[Vision2020] gays in the Military

[Donovan Arnold]

Wow! I didn't know there was a Dutch army.
 
Best Regards,
 
Donovan

--- On Sun, 11/9/08, Chasuk <chasuk at gmail.com> wrote:

From: Chasuk <chasuk at gmail.com>
Subject: [Vision2020] gays in the Military
To: "Vision2020" <vision2020 at moscow.com>
Date: Sunday, November 9, 2008, 12:53 AM

http://www.radionetherlands.nl/thestatewerein/otherstates/081107-gays-military

The Open Soldier

Major Peter Kees Hamstra has been in the Dutch army for almost thirty
years and for two thirds of that time he's been openly gay. In 1974
the Dutch armed forces was the first in the world to make it possible
to serve and to be openly homosexual and since that time just a
handful of other countries have followed suit.

Major Hamstra is now the chairman of the organization for
homosexuality in the Dutch services. "My sexuality is not an issue,"
he says. And, in fact, if someone was being openly discriminatory
towards him they stand the chance of being disciplined or even
dismissed.

In fact, Major Hamstra is the archetypal modern Dutch gay man. He's a
respected army officer, married (to a man of course as the Netherlands
was also the first country to legalise same sex marriages) and who is
not afraid to take his partner to official army functions.

He comes in to the Hilversum studio slightly out of breath, as he lost
his way in the car and was nervous about being late but when it's all
over and after saying how much he enjoyed the interview he says he
must leave promptly - he must collect his daughter from her school.

However, there are occasional problems. When serving abroad in Bosnia
and Iraq he was forced to close the closet door shut once again. Not
from his Dutch colleagues but from his peace-keeping allies. The
Netherlands has always been a pioneering country for equal rights but
that doesn't mean to say it rubs off on others.

The Closeted Soldier

When I first spoke to Marco on the phone to organize our meeting, he
sounded perfectly at ease with the idea of being interviewed. He said
he enjoyed speaking English and was looking forward to meeting me and
telling me more about their fledgling association, Polis Aperta. We
arranged to meet at 5.30pm in front of Ferrara station. He'd pick me
up in his car and we'd do the interview in his apartment. "You'll
spot
me easily," I told him, "I'm short, have long red hair and look
unmistakeably English". "You'll spot me easily too," he
laughed, "I'll
be coming straight from work so I'll still be wearing my uniform."
Needless to say, we had no problem finding each other and I was
confident everything else would go as I'd anticipated. But during the
short journey from the station to Marco's flat, he made two requests
that took me completely by surprise.

The first was that I should only use his first name and the second was
that I should describe him as 'working in the military', without
mentioning which of the armed forces he is a member of. "Ferrara's a
small town and there aren't many English speakers in the forces. I'd
be too easily identified." I was shocked at the unexpected revelation,
"You mean you aren't out?"

"Absolutely not." This revelation and my shock are, I think, the
essence of this issue and the need in contemporary Italy for an
association like Polis Aperta. Marco struck me as somebody who was
happy to talk about his sexuality, unashamed for me to know he was
gay, proud to be part of this anti-discrimination campaign... yet, in
the military context, things couldn't be more different.

Here was a man in his mid-thirties who had spent 15 years doing a job
he really enjoyed, but a job in which he still felt the need to hide a
fundamental aspect of his identity. His worry that I might
unintentionally out him, thereby jeopardizing his career, made me
realise just how far behind other countries Italy is when it comes to
gay rights in the armed forces. I wouldn't say Italy is any more or
less homophobic than other European countries. In most professions
here, the right to be gay is taken for granted. In the police and the
military it is not.

Although there is no rule in Italy that explicitly bans homosexuals
from joining the forces, there is a loophole in an old recruitment law
about one's 'psychological stability relating to sexual
orientation'.
Marco says that new recruits who openly reveal they are gay will
almost certainly be rejected on these grounds, no matter how at ease
they may be with their sexuality.

If you are already in the forces and are lucky enough to have an
open-minded superior and colleagues, coming out need not be an issue,
but discrimination is arbitrary and there is no unit or union to
protect you against it. Covert discrimination might entail you being
given the worst tasks, randomly transferred or even denied
promotion... but never ostensibly because of your homosexuality. With
no sexual discrimination laws to protect gay members of the armed
forces, Polis Aperta was born of a genuine feeling of necessity.

The association began as an on-line forum back in 2005 - a way for
people like Marco to vent their frustration and help each other deal
with discrimination issues based on sexual orientation. The name Polis
Aperta can be translated as "Open City". Their aim is to achieve
this.
They say that being gay in many European forces is not just a right
but a bonus.

Being the best English speaker of the association, Marco usually
represents Polis Aperta at international meetings of gay/lesbian
police and military associations. In his experience, many countries
now make positive practical use of gay members of their forces,
getting them to train heterosexual officers in how to deal with
homophobic hate crime.

He'd like to see the same approach in Italy, though he thinks
achieving it will be a long process. But if Polis Aperta is recognized
by the government and given legal status as an anti-discrimination
association, Marco believes the first major bridge will have been
crossed. "When we feel confident that we can come out without putting
our careers at risk and know there is someone who'll fight for us and
defend us if necessary, then I guess things will really change."

The Retired Soldier

Lieutenant Colonel Robert Maginnis may have retired from the US army
in 1993 but in the intervening years he's made good use of his
military experience. He's now an expert on national security and
foreign affairs. He has also been the vice- president of the Family
Research Council, an organisation espousing what it sees as
quintessentially American values centred on family life.

One of his more controversial roles is speaking out against
homosexuality in the US military. He favours a complete ban. The armed
forces in the US currently has a 'don't ask, don't tell' policy
which
states that gay servicemen and women can serve but they cannot be
open. It's a compromise that's been in place for the past 15 years and
which seems to satisfy very few people. It's already led to 12500
people being discharged.

Mr. Maginnis was part of a study group that looked at unit cohesion,
morale and the combat effectiveness of the military if homosexuals
were admitted. His conclusion was that, in tight groups in which trust
is paramount, the inclusion of homosexuals can have an adverse affect.
The military is all about the 'we' he says and not about individuals.
This is why, during training, individuality is drummed out of
recruits. "It's all about a teamed effort to accomplish a
mission." he
says. "When a preference as an individual trumps the preference of
others in the team then that undermines the trust and cohesion that is
so key." Wearing one's sexuality on one's collar, he believes is
not
looking out for the best interests of the team.

It's a charge that is vehemently discounted by others as just being an
argument that people use to put homosexuality in a bad light but Bob
Maginnis is sticking to his guns and if a new US administration
attempts to legalise homosexuality they'll have a fight on their
hands.

The Discharged Soldier

Towards the end of last year army sergeant Darren Manzella thought he
had it all. He'd been promoted a number of times and was fast tracking
in the US medical corps. He was also open about his homosexuality and
was still serving. He thought it was a pioneering step towards getting
rid of the 'don't ask, don't tell' policy. Then he agreed to
being
interviewed for a television programme. Within weeks he was dismissed.

Darren is now working for the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network in
Washington D.C. and is only too willing to talk about his story of
discrimination and hatred.

"It's all confusing to me", he says. "It's hard to look
at a record
and say you've done amazing things and you're an asset to the military
but because of who you are you can no longer stay in the military."

He joined the medical corps for patriotic reasons after 9-11 and on
his first deployment patrolled the streets of Baghdad with bombs going
off around him, snipers shooting at him and mortars and rockets
hitting his base. He saw many people die and suffer horrible injuries.
It was for this reason that, on his return, he decided to tell his
friends and family about his sexuality. "That could have been me," he
says. "That could have been me that didn't return and my family
wouldn't have known this important thing about me."

He told his commander after he started receiving anonymous e-mails and
phone calls threatening him with exposure. The stress was enormous he
says and he wanted to tell his commander in person before he found out
from another source.

And then the surprise. An enquiry concluded that there was nothing to
answer and he could stay in his job. It was at this time that he found
others he could confide in. They were from all branches and all ranks
of the US military. Perhaps it gave him too big a sense of security
because when the sixty minute television programme approached him for
an interview, he decided to speak out. It cost him his profession.

It's estimated that around 65000 men and women are still in the US
military struggling to keep their identity a secret.

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