAL BUILDS HIS LIFE ANEW
As "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" to an end, we sent Chris Heath to terview dozens of gay servicemen om the past and prent to fd out what life was really like as Ameri's ary stggled wh s last great inty crisis * are marines gay *
“I had a few iends there [ trag] that I got to know pretty well, but I knew a uple of them had some pretty strong relig backgrounds and I did not really feel like ttg the waters at that pot, ” one rponnt, a gay soldier, said. I’m like well, the bt way to keep people om beg homophobic is to have them have someone that they know and rpect, who is gay, ” one sailor said.
RELATEDAnd on Monday, the Supreme Court led that the employers nnot discrimate agast their homosexual or transgenr employe. "An employer who fir an dividual for beg homosexual or transgenr fir that person for tras or actns would not have qutned members of a different sex, ” Jtice Neil Gorsuch wrote the cisn. 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.
Life Today as a Gay ServicemanHow we got here: In 1992, many people thought that the discrimatn was nearly over. "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. " 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.
THIS GAY MARE VET JT MA A MOVIE BASED ON HIS LIFE THE CORPS DURG 'DON’T ASK, DON’T TELL'
An upg Pentagon survey will reportedly show that about 40 percent of Mar oppose gays servg openly, the hight among the servic. Senr Mar have taken the lead agast repealg "don't ask, don't tell." But some observers say those views may be out of sync wh younger Mar. * are marines gay *
Gay people were only acceptable, effect, to the gree to which they uld succsfully masquera as nongay. 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.
’ "Air Force #1: "Two of my iends were disvered, both officers—’s a long and arduo procs for an officer to get kicked out for beg gay. "Air Force #2 (senr airman, three years): "No one at my job would ever, ever spect that I was gay at all. And you’re good at your job—a gay person wouldn’t be good at his job, so obvly you’re not gay.
MARE LEARS WOULD PREFER GAY TROOPS NOT TELL
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.
I mean, if you want to hi, the Mare Corps is one of the bt plac to do that, bee nobody wants to adm they are standg next to a gay guy. I had ma about halfway through and the recer was trated wh how long was takg me, and he said, ’Well, basilly, are you gay? 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.
MAR ON MILARY'S BAN ON GAYS
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.