gamecock:
Interesting story in this week's Washington Blade (see link to story below) detailing a gay military service member (who they refer to as \"Private Ryan\" in order to protect his identity), who while on a six-month deployment to Iraq and Kuwait came out to his military peers and stated that \"acknowledging he is gay had no adverse impact upon unit cohesion or morale\"....moreover, the story goes on to describe how \"Ryan\" has formed a secret gay group, \"the Gay & Lesbian Service Members for Equality, a group of 15 anonymous, actively serving members of the United States armed forces who seek to lift the gay ban\"....also of interest was the quotes from Jeff Cleghorn, a retired Army major who is urging more gay veterans to speak out in defense of gay soldiers and disparagingly of \"Don't Ask, Don't Tell\" since, in his words, \"there are over one million gay veterans and we, unlike current gay soldiers, can safely talk.\"

Anonymous Soldiers Launch Gay Military Group

bobby78751
This is freakin' awesome and dispells the right-wing/moderate Democratic myth that coming out will cause a cohesive military unit to fall apart. Good for \"Private Ryan\" and the \"Anonymous 15\"...and kudos to his officers for doing absolutely nothing to prosecute him as a violator of Don't Ask/Don't Tell.

gamecock:
Excellent points, Bobby....the one thing to clarify, though, as the article points out is that \"Ryan\", who states he hopes to have a long career in the military, \"has NOT told his superiors about his sexual orientation, noting that it was important for him not to tell anyone who could 'take action' against him\"....while this is certainly understandable it is nevertheless great to see him describe how well his peers who know about his sexual orientation have accepted him....hopefully this is another \"small\" step in the long journey that will enable our gay men (and women) in the armed forces to serve openly and proudly in the very near future -- as Wesley Clark and Howard Dean, among others, continue to support.

In 1993, Barry Goldwater, the father of the modern conservative movement, testified before the Senate in favor of allowing gays to serve openly in the services. \"You don't have to be straight to shoot straight,\" declared the old soldier, who knew a thing or two about shooting straight.

\"While it's politically impossible for the military to acknowledge the presence of openly gay active duty personnel, recognition of a veterans group would be an important half-step along the way toward integration and away from discrimination.\"

\"USNA Out is critically important so that we demonstrate that we are proud and visible and have nothing to hide. I think all of us had a common experience at the Naval Academy that we want to prevent others from having to go through.\"

redsoxbreath:
Meanwhile, in Annapolis, a group of 31 Naval Academy graduates shed their anonymity and applied to establish a GLBT graduates association to be called USNA Out.
From the Ball'mur Sun
As a Navy brat whose family was stationed in Annapolis for a couple of years, and who has great respect for the Academy, I say awesome!

redsoxbreath:
31 Naval Academy graduates shed their anonymity and applied to establish a GLBT graduates association to be called USNA Out.

jqueer:
The one question I have is if there are Christian or Jewish or African-American alumni organizations.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 9 — Three retired military officers, two generals and an admiral who have been among the most senior uniformed officers to criticize the "don't ask, don't tell" policy for homosexuals in the military, disclosed on Tuesday that they are gay.

The three, Brig. Gen. Keith H. Kerr and Brig. Gen. Virgil A. Richard, both of the Army, and Rear Adm. Alan M. Steinman of the Coast Guard, said the policy had been ineffective and undermined the military's core values: truth, honor, dignity, respect and integrity.
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They said they had been forced to lie to their friends, family and colleagues to serve their country. In doing so, they said, they had to evade and deceive others about a natural part of their identity.

The officers said that they were the first generals and admiral to come out publicly and that they hoped that others would follow.

They are the highest-ranking military officers to acknowledge that they are gay. Col. Margarethe Cammermeyer was discharged from the Washington State National Guard in 1992 for being a lesbian. She was later reinstated.

fantomas:
Fascinating NY Times article! Some former high-ranking officers are coming out, saying publicly that "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" just isn't working. NY Times: Gay Ex-Officers Say 'Don't Ask' Doesn't Work

And while gay service members are believed to make up only a small fraction of a military of more than one million men and women, commanders have said they are concerned that forcing heterosexual members to live, and fight, side by side with gays will undermine the military's mission to win the nation's wars.

To the Editor:

As a former Army officer who is lesbian, I am heartened by the courageous act of coming out by Brig. Gen. Keith H. Kerr, Brig. Gen. Virgil A. Richard and Rear Adm. Alan M. Steinman, who criticized the policy of "don't ask, don't tell" ("Gay Ex-Officers Say `Don't Ask' Doesn't Work," news article, Dec. 10).

Compelling people to lie about who they are is perhaps the most pernicious and deleterious aspect of the policy for the individual soldier whose service is predicated upon duty and honor. "Don't ask, don't tell" rests on the faulty foundation that to know that someone is gay is so reprehensible that it would disrupt unit cohesion.

While those of us who are gay took the same oath as heterosexual Americans to uphold the Constitution, in doing so we sacrificed our hearts, our family life and the intimacy that all human beings yearn for. I decided it was too high a price to pay for my country and left the service, after 16 years, despite an exemplary record.

Ultimately, the country sacrifices the gifts and talents of its gay and lesbian citizens to sustain this deeply flawed and un-American policy.

TANYA L. DOMI

Bronx, Dec. 10, 2003

•

To the Editor:

In "Gay Ex-Officers Say `Don't Ask' Doesn't Work" (news article, Dec. 10), you noted that three retired military officers — two generals and an admiral, who have been among the most senior uniformed officers to criticize the "don't ask, don't tell" policy — disclosed that they are gay.

Your article proves your headline wrong. The policy does work. How else could they have had successful military careers? In fact, they had it even rougher than current gays do since, unless they did not know they were gay when they joined the military, they had to lie to join, as the "don't ask" policy has only been around 10 years.

WAYNE L. JOHNSON

Alexandria, Va., Dec. 10, 2003

The writer is a retired commander, Judge Advocate General's Corps.

•

To the Editor:

Gays already serve and fight in the American military (news article, Dec. 10). It is time to change the "don't ask, don't tell" policy to "don't ask, don't care."

AMY JO MARASH BOWERS

Montclair, N.J., Dec. 10, 2003

sportinlife:
It is very encouraging news that non-gay ex-military personnel are supporting the movement to change the policy. The greatest barrier to changing laws that hurt gays is the perception that supporting doing so will cause that person to be perceived as gay - a problem that the movements for civil rights for blacks and women did not face.

redsoxbreath:
Meanwhile, in Annapolis, a group of 31 Naval Academy graduates shed their anonymity and applied to establish a GLBT graduates association to be called USNA Out.

Ball'mur Sun

Gay Alumni Open a New Chapter
Annapolis Graduates Want Academy to Recognize Calif. Group

By Christian Davenport
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, November 28, 2004; Page C01

He guarded the secret throughout his four years at the U.S. Naval Academy, and for a few years after that as an officer. Jeff Petrie knew that if his self-described "double life" were exposed, his military career would be over.

Then, on a stop in Oman during the Persian Gulf War, Petrie boarded his ship and saw a piece of paper with familiar handwriting.

It was a steamy love letter from his boyfriend back in the States. Someone had opened it and placed it on the quarterdeck for everyone to read.
....

Since leaving the Navy without incident in 1993, Petrie, 37, has gone from hiding his sexuality to petitioning the academy's alumni association for formal recognition of a San Francisco-based chapter for gay men and lesbians that he has founded. The association's Board of Trustees is scheduled to take up the petition at a meeting Thursday.
....

Last year, the board rejected Petrie's group, then called USNA Out, saying it served only a small group of alumni and therefore was exclusionary. The board also said that alumni chapters must have a geographic base from which to draw members.

"The process is consistent," said Skid Heyworth, a spokesman for the alumni association. Although the association was not discriminating against the group, he said, it "has never before chartered a special-interest chapter, and it did not want to begin that practice."

This year, the group changed its name to the Castro Chapter, named for the Castro District, a heavily gay neighborhood in San Francisco. Petrie said the chapter is open to everyone regardless of sexual orientation. Two of its 68 members are straight.
....

The Alumni Association executive leadership points to increasing participation in Alumni affairs by openly gay graduates as evidence that the current structure is working.

(Naval Academy Alumni Association President and CEO George P. Watt Jr) adds that the Alumni Association welcomes and encourages the members of the proposed Castro District Chapter to join and support their local Association chapter and continue to act as advocates for the Naval Academy, the Alumni Association and the naval service in the community in which they live and serve. He visited San Francisco last summer and delivered a message of inclusiveness to the Academy’s Alumni there.

Chet Kolley, president of the San Francisco Chapter, confirms that the group has several gay members and that about one-third of the chapter’s officers are openly gay. “None of them has mentioned to me that they feel unwelcome here, and I certainly have seen no evidence of it at any of the many chapter events that I have attended,” says Kolley. “The chapter would not benefit from the loss of some of its members to a new splinter group,” Kolley adds.

THEODORE SARBIN; Studied Role of Gay Troops

The New York Times
September 7, 2005 Wednesday

Theodore Sarbin, 94, Scholar; Studied Role of Gay Troops

BYLINE: By MARGALIT FOX

Theodore R. Sarbin, a prominent social psychologist who in 1988 helped write a controversial Pentagon report recommending that the United States military end discrimination against gay men and lesbians, died on Aug. 31 at his home in Carmel, Calif. He was 94.
....

Dr. Sarbin's report was prepared for the Defense Personnel Security Research and Education Center, at the time a Navy program. Completed in late 1988, the report was publicly rejected by the Pentagon after it was leaked to the news media the next year by members of Congress sympathetic to the cause of gay men and lesbians in the military. The report was written with Kenneth E. Karols, a Navy psychiatrist and surgeon.
....

Theodore Roy Sarbin was born in Cleveland on May 8, 1911. As a young man, he rode the rails as a hobo, an experience he would later say helped him identify with people on the margins of society.
....

Dr. Sarbin's report was originally commissioned to examine the security risks posed by gay men and lesbians in the military. In the finished report, ''Nonconforming Sexual Orientations and Military Suitability,'' he and Dr. Karols concluded that gay men and lesbians posed no greater risk than heterosexuals did. They recommended that the Pentagon rethink its policy barring them from service.
....

His report for the military was published in book form in 1990 as ''Gays in Uniform: The Pentagon's Secret Reports'' (Alyson Publications), edited by Kate Dyer.
....

I think it would be interesting if all the gays in the armed forces could just walk out ( if there were no repercussions for them).