IDF promot s first openly gay major general, Sharon Afek | The Tim of Israel

Contents:

• ARMY’S FIRST OPENLY GAY GENERAL RETIR AFTER SPIRG OTHERS
• TAMMY SMH: FIRST OPENLY GAY U.S. GENERAL
• US ARMY GENERAL COM OUT AS GAY, INTRODUC HIS ‘HBAND’ AT PENTAGON GAY PRI EVENT
• THE REVOLUTNARY WAR HERO WHO WAS OPENLY GAY
• GAY GENERAL HID PRIVATE LIFE OM ARMY FOR YEARS
• IDF’S TOP LAWYER TO BEE FIRST OPENLY GAY MAJOR GENERAL
• ATTUS CHANGE BUT LOVE? LOVE IS NSTANT: MAJOR GENERAL ALASTAIR BCE ON BEG GAY, ARY AND MARRIED
• IDF PROMOT S FIRST OPENLY GAY MAJOR GENERAL, SHARON AFEK
• ISRAEL'S FIRST GAY MAJOR GENERAL IS NO CSE FOR PRI
• JAGUARS ASSOCIATE STRENGTH ACH KEV MAXEN OUT AS GAY A FIRST FOR US-BASED PRO LEAGU
• JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS' KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE COACH TO COME OUT AS GAY MAJOR U.S. SPORTS

ARMY’S FIRST OPENLY GAY GENERAL RETIR AFTER SPIRG OTHERS

Tammy Smh, the ary’s hight-rankg openly gay officer, me out 2012, she has tried beg an example of livg thentilly while also beg a bean of visibily to other Soldiers and their fai. The policy banned lbians, gay men and bisexuals om servg the ary. It terrified her to e out as gay such a public way, but she felt a rponsibily to do , she said.

TAMMY SMH: FIRST OPENLY GAY U.S. GENERAL

As difficult as was for her, g out publicly as gay “may not have been as easy for someone who was at a lower rank, ” Smh said an terview last week.

“When I me durg the 80s, thgs were different for women and gay people, and now 2021, the societal l are different aga. “People mt fd fort and ph back some of that ternalized homophobia, and build a b on the journey between hont and thentic.

Smh is now the first openly gay general the Uned Stat jos om the Pentagon jt a moment.

US ARMY GENERAL COM OUT AS GAY, INTRODUC HIS ‘HBAND’ AT PENTAGON GAY PRI EVENT

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. She is the first openly gay general the Uned Stat ary.

THE REVOLUTNARY WAR HERO WHO WAS OPENLY GAY

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. You - as a gay woman, you uldn't.

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.

GAY GENERAL HID PRIVATE LIFE OM ARMY FOR YEARS

But I do know that the Mare Corps do not honor gay marriag. 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.

IDF’S TOP LAWYER TO BEE FIRST OPENLY GAY MAJOR GENERAL

Go No - well, first, general, I am ecstatic that you are a general, and you beg gay has nothg to do wh you beg general. 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. Did the fay know that she was gay, but she never uld tell the ary that?

Yeah, she knew she was gay when she was eight years old. Brigadier General Tammy Smh joed om the Pentagon - as of Friday, our natn's first openly gay general.

US Army General Randy Taylor has now e out of the foot locker and announced he is gay.

ATTUS CHANGE BUT LOVE? LOVE IS NSTANT: MAJOR GENERAL ALASTAIR BCE ON BEG GAY, ARY AND MARRIED

Not only that but at a Pentagon-sponsored gay pri event he also troduced his “hband” to the world. The event kicked off wh a song om a gay choir, so we have that gog for , which is nice.

Taylor, whose 27 years of service spanned an outright ban on gays, then “don’t ask, don’t tell” and fally, the ban’s liftg 2011.

IDF PROMOT S FIRST OPENLY GAY MAJOR GENERAL, SHARON AFEK

Taylor was the master of ceremoni for the Pentagon’s 4th Gay Pri celebratn that shows a month of gay-themed posters and history. I don’t want to celebrate gays the ary. Their beg gay do not make them notable.

Gay men have always been part of the Amerin ary. In an era before gay marriage or open pri, ary men fell love, formed passnate iendships and had same-sex enunters.

ISRAEL'S FIRST GAY MAJOR GENERAL IS NO CSE FOR PRI

But the se of one of the ary’s foundg hero, homosexualy was always part of the story. Historians also thk he was homosexual—and served as an openly gay man the ary at a time when sex between men was punished as a crime.

He also downplayed mors that the baron had been dismissed om the Pssian ary for homosexualy. But he was gay, and homosexualy was viewed as a crimal aberratn by many of his peers. ”After the war, von Stben legally adopted both men—a mon practice among gay men an age before same-sex marriage was legal.

John Mulligan, who was also gay, served as von Stben’s secretary and is thought to have had a relatnship wh the baron. Durg von Stben’s lifetime, the ncept of gay marriage, gay pri or g out was unthkable and there was no language or open culture of homosexualy. But historil homosexual relatnships were actually don’t mean beg gay was ndoned: Sodomy was a crime lonial Ameri.

JAGUARS ASSOCIATE STRENGTH ACH KEV MAXEN OUT AS GAY A FIRST FOR US-BASED PRO LEAGU

She me out as gay to some tsted iends 1997, but wh the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy place, Lrback was unable to brg her te self to the missn and had to hi huge aspects of her daily life until the policy was repealed 2011.

The lol media took my story of beg the first gay manr of the un and the story went public on social media — not the attentn that I ever red for, but after that time I realized there was no hidg anymore! ”A earlier, the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” allowed gays and lbians to serve openly after centuri of hidg, persecutn and dishonorable, we salute some of the lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr and queer service members who paved the way for a more clive force.

JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS' KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE COACH TO COME OUT AS GAY MAJOR U.S. SPORTS

Ralph Earl via Getty ImagWhout this gay ary geni, the Contental army might not have won the Revolutnary War. Friedrich von Stben joed the Pssian army as a teen, eventually beg an ai--mp to Frerick the Great, who was also mored to be gay. But In 1763, at 33, Stben was unceremonly discharged “unr a cloud, hound by accatns of havg relatns wh young men, ” acrdg to The Gay and Lbian Review.

Acrdg to Randy Shilts’ “Conduct Unbeg: Gays and Lbians the U. C., and the Stben Para, held each September down New York’s Fifth KamenyFrank Kameny Kennedy / Tribune News Service via Getty ImagOne of the Foundg Fathers of the morn gay rights movement, Frank Kameny enlisted the Army 1943, servg Europe throughout World War II. After the war, he earned a doctorate at Harvard Universy and tght astronomy at Geetown Universy, In 1957, Kameny had jt started workg for the Army Map Service, wh hop of beg an astront, when he was termated after vtigators unvered evince he was a, then 32, appealed the firg, argug that flatly labelg gay people a secury risk was “no ls od than discrimatn based upon relig or racial grounds.