Many gay and lbian service members scribed livg and servg limbo, knowg there was no longer a ban on them per se, but that their reers would still be at risk if they were found out. That began to change on Dec. 22, 2010.
Contents:
- FIGHTG ‘DON’T ASK, DON’T TELL’ PAVED THE WAY FOR GAY RIGHTS
- MILARY VETERANS KICKED OUT FOR BEG GAY STILL FIGHTG FOR HONORABLE DISCHARG
- EFFECTS OF “DON’T ASK, DON’T TELL” ON RETENTN AMONG LBIAN, GAY, AND BISEXUAL MILARY PERSONNEL
FIGHTG ‘DON’T ASK, DON’T TELL’ PAVED THE WAY FOR GAY RIGHTS
Twelve years after repeal of the ban on gay and lbian troops servg openly, no one the ary or Veterans Admistratn knows how many vets are still whout the benefs they're owed. * gay military don't ask *
At the time, gay troops weren't allowed the ary. But two years to his enlistment, Steffanis got spotted at a gay bar near his base. "They cut my locker open and found some gay magaz, " he says.
Not only was agast the ary regulatns, gay sex was still illegal Virgia, and many other stat. "They threw me the brig, put me on bread and water — was huiatg --for beg gay, " says Steffanis. " As long as they kept secret, gay and lbian troops uld serve.
MILARY VETERANS KICKED OUT FOR BEG GAY STILL FIGHTG FOR HONORABLE DISCHARG
Rumors sprouted about how he wasn't datg women or had reported on others for g homophobic slurs. In the years sce, the tegratn of gay and lbian troops has been herald as a huge succs wh no effects on un hn or bat reads, acrdg to the Pentagon.
At the time was uncharted terrory, and Alexanr, by then a litenant lonel, sat a room full of senr officers talkg about how to handle gay service members. "I said, you know what, 'I'm a gay service member, ' " he said. Alexanr's first project was wh the San Francis-based veterans chary Swords to Plowshar, tryg to help gay veterans wh other-than-honorable discharg.
"I put up flyers all over the Bay Area the gay bars, plac I knew that the LGBTQ veterans would equent. And that's where he met Stephan Steffanis, 20 years sce his discharge om the Navy for beg gay. In the popular narrative, the fight for LGBTQ rights the Uned Stat began wh the 1969 Stonewall uprisg Greenwich Village agast anti-gay police harassment and triumphed wh the 2015 Supreme Court cisn to legalize same-sex marriage.
EFFECTS OF “DON’T ASK, DON’T TELL” ON RETENTN AMONG LBIAN, GAY, AND BISEXUAL MILARY PERSONNEL
Print Bill Clton 1993, the le allowed gay people to serve the ary as long as they kept their sexual inty hidn. It was sold as an improvement over prev l that banned homosexualy outright and touted as a promise.
Instead, Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell quickly proved to be even worse for gay soldiers, leadg to almost two s of cel and systematic harassment, vtigatns, terrogatns, entrapment, forced outg, and dishonorable discharg for the simple fact of beg gay. First, fally allowed gay people to serve openly the ary—the qutsential macho stutn.
Send, helped upend the attu the Uned Stat that homosexualy was bt not talked about, a disorr, and a s. And third, the repeal ma clear that treatg homosexualy as a reason for dismissal nied gay people equal rights, helpg the fight for marriage equaly pick up speed and ultimately succeed five years later.