Swedish military
gives lesson on accepting gays
By Deb Price / The
Detroit News from the Web, June 20, 2005
Fed up with the painful isolation
that defines life inside the closet, Krister Fahlstedt decided to come out in
his 10th year as an officer in the Swedish Air Force.
"I wanted to be one whole person, to share my life with my colleagues,"
Fahlstedt, 36, recalls of the tipping point he reached in 2000. "I felt
strongly when I looked in the mirror that the fact that I had joined the
military kept me back in my coming out process."
Then studying at the Swedish National Defense College, he wrote a report on gays
in the military, who, despite no outright discouragement on their service since
1979, felt reluctant to be out.
The published report shook Sweden, which didn't like what it saw in the mirror.
After all, its Parliament had outlawed anti-gay job bias in 1999 and assigned an
ombudsman to oversee enforcement.
Today, Capt. Fahlstedt commands "All Clear," a military project designed to
ensure a gay-supportive climate in the Swedish armed forces.
Recently, he led a three-officer expedition to scope out how the "Don't Ask,
Don't Tell" policy, which requires gay Americans in uniform to remain closeted
and celibate, could upset the crew of a Swedish submarine stationed for a year
in San Diego.
"I wouldn't want to have to live a double life," Air Force 1st Lt. Ulrika
Hansson, who joined Fahlstedt on the trip, said after she met with closeted U.S.
gay service members.
The Swedish visitors, who interviewed gay American service members, will report
back home with recommendations about how Swedes can cope with serving in close
proximity to an American military in which discrimination is quite literally the
rule.
How much better are gay Swedes treated by their military? Consider this:
In 2002, three-star Gen. Goran Gunnarsson, who is heterosexual, described
discovering at Stockholm's Pride Festival that one of his officers is gay.
Instead of quizzing the officer about why he hadn't trusted him, the general
looked in the mirror, asking, "What is it that I ... have said and done all
these years -- or, perhaps, not said and not done...which has made (him) choose
not to tell me who he is?"
That humane reaction starkly contrasts with new data released by the
Servicemembers Legal Defense Network: In fiscal 2004, the Pentagon booted
653 gays -- even though the Army is so shorthanded that it's proposing boosting
taxpayer-financed enlistment bonuses to $40,000.
By now, U.S. leaders should know that when other countries have removed barriers
to those of us who're openly gay, the experience is so positive that most people
want to keep advancing. Gallup in April released the results of an
international poll: Just 15 percent of adults in Britain, where gays serve
openly in the military and civil unions have been approved, want homosexuality
to be less accepted. Just 24 percent of adults in Canada, where gays marry
and serve openly, want less acceptance.
But with our national government reinforcing prejudices, Americans are more
wary: 36 percent favor less acceptance.
Because our allies have surged ahead in treating gay citizens fairly, U.S.
troops find themselves serving alongside units where gays are treated just like
everyone else.
"Sharing your life so colleagues know more about you, this is a good thing,"
Fahlstedt says. "And it strengthens a group."
In its treatment of gay soldiers, our country is out of step with our major
allies and our democratic ideals. America needs to take a hard look in the
mirror.
You can reach Deb Price at (202) 906-8205 or
dprice@detnews.com.
(Emphasis Added.)
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