[Vision2020] gays in the Military

[keely emerinemix]

Chas, thanks for this illuminating and touching article.  

I was especially piqued by Maginnis' comments -- that the sexuality of one ought not "trump" the sexuality of other soldiers in wartime cohesiveness.  I'm at a loss as to how a gay man or lesbian's sexuality in the midst of battle can "trump" the sexuality of the soldiers she or he serves with.   I'd think that, with bullets flying, the last thing any soldier would care about is that the guy dying next to him somehow ruined the illusion of complete heterosexuality of the unit under attack.

Keely
http://keely-prevailingwinds.blogspot.com/




> Date: Sun, 9 Nov 2008 00:53:39 -0800
> From: chasuk at gmail.com
> To: vision2020 at moscow.com
> Subject: [Vision2020] gays in the Military
> 
> 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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