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
Contents:
- SAME-SEX MARRIAGE NOW LEGAL FOR GAY MILARY COUPL ALL 50 STAT
- TELL: AN INTIMATE HISTORY OF GAY MEN THE MILARY
- US NAVY APPROV GAY WEDDGS ON BAS
- FOR GAY UPL HOPG FOR A ARY BURIAL, THE FIGHT FOR LOVE DON’T END WH ATH
- THE GAY MARRIAG OF A NETEENTH-CENTURY PRISON SHIP
- NAVY REVERS SELF ON GAY MARRIAG ON ARY BAS
SAME-SEX MARRIAGE NOW LEGAL FOR GAY MILARY COUPL ALL 50 STAT
* gay marriage in the navy *
Sce 2011, openly gay, lbian and bisexual men and women have been permted to serve the ary.
It wasn’t until 1982 that the ary enacted a policy explicly banng gay men and lbians om their ranks. And the early 1940s, was classified as a mental illns, disqualifyg gay men and lbians om service. Eighteen years later, Congrs repealed the policy, allowg openly gay, lbian and bisexual people to serve the ary.
TELL: AN INTIMATE HISTORY OF GAY MEN THE MILARY
The right to a ary burial for gay spo was guaranteed natnwi wh the legalizatn of same-sex marriage 2015, but only a handful of known same-sex ary upl are buried across US natnal cemeteri. For most, the right to such an honor has been hard won. * gay marriage in the navy *
Matt Thorn, terim executive director for OutServe-SLDN, an advocy group for gay, lbian, bisexual and transgenr service members, said the Supreme Court's cisn was a msage to their muny "that... ” But same-sex upl are ee to pick their own clergy member to perform their marriage ceremoni have been takg place ary chapels sce September 2013, when the Pentagon led that same sex partners of a service member were entled to the same benefs provid to oppose sex upl, such as health re, accs to ary facili and servic on all ary cisn me two years after the Pentagon lifted the "don't ask, don't tell" prohibn agast openly gay men or women servg the MiklaszewskiJim Miklaszewski is the chief Pentagon rrponnt for NBC News.
US NAVY APPROV GAY WEDDGS ON BAS
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. Gay people were only acceptable, effect, to the gree to which they uld succsfully masquera as nongay. Seventeen years which gay servicemen have existed a paradoxil kd of herworld.
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.
FOR GAY UPL HOPG FOR A ARY BURIAL, THE FIGHT FOR LOVE DON’T END WH ATH
’ "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.
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. You’re not gettg exced so you’re clearly not gay. 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.
THE GAY MARRIAG OF A NETEENTH-CENTURY PRISON SHIP
Nobody wants to adm that they have gone to war wh gay people. 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.
NAVY REVERS SELF ON GAY MARRIAG ON ARY BAS
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. 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. The first Amerin jured the Iraq war is a gay Mare.
For gay ary members who choose to do so, there has been the extra burn that their partners mt rema visible.
(The meetgs have been arranged through a private onle work lled OutServe, set up only last year, which allows gay and lbian servicepeople a safe and secure way of fdg and munitg wh one another. To be the ary and still try to live any kd of life as a gay man, ’s not Force #4 (senr airman, four years): "Right now our relatnships don’t exist.