Gay Service Members Ponder Military Policy
By AP from the
NYTimes on the Web, September 22, 2004
NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- Brian
Hughes served four years with an Army Ranger unit, including assignments in
Afghanistan and Iraq, while keeping his homosexuality -- a potentially
career-ending sexual orientation -- secret.
Hughes, 26, left the Army last month in part because of his frustration with the
military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy, which allows homosexuals to serve so
long as they do not disclose their sexual orientation and do not engage in
homosexual acts.
Now enrolled at Yale University, Hughes said the policy forced him to lie to
other members of his unit, who frequently bragged about their sexual exploits.
Hughes said he found himself substituting "she" for "he" in stories
so he could join in conversations.
"It hurt. I was lying to those people," he said.
"I eventually withdrew and became quite
anti-social because I didn't want to deal with it anymore."
Hughes is one of 30 homosexual servicemen and servicewomen profiled in an
unscientific survey released earlier this month about the impact of "don't ask,
don't tell" on gay soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Hughes and study author Nathaniel Frank traveled this week to Washington, D.C.,
to meet with congressional staffers to encourage an end to the 11-year-old
policy.
The survey, conducted through the Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in
the Military at the University of California in Santa Barbara, does not question
heterosexual service members about serving alongside gay and lesbian soldiers.
It does, however, provide a snapshot of what it's like to be gay
and serving in a combat zone.
Some service members who were part of the survey said in interviews that they
came out to their colleagues about their sexual orientation despite the policy.
Some were discharged when their homosexuality
became known; others continued to serve.
Derek Sparks, who now works in information technology in Seattle, was discharged
in 2002 after the Navy learned he was gay. Some
gay friends on his ship were investigated, and he acknowledged his homosexuality
to his commanding officer during the probe.
"All the policy meant to me at the time was that I still had to hide," said
Sparks, who enlisted in 1987. "I think they
should get rid of it. I think it's ineffective.
All it does it put more stress on people."
Sparks and many of the service members interviewed in the survey said most of
their younger colleagues accepted their homosexuality, but older military
leaders did not.
Wendy Biehl, 28, who served eight years in the Army in Kuwait, Kosovo, Bosnia
and Germany, came out to a few friends she trusted, but kept her homosexuality a
secret from commanders.
Some colleagues suspected she was a lesbian, and they tried to find out for sure
by skirting the "don't ask" policy. They would
ask whether she ever went to a local lesbian bar or would drive around to see if
her truck was parked near the bar.
"Some guy friends would claim they were my boyfriend. That
kind of helped out a little bit. It helped keep
certain people off my back," Biehl said.
Biehl now sells metal detectors in Florida. She
said the "don't ask, don't tell" policy was a big reason why she chose not to
re-enlist. "I really wasn't happy hiding who I
really was, and it gets frustrating after a while," she said.
The Department of Defense has heard of no such criticisms and believes the
"don't ask, don't tell" policy works as intended, said Army Lt. Col. Joe
Richard, an agency spokesman.
The survey, he said, is based on anecdotal information from individuals and does
not look at the effect on the military as a whole, which has determined that
homosexuality is not compatible with good order and discipline.
"It is a policy that is generally in the best interests of the military
services. You have to go beyond the individual.
That's our position," he said.
Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military:
http://www.gaymilitary.ucsb.edu
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