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:
- A GAY SOLDIER’S STORY OF VIETNAM AND AFTER
- TELL: AN INTIMATE HISTORY OF GAY MEN THE MILARY
- BT GAY ROMANCE TIM OF WAR
- PORTLAND GAY UPLE, SURVIVORS OF VIETNAM WAR, NOW FD PEACE
- WATCH: SOLDIERS FALL LOVE THE JUNGL OF VIETNAM THIS MOVG GAY WAR DRAMA
- THE NAVY GAVE A GAY MAN A HOME—AND A ‘BAD PAPER’ DISCHARGE THAT HNTED HIM FOR DES
A GAY SOLDIER’S STORY OF VIETNAM AND AFTER
* vietnam war gay stories *
Larry Sanrs wr about servg the army, where he uld have been arrted for beg gay durg a very unpopular war.
TELL: AN INTIMATE HISTORY OF GAY MEN THE MILARY
Beg gay led Tom Norton to the ary and to fly a mevac helipter Vietnam. It led him to eventually meet his partner, Vietname refugee and artist Bao Nguyen. Together, the life they've settled to together Portland clus Norton fally tellg his fellow vets of his sexual orientatn. * vietnam war gay stories *
The day Larry Sanrs registered for the draft, one qutn buried the middle of a long qutnnaire smacked him the face: “Do you intify as a homosexual or ever had sexual feelgs for persons of the same sex? At the time Sanrs registered for the draft 1967, no one was clear about what happened to someone who admted beg gay.
When I registered for the draft jt a few years later, I was told not to say I was gay, bee they would make you prove . 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.
BT GAY ROMANCE TIM OF WAR
'Love In Country' was ma honor of the gay men who served the Vietnam War but never had their stori told. * vietnam war gay stories *
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. 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.
PORTLAND GAY UPLE, SURVIVORS OF VIETNAM WAR, NOW FD PEACE
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.
WATCH: SOLDIERS FALL LOVE THE JUNGL OF VIETNAM THIS MOVG GAY WAR DRAMA
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.
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.
THE NAVY GAVE A GAY MAN A HOME—AND A ‘BAD PAPER’ DISCHARGE THAT HNTED HIM FOR DES
In the shadow of "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, " whenever gay servicemen did face any kd of homophobic harassment, they were powerls to draw attentn to whout potentially triggerg the end of their ary reer. The le self beme the very tool of their opprsn: "The ’Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy, " says Joseph Rocha (navy, 2004–7), "punish homosexuals who ply, and protects bigots. But when you get ught up the ltle groups of boys, the first exce for anythg that don’t f wh them is that you’re gay.
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 .
Lovg so much that each scenar was gayer and more disgtg—the troductn of fake semen, that I would have to wipe my face, or that I would have to make slurpg nois. Anyone who gets off thkg that ’Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ unr the Bh admistratn anyone uld have gone and said, ’Hey, I’m beg antagonized unr the prciple that I might be gay’ and feel safe is absurd.