Gay Naval Amy Alumni Commemorate Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal - CBS Baltimore

Contents:

• EMOTNAL RETURN: GAY NAVAL AMY GRAD CELEBRAT CLASS RNN AFTER YEARS OF HIDG
• GAY NAVAL AMY ALUMNI COMMEMORATE DON'T ASK, DON'T TELL REPEAL
• GAY NAVAL AMY GRAD CELEBRAT CLASS RNN AFTER YEARS OF HIDG
• AFTER 30 YEARS, GAY MIDSHIPMAN RETURNS TO NAVAL AMY WH NO SECRETS
• MARYLAND: OPENLY GAY CATS ATTEND NAVAL AMY LGBT ALUMNI EVENT
• GAY NNER AT COAST GUARD AMY FDS BEG THENTIC ALLOWS HIM TO THRIVE
• EXPLORE GAY ROOMS & RENTALS US NAVAL AMY

EMOTNAL RETURN: GAY NAVAL AMY GRAD CELEBRAT CLASS RNN AFTER YEARS OF HIDG

We are the associatn of proud Uned Stat Naval Amy Alumni who are gay, lbian, bisexual and transgenr joed by our supporters and iends. Related: Ellen talks wh the first gay Navy Spoe of the Year. Steve Clark Hall, a gay graduate om the class of 1975, said he knew gay classmat who were kicked out of the Amy and uld not return home to the fai who disowned them.

“If you were gay [back then], was the worst, most spible, disgtg thg, ” Hall said of society’s views at the time. Steffan was forced to rign April 1987 — two months before his graduatn — after Amy officials learned he was gay. Acrdg to a 1989 story the Philalphia Gay News, he said his father did not immediately accept his sexualy.

GAY NAVAL AMY ALUMNI COMMEMORATE DON'T ASK, DON'T TELL REPEAL

“It is obv to me that the real problem is not homosexualy, but rather, the ary’s open and officially supported prejudice agast homosexuals who have the sire and pabily to serve their untry. Not long after Steffan’s dismissal om the Amy, a new era began for gay servicepeople.

“It was OK to be gay as long as you didn’t say, ‘I am gay, ’” he said of the mentaly at the time. “So all of a sudn, was OK to be gay as long as you didn’t tell about .

GAY NAVAL AMY GRAD CELEBRAT CLASS RNN AFTER YEARS OF HIDG

While this was seen as progrs at the time, Hall poted out how part of Clton’s platform was to allow gays, lbians, and bisexuals to openly serve the ary. “When Clton promised you uld be openly gay, I was planng on beg openly gay [while servg], ” he said.

This rulted former midshipmen and ts foundg the Service Amy Gay & Lbian Alumni (SAGALA) work 1991.

AFTER 30 YEARS, GAY MIDSHIPMAN RETURNS TO NAVAL AMY WH NO SECRETS

The GLBT Historil Society San Francis opened a “Gays the Milary” exhib, which featured several USNA Out members on display. I felt like I wasn’t alone and I unrstood that there were other gay people out there. “Now I unrstand that the numbers are higher for suici wh the ary, but beg gay and the ary fely would spike those numbers even higher.

Ortiz anized a private dner for a closely guard gut list of about two dozen gay midshipmen and alumni.

At least one of them is walkg onto mp as an openly gay man – somethg he never uld be llege. “Back then the Navy treated allegatns of homosexualy, they treated vtigatns of people spected of beg gay, the same way they did large crim. “The hard part of g here and beg gay, there’s an implic part dog that where you are lyg to people who you are close wh, ” he said.

MARYLAND: OPENLY GAY CATS ATTEND NAVAL AMY LGBT ALUMNI EVENT

Sce 2011, gay men and women have been able to serve openly the U. “This is somethg I never expected – I would be standg outsi the ma gate of the Naval Amy talkg about what was like to be a gay midshipman, ” he said. (AP) -- A gay and lbian alumni group for graduat of the U.

Unr the law that was repealed September, ary personnel uld be discharged for revealg they were gay.

GAY NNER AT COAST GUARD AMY FDS BEG THENTIC ALLOWS HIM TO THRIVE

"Acrdg to the feedback we have received om our midshipmen members, gay and lbian midshipmen feel more fortable and no longer mt separate their personal inty om their profsnal inty, " said Hall, who mand two nuclear powered attack subs durg his 20-year active duty reer, a statement released on the group's webse. At least one of them walked onto mp as an openly gay man –- somethg he never uld do llege. “Back then the Navy treated allegatns of homosexualy...

It’s his first vis back sce the ary end s ban on openly gay service members. “I always had to worry about havg disvered that I’m gay, ” he said. Durg that time, Fchtbm said the Navy would vtigate what lled “allegatns of homosexualy.

“I have plenty of classmat who are gay, but I didn’t know that at the time, ” he said.

EXPLORE GAY ROOMS & RENTALS US NAVAL AMY

Naval Amy Chapel's first-ever same-sex the Naval Amy, was an historic tone that David Bucher, a 49-year-old Amy graduate who works at the Pentagon, and partner Bce Moats, 50, tied the the ceremony got unrway, the uple's weddg day jters mgled wh ncerns they had about opposn to their said that while he and Bucher are not advot tryg to make a polil statement wh their weddg, they do want to ntue the efforts of those fightg for gay rights. “The more I met wh this uple, the happier I was to be pridg today, ” he road for this gay uple has not been easy.

“As a gay man the ary, the ary didn’t want me, ” Bucher said. Gay history was ma this weekend.

Naval Amy (USNA) Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgenr (LGBT) alumni, midshipmen and their guts gathered here Saturday to regnize alumni and midshipmen acplishments over the last year, memoratg seven months sce repeal of the law monly known as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”. Sixteen of the midshipmen are senrs, who will graduate on May 29 and be the first class at Annapolis to graduate unr the new policy that now allows gay, lbian and bisexual ary members to serve whout fear of discharge. There are now “more than 40” openly gay ts attendg the Naval Amy.