SECOND LIEUTENANT, U.S. ARMY, 2004-PRESENT DAVID ON THE NEW FREE GAY AND LESBIAN GENERATION OF CADETS: I think I’ve always known I was gay. I grew up in a very Catholic family here in the states, in South Florida. Our church was located right in the middle of Wilton Manner. So I was…
NAVY VETERAN, 20 YEARS OF SERVICE DEBORAH ON BEING THE TARGET OF A WITCH HUNT INVESTIGATION: I signed up for the U.S. Navy in 1986. By January 1987 I went to bootcamp. In just about the final week of bootcamp myself and a few other women were pulled aside and questioned for being lesbians….
AIR FORCE VETERAN JANINE ON MOVING TO HER FIRST POST IN LOUISIANA WITH HER THEN-PARTNER, FRESH POST THE DADT REPEAL: When I was in my senior year of high school I was realizing I was gay and I had thought that you can’t tell anybody, nobody that I know can ever know about this. So…
AIR FORCE VETERAN, 10 YEARS OF SERVICE TERESA ON THE EQUATION OF HIDING, FEAR AND PATRIOTISM: My biological father was in the air force, I thought if he can do it, why can’t I? At the time the military was pushing good for education, good for travel and serve your country. At that time…
NAVY VETERAN, 2 YEARS OF SERVICE PAULA, ON NAVAL INVESTIGATIVE SERVICES INFILTRATING GAY BARS IN THE 70′s, IN AN ERA WHEN ONE COULD BE DISHONORABLY DISCHARGED JUST FOR BEING IN A GAY ESTABLISHMENT: I enlisted in 1972 and served during the Vietnam War Era. I was the first woman in the Navy to…