Can you serve the ary if you are gay? - Answers

Contents:

• I THOUGHT I COULD SERVE AS AN OPENLY GAY MAN THE ARMY. THEN CAME THE DEATH THREATS.
• TELL: AN INTIMATE HISTORY OF GAY MEN THE MILARY
• US ARY LIFTS BAN ON OPENLY GAY TROOPS
• ARMY’S FIRST OPENLY GAY GENERAL RETIR AFTER SPIRG OTHERS
• CAN YOU SERVE THE ARY IF YOU ARE GAY?
• CAN YOU BE DRAFTED TO THE ARMY IF YOU ARE GAY?
• PROVG YOU'RE GAY TO THE TURKISH ARMY
• WHICH ARY BRANCH HAS THE MOST GAY?

I THOUGHT I COULD SERVE AS AN OPENLY GAY MAN THE ARMY. THEN CAME THE DEATH THREATS.

In rponse, and apparently to monstrate his petency his assigned posn, the nonmissned officer had taken upon himself to approach the person he nsired cled toward mtg a siar offense the future: me, the only openly gay soldier my un.

Together we approached our un’s learship, where she sisted that the ments had stemmed om the reprentative’s own homophobic feelgs and remend that he be reprimand and removed om his posn as the un’s sexual harassment watchdog. But by then was hard to ignore the anxiety I felt durg required social activi — “mandatory fun, ” as ’s lled the ary — or the tensn om my fellow moment I cid to bee a soldier and the moment I chose to live openly as a gay man occurred so closely time that ’s hard to remember which me first. Every memory evok an emotn: rage that I had to serve wh a nstant sense of fear of my fellow soldiers; paralyzg sadns for those who endured ab worse than I n know; and, the worst, guilt over the service members — gay or straight or transgenr — who died while servg the ary while my body is still whole.

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.

TELL: AN INTIMATE HISTORY OF GAY MEN THE MILARY

”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.

“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.

WASHINGTON -- Soldiers reprentg the lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr and queer muny virtually celebrated Pri Month Thursday as part of a discsn that marked another step the Army’s growg regnn toward the LGBTQ muny. "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.

US ARY LIFTS BAN ON OPENLY GAY TROOPS

Of a number of latg events—Rocha was also force-fed dog food and locked to a sh-filled dog kennel—the most abive and explicly homophobic was when he was orred by his manr to act a dog-trag scenar, repeated over and over so that every dog the un uld be n through . Life Seventy Years Ago as a Gay Serviceman: World War IIIt was only really around the Send World War that ary discrimatn beme dified and anized, and that the foc moved om simply sanctns agast homosexual acts to an attempt to intify and weed out homosexual tennci—though, as would be seen aga and aga, when fightg bodi were need badly enough, such ncerns would often evaporate.

Manzella operated fully wh the vtigatn; when he was asked for evince that he wasn’t jt claimg to be gay orr to trigger a discharge, he even supplied photos, and footage of him and his boyiend passnately kissg on a road trip. "While he was ployed, the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, a mpaigng group who had been givg him guidance, told him that 60 Mut wanted to do a piece about an openly gay man servg a bat zone, persuadg him that would give a voice to the "65, 000 men and women the ary" who weren’t able to live as openly as he was.

I was nfed until beme clear that, partly by chance and partly by a cha of personal remendatns over the years, this trailer park had bee some kd of gay-veteran hot spot: There are eight or ten others livg here, and more nearby. ’ The CO looked at my iend and said, ’If somebody wants to get off my ship for beg gay, they have to e to me wh two Polaroids, both of them they have to be clearly suckg ck, and I want to be able to see their face.

ARMY’S FIRST OPENLY GAY GENERAL RETIR AFTER SPIRG OTHERS

’" The way he sometim jtified to himself what he did was that was a rponse to the ary’s homophobia, albe an extreme one: "I would feel very angry at the policy, and beme ’Well, fuck you, Mare Corps—I’m gog to do this and be as gay as I want to be for the world to see. Some likely post-repeal plitns: ristant pockets of homophobia the ary; the ntued right to voice certa homophobic sentiments unr, for stance, the eedom of relig exprsn; possible aternizatn charg if gay servicemen of different ranks ntue to associate wh each other as they often did the silent years; growg disquiet at the absence of partner rights equivalent to those for servicemen’s wiv. Don't Ask, Don't Tell – the US ary's 18-year ban on openly gay and lbian service personnel – has officially been repealed, herg a new era for the untry's armed a statement Print Barack Obama weled the end of a policy that he said had forced gay and lbian members to "lie about who they are" repeal, which took effect om midnight on Tuday, was celebrated as "momento news" by gay lobby groups across the US, who have long fought agast the policy, and among the ary's timated 65, 000 servg gay and lbian servicemen and said he was nfint that liftg the ban would enhance natnal secury.

"Last December, the print signed legislatn to repeal the Don't Ask Don't Tell policy (DADT), which had been passed by ngrs and signed to law 1993 unr then-Print Bill paid tribute to gay and lbian troops who had been discharged as a rult of the policy, and to those who had lost their liv to serve their than 14, 500 US service personnel have been thrown out of ary service sce the DADT policy took effect, acrdg to the non-prof watchdog and lobby group, the Servicemembers Legal DefenseDefence a memo, the Pentagon said that the policy would not harm ary reads, un hn or recg and retag members. "All service members are to treat one another wh digny and rpect, regardls of sexual orientatn, " he said, warng that "harassment or abe based on sexual orientatn" would not be tolerated the Pentagon said recers are now acceptg applitns om openly gay a statement, the US army said: "From this day forward, gay and lbian soldiers may serve our army wh the digny and rpect they serve.

CAN YOU SERVE THE ARY IF YOU ARE GAY?

"Across the US, groups that have long lobbied for the change weled the Thompson, of the media monorg group Gay and Lbian Alliance Agast Defamatn, said: "Today, Ameri took a momento step forward the pursu of full equaly by fully repealg 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' and openg s ary to every brave man and woman willg to serve, whether straight or gay. She said many gay veterans discharged unr DADT were often told – wrongly – that they were not eligible for full healthre benefs through the US partment of veterans' said that her anisatn would now put advocy on this issue at the foreont of s missn. Ameri’s alli, cludg the Uned Kgdom, Canada, Israel, and Atralia, allow openly gay, lbian, and bisexual persons to serve the ary, and this has no adverse effect on ary reads or disciple (Belk, 2001, 2003; Belk & Bateman, 2003; Belk & Levt, 2001; Belk & McNichol, 2001).

Ary enacted the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) policy 1993, about 12, 000 lbian, gay, and bisexual ary personnel have been voluntarily discharged solely bee of their sexual orientatn, at least 8% of whom had missn-cril skills. Consistent wh a long-standg body of social psychology rearch based on Allport’s (1954) ntact hypothis, scientists have repeatedly found evince for rced prejudice levels toward gay, lbian or bisexual people among heterosexuals who are acquated wh openly gay, lbian or bisexual members of society (e.

The thors of a prehensive recent meta-analysis of the last six s of rearch this area monstrate that the rrelatn of ntact between heterosexuals and gay and lbian persons wh lower levels of sexual prejudice is signifintly higher than prejudice rctn lked to ntact wh any other target group, e.

CAN YOU BE DRAFTED TO THE ARMY IF YOU ARE GAY?

The percentage of ary service members strongly opposed to allowg gay and lbian persons serve the ary has cled nsirably over the last , wh only 5% of personnel the ary a 2006 poll statg that they are “very unfortable” teractg wh gay and lbian persons the ary, ntrasted wh 73% who were somewhat or very fortable this regard (Zogby et al., 2006). “No longer will our untry be nied the service of thoands of patrtic Amerins who were forced to leave the ary – regardls of their skills, no matter their bravery or their zeal, no matter their years of exemplary performance – bee they happen to be gay, ” said former Print Barack Obama.

“That is why I say to all Amerins, gay or straight, who want nothg more than to fend this untry uniform: Your untry needs you, your untry wants you, and we will be honored to wele you to the ranks of the ft ary the world has ever known, ” stated Obama. “Given that large numbers of LGBTQ+ veterans who were affected by prev homophobic and transphobic polici have not applied for a discharge upgra due to the perceptn that the procs uld be onero, we are hopeful that this policy statement enurag more of them to ntact VA to terme their eligibily for re and servic, ” she said.

Ary due to their sexual orientatn, cludg an timated 14, 000 service members who were discharged unr "don't ask, don't tell, " durg the 17 years that was effect, acrdg to the rights activists and gay veterans, cludg former Army Litenant Dan Choi (4th L) and former Mare Corporal Evelyn Thomas (5th L), handcuff themselv to the fence of the Whe Hoe durg a prott Nov. "Given that large numbers of LGBTQ+ Veterans who were affected by prev homophobic and transphobic polici have not applied for a discharge upgra due to the perceptn that the procs uld be onero, we are hopeful that this policy statement enurag more of them to ntact VA to terme their eligibily for re and servic, " acrdg to a VA statement. The print directed that an executive orr reversg the ban on homosexuals the ary be prepared by July Edmonds/AP, FILE"Don't ask, don't tell, " was signed to law 1993 unr the admistratn of Print Bill Clton, who ially sought to end a World War II-era ban on homosexuals servg the backlash om some ary lears and members of Congrs, Clton managed to get support for an apparent promise, which would allow LGBTQ dividuals to serve the ary if they did not disclose their sexual his first term office, Print Barack Obama voiced his support for repealg the law.

PROVG YOU'RE GAY TO THE TURKISH ARMY

In the early morng hours of June 28, 1969, rponse to a police raid and vlence toward homosexuals at the Stonewall Inn Manhattan, members of the gay muny spontaneoly began a seri of monstratns om the unjt actns now known as the Stonewall rts. The qutns lved eper to many of Plenge’s experienc, how to make Wt Pot better for the gay muny, how to empathize wh those who have been discrimated agast, how to enurage future lears to be themselv and the last qutn which took a ep dive to LGBTQ-Pl members who were kicked out of the Army or USMA graduat who may not have had the support they need years ago and embracg them back to the fold when they once didn’t feel wanted by the Army or the amy. Kim is one of an creasg number of gay or transgenr soldiers who have been persecuted unr Article 92-6 of the Army Crimal Act, which has been ed to out them and punish them for nsensual sex, Amnty Internatnal said a report released on Thursday.Unr Article 92-6, “anal sex and other cent acts” between ary personnel n be punished by up to two years prison, even if they take place off base, while the soldiers are off duty and by mutual nsent.

The group’s report, “Servg Silence,” also tails sexual and other ab flicted on gay soldiers, or soldiers perceived as gay, by their superrs and their fellow soldiers.“It is long overdue for the ary to acknowledge that a person’s sexual orientatn is totally irrelevant to their abily to serve,” Ms. All able-bodied South Korean men are required to serve for about two years.The ary says do not bar gay and transgenr people om servg, and the Defense Mistry has expand trag on protectg the rights of sexual mori.

Ten soldiers were charged the first half of 2018, the most recent perd for which data was available.Milary veterans have long reported discrimatn agast homosexuals the army, as well as more wispread ab like beatgs, hazg and bullyg. But nservative Christian groups have also lated monstratns agast homosexualy major ci, often llg gay soldiers a threat to ary reads.Those groups helped to scuttle attempts Parliament to pass an anti-discrimatn law, urged on South Korea by the Uned Natns, that would give sexual mori the same protectns that other mory groups have.Amnty Internatnal’s report scrib vivid tail how antigay attus have translated to physil and sexual abe wh the ary.One former soldier told the rights group he had been forced to have oral and anal sex wh another gay soldier, as a superr tnted, “Don’t you want to have sex wh a womanlike man?” Others have been sexually abed for “not beg mascule enough,” walkg an “effemate” way or havg a high-pched voice, acrdg to the report.Amnty said terviewed 21 former, current and future soldiers for the report, most of whom ed psdonyms, cludg Mr. As recently as three years ago, gay, lbian, and bisexual Amerins the armed forc were forced to keep their sexualy a secret or risk beg discharged—a risk that would bee a certaty if attemptg to marry a person of the same sex.

WHICH ARY BRANCH HAS THE MOST GAY?

It is unclear if gay and lbian veterans will receive spoal benefs if they do not ri a state that regniz same-sex marriage; nservativ are attemptg to make easier for service members to harass gay and lbian troops by tablishg broad exemptns for the relig views of service members; transgenr Amerins are still prohibed om servg any pacy; and some veterans who were kicked out for beg gay or lbian are still fightg for a discharge upgra, which affects their abily to ga health re verage and fd employment. The Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Repeal Act of 2010 was a monumental piece of legislatn for our ary and for gay and lbian service members, but the bill did not firmly put an end to discrimatn for LGBT members of our ary.

Dpe the ary swiftly and effectively implementg the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, nservativ are ntually pavg the way for service members to harass gay and lbian troops by tablishg broad exemptns for the relig views of service members. This would merely prerve the stat quo for gay and lbian service members but would actively prevent opponents om givg dividual service members a license to discrimate and tyg the hands of manrs who wish to prevent such nduct.