Gay Duty — Rerds

Contents:

• I THOUGHT I COULD SERVE AS AN OPENLY GAY MAN THE ARMY. THEN CAME THE DEATH THREATS.
• JURORS N BE REJECTED FOR BEG GAY. THE EQUALY ACT ULD CHANGE THAT.
• TELL: AN INTIMATE HISTORY OF GAY MEN THE MILARY
• UGANDA ANTI-HOMOSEXUALY BILL: LIFE PRISON FOR SAYG YOU'RE GAY
• GAY DUTY
• GAY, BISEXUAL TROOPS MORE LIKELY TO SUFFER SEXUAL ASSLTS, STUDY SUGGTS
• MILARY SERVICE EXPERIENC AND REASONS FOR SERVICE SEPARATN AMONG LBIAN, GAY, AND BISEXUAL DIVIDUALS A LARGE ARY HORT
• IN SUPPORT GROUPS FOR GAY MILARY MEMBERS, PLENTY OF ASKG AND TELLG
• HISTORY OF GAYS THE MILARY--PICTURES

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. It was still four months before the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell, ” a double-edged policy prohibg askg any service member about his or her sexualy while enforcg a ban on openly gay service members.

JURORS N BE REJECTED FOR BEG GAY. THE EQUALY ACT ULD CHANGE THAT.

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. The Hoe of Reprentativ is poised this week to vote on the Equaly Act, a landmark assemblage of LGBTQ anti-discrimatn measur that’s gotten strong support om Print Joe passed, the law would explicly provi protectns to LGBTQ people across key areas, cludg employment, hog, tn, public acmodatns and ferally fund one provisn the bill uld also have a big impact on how the gay muny teracts wh the Amerin legal system. “Strik exercised on the basis of sexual orientatn ntue this plorable tradn of treatg gays and lbians as unservg of participatn our natn’s most cherished r and ruals.

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.

"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. 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.

TELL: AN INTIMATE HISTORY OF GAY MEN THE MILARY

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. 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. 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 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.

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.

UGANDA ANTI-HOMOSEXUALY BILL: LIFE PRISON FOR SAYG 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.

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. "JM: "I found out right after the war that if someone were discharged as homosexual, a notice of that fact was sent home to their lol draft board, so that their whole muny would e to know that they were gay. And this led directly to the formatn of gay ghettos the major ci, where people who uldn’t go home, bee their sexualy had been revealed by the army, had to move to Greenwich Village or the San Francis Castro.

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.

GAY DUTY

He says that he didn’t seek promotn past a certa pot bee would have required an vtigatn to get him clearance, and he was ncerned they would disver his subscriptns to gay magaz. One Man’s Vietnam"Back the ’50s Oregon, " rells Tom Norton (Army, 1968-71), "they were still puttg people jail for homosexual activy, and that certaly sends a strong msage to a young kid.

"Norton wasn’t sexually active Vietnam—"I would numb myself and avoid anythg sexual"—and was only years later that he realized that some of the men his social circle there were gay. "Air Force #2: "There’s one good iend that I thought about tellg, but always right when I thk, ’Okay, ’s ol to tell him, ’ he’ll say somethg that is kd of weird about gay people. The senator I worked for and the ngrsman I worked for knew I was gay—they were both nservative Republins—and they wrote a letter of remendatn to get me to the Mare Corps.

GAY, BISEXUAL TROOPS MORE LIKELY TO SUFFER SEXUAL ASSLTS, STUDY SUGGTS

’ 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.

MILARY SERVICE EXPERIENC AND REASONS FOR SERVICE SEPARATN AMONG LBIAN, GAY, AND BISEXUAL DIVIDUALS A LARGE ARY HORT

One Man’s Secret Too ManyIt’s temptg to see gay servicemen’s entire ary existence through the prism of this sgle issue—the mpaigner, the opprsed, the stoic endurer—and as the totaly of who they are. In June 1998, Richard Merrt (Mar, 1985–98) appeared on the ver of The New York Tim Magaze, uniform but wh his face obscured, and si the story scribed what life was actually like for someone gay servg the ary. " In her story he me across as, he says, "a very nservative type of gay, " but when he started lettg people know that s subject was him, he mt have known the clock was tickg.

’" 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. "Navy #3: "Nobody joed up to be ’the un gay guy, ’ but that’s who you’re gog to be, and I thk ’s cumbent on who are senr to basilly intify ourselv so that younger kids n look and say, ’Hey, is okay. 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.

The thors of this report timate the proportn of all sexually asslted ary service members who intify as lbian, gay, or bisexual, or who do not dite they intify as heterosexual. Media ptn, Watch: Cheers and applse as Uganda pass anti-gay billPeople who intify as gay Uganda risk life prison after parliament passed a new bill to crack down on homosexual activi.

IN SUPPORT GROUPS FOR GAY MILARY MEMBERS, PLENTY OF ASKG AND TELLG

Homosexual acts are already illegal Uganda but this bill troduc many new crimal well as makg merely intifyg as gay illegal for the first time, iends, fay and members of the muny would have a duty to report dividuals same-sex relatnships to the was passed wh wispread support Uganda's parliament on Tuday eveng.

The bill's backers say they are tryg to protect children but Ms Byagaba said: "Whether you're heterosexual or homosexual, the ernment and parliament should troduce laws, or at least implement existg laws that protect all children - boys, girls om filement. The fal versn has yet to be officially published but elements discsed parliament clu: A person who is nvicted of groomg or traffickg children for purpos of engagg them homosexual activi fac life prisonIndividuals or stutns which support or fund LGBT rights' activi or anisatns, or publish, broadst and distribute pro-gay media material and lerature, also face prosecutn and imprisonmentMedia groups, journalists and publishers face prosecutn and imprisonment for publishg, broadstg, distributn of any ntent that advot for gay rights or "promot homosexualy"Death penalty for what is scribed as "aggravated homosexualy", that is sexual abe of a child, a person wh disabily or vulnerable people, or s where a victim of homosexual asslt is fected wh a life-long illnsProperty owners also face risk of beg jailed if their premis are ed as a "brothel" for homosexual acts or any other sexual mori rights' activiA small group of Ugandan MPs on a mtee sctisg the bill disagreed wh s premise. They argue the offenc seeks to crimalise are already vered the untry's Penal Co 2014, Uganda's nstutnal urt nullified another act which had toughened laws agast the LGBT clud makg illegal to promote and fund LGBT groups and activi, as well as reeratg that homosexual acts should be punished by life imprisonment, and was wily nmned by Wtern urt led that the legislatn be revoked bee had been passed by parliament whout the required quom.

Rand said about 43% of all ary sexual asslts over the prr year were mted agast troops who are gay, lbian and bisexual, or who otherwise did not dite they are heterosexual, although they make up about 12% of the active-duty force, acrdg to a 2018 Defense Department survey. The data llected the Pentagon's 2018 Workplace and Genr Relatns Survey of Active Duty Members suggts that there may be about 43, 000 gay or bisexual men and about 29, 000 lbian or bisexual women the active-duty ary, out of nearly 1. Wh so many gay, lbian or bisexual troops uniform, and such a disproportnate percentage of that populatn experiencg sexual asslts, Rand said the data suggts that "a nsirable actn" of sexual asslts are likely beg mted agast LGB service members.

HISTORY OF GAYS THE MILARY--PICTURES

To try to prevent asslts on gay, lbian and bisexual troops, Rand said the ary needs to do more to unrstand where they are occurrg and what is motivatg the attackers.

5% classified as “other MSM" (men who have sex wh men) bee they didn’t intify as eher gay or bisexual, but reported havg had sex wh at least one man the past 12 months. LGBT service members are more likely to experience sexual harassment, stalkg, and sexual asslt than their non-LGBT unterparts, and stigma is such that 59 percent of LGBT service members are not openly gay their workplace. Jt Lahl grew apt at keepg his sexual orientatn a secret — wcg wardly when fellow airmen ma homophobic wisecracks, noddg wh a se when others would riture gay people for was pastakgly reful about whom he tsted, tellg only his roommate and a few iends that he was days, though, Sergeant Lahl, a 26-year-old aircraft mechanic, is not only open about his inty, but he has also bee a lear of the Gay-Straight Alliance here at Kirtland Air Force Base, a support group for gay and lbian service members that is the first of s kd the Air new anizatn at Kirtland, found wh the approval of the base’s manr, is one of a handful of siar groups that have been formg at bas around the untry sce Print Obama repealed 2011 the ary’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, which barred openly gay and bisexual people om servg the ary.

Soldiers like Sergeant Lahl reprent a new day for the ary, which gay and lbian soldiers creasg numbers are seekg to form official support anizatns to help negotiate the unique challeng they face. The base employs about 20, 000 people, cludg more than 3, 200 active-duty service month the support group meets to socialize and discs a variety of issu, unselg airmen who have not yet e out and helpg gay service members who want to advance their ary reers. Greg Moran, the group’s print, rellg how years past, gay service members like him had to seek support the Kirtland group is thought to be the only one the Air Force, acrdg to an Air Force spokwoman, Lt.