2 generatns of gay Air Force officers scribe life before and after "Don't ask, Don't tell" - CBS News

Contents:

• OPENLY GAY AIR FORCE MAND CHIEF AT RAMSTE LENDS VOICE OF PERSONAL EXPERIENCE FOR PRI MONTH
• MY BIG GAY AIR FORCE LIFE
• THE FIRST OPENLY GAY U.S. AIR FORCE AMY COMMANDANT
• WEARG NIKE'S PRI-THEMED AIR FORCE 1: SUPER GAY, SUPER GOOD
• TELL: AN INTIMATE HISTORY OF GAY MEN THE MILARY
• 2 GENERATNS OF GAY AIR FORCE OFFICERS SCRIBE LIFE BEFORE AND AFTER "DON'T ASK, DON'T TELL"
• GAY SERGEANT CHALLENG THE AIR FORCE
• AIR FORCE HONORS GAY RIGHTS IN THE SERVICE KICKED OUT 1975

OPENLY GAY AIR FORCE MAND CHIEF AT RAMSTE LENDS VOICE OF PERSONAL EXPERIENCE FOR PRI MONTH

Air Force announced the lnch of two new diversy and cln programs, cludg a Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgenr and Queer/Qutng iative team (LIT) and the Indigeno Natns Equaly Teams (INET). Grisham hop his experience of servg the Air Force for more than 20 years as a gay airman n reassure and spire other LGBTQ ary personnel. Until 2011, when the repeal of the ary’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy took effect, openly gay and lbian people were barred om servg the U.

The Uned Stat ary stggled wh s stance on gay service members for s prr to the signg of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” 1993 by former Print Bill Clton. “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. Prr to World War II, there were no official laws banng homosexual persons the ary, however, there were laws place agast homosexual acts.

MY BIG GAY AIR FORCE LIFE

Milary psychiatrists theorized that heterosexual mal uld participate homosexual acts while alg wh the strs of war due to the lack of ‘normal’ sexual outlets war-torn areas.

To protect Ameri’s servicemen om the ‘threat’ of homosexual men wh their ranks, the ary created more -pth physil and psychologil screengs of potential ary members. The ary doctors believed that homosexualy uld be tected the physil featur and mannerisms of men and would dismiss recs who displayed the characteristics.

“When was ascertaed that the basis of the maladjtment was homosexualy and this was reported to the dividual’s mandg officer, the subject ually received a ‘blue’ discharge, ” said Lt.

THE FIRST OPENLY GAY U.S. AIR FORCE AMY COMMANDANT

Gay ary members no longer need to fear that their learship learng of their sexual orientatn will e them to lose chanc at promotn and advancement their reers. Gay servicemen and women are protected unr the same laws as any other person and offered the same opportuni to excel and live wh a cent qualy of life whout fear of stroyg their reers.

“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. Ten years after the ary’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy began to phase out, gay and lbian Airmen say there’s more the Department of the Air Force n do to support the LGBTQ muny.

WEARG NIKE'S PRI-THEMED AIR FORCE 1: SUPER GAY, SUPER GOOD

22, 2010, Print Barack Obama signed legislatn that led to the repeal of DADT, which for nearly two s blocked openly gay personnel om servg the ary. Several gay and lbian Airmen who spoke to Air Force Magaze said they have bee better wgmen sce the fall of DADT, and are optimistic about a ary where the LGBT muny is better reprented and accepted.

Some wish the ary health re system was better attuned to the needs of lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, and queer personnel, rangg om HIV preventn and treatment to pregnancy issu.

Perhaps the most notable high-rankg gay ary official recent history is Eric Fanng, print and chief executive officer of the Aerospace Indtri Associatn. Fanng, a former Army Secretary and Actg Air Force Secretary, is the only openly gay person to have held senr posns the Army, Air Force, and Navy, as well as the Office of the Secretary of Defense. “You uldn’t get a clearance if you were gay until 1998, ” said Le Schlsener, print of the advocy group Out Natnal Secury and a former speechwrer to Defense Secretari om 2012 to 2017.

TELL: AN INTIMATE HISTORY OF GAY MEN THE MILARY

Airmen praised openly gay learship at their lol uns but worried that Air Force efforts to embrace diversy promotns will lead to tokenism.

Michelle Johnson’s e-mail to staff, obtaed by the Colorado Sprgs Inpennt, pats a picture of an acplished officer — the former vice manr of the 59th Bomb Wg and wg manr of the 2nd Bomb Wg, wh experience flyg at least a half-dozen different typ of ary aircraft cludg the B-2 Spir stealth is standard, Johnson left Goodw’s personal life out of the bgraphy, although is signifint, as Goodw will be the first openly gay mandant at the amy. The 2010 repeal the Clton-era “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” paved the way to allowg gay members of all branch to marry their partners and extend ary benefs to their fai and allow them to live on ’s likely that Goodw would rather be known for her acplishments as an officer, and for her upg tenure as mandant to be fed by the learship she provis ts, than her personal life.

Neverthels, ’s not signifint that Goodw land this specific Air Force Amy has equently been embroiled ntroversi over accatns that senr lears there have built a zy relatnship wh fundamentalist Christian groups which have tried to dissemate anti-gay doctr at the ’s also relevant that the Air Force Amy is suated jt outsi Colorado Sprgs, which is home to more than 100 evangelil groups cludg Foc on the Fay, a proment anti-LGBT polil lobby anizatn. Army photoCase pot, when the Army Tim published the headle that Eric Fanng was the first openly gay person to serve as actg secretary of the U.

2 GENERATNS OF GAY AIR FORCE OFFICERS SCRIBE LIFE BEFORE AND AFTER "DON'T ASK, DON'T TELL"

However, while atten were generally upbeat and optimistic about the future, they weren’t shy about discsg what they saw as ridual homophobia that hadn’t ught up wh the change Sgt. Joe Carrillo, an fantry bat veteran and openly gay soldier, told War Is Borg that a “generatnal gap” led some senr officers to see the prence of gay troops as a disptive new cultural fad. Air Force Amy rearch analyst Mike Rosebh had been self-publishg books on gay nversn therapy and once worked for Foc on the Fay.

GAY SERGEANT CHALLENG THE AIR FORCE

Print Donald Tmp — spe voicg his opposn to gay marriage — was mostly ambivalent on the mpaign trail about gays the ary and don’t seem to have strong feelgs on the issue. “Y, if a gay person n be a doctor or a lawyer or a teacher or take another posn of rponsibily, why n’t they serve this untry the ary?

AIR FORCE HONORS GAY RIGHTS IN THE SERVICE KICKED OUT 1975

Mike Pence is outspoken about his belief that gay people are immoral, a harbger of “societal llapse” and that their existence threatens tradnal nuclear ’s fense secretary Jim Mattis had exprsed disfort wh repealg DADT, particularly when he was an active duty Mare. But by the time of his nfirmatn hearg January 2017, his views seemed to have New York senator Kirsten Gillibrand prsed Mattis on the future of gay troops the ary, his reply was “ankly senator, I’ve never red about two nsentg adults and who they go to bed wh.