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The OutHeroes Project: LT Jeff Petrie

OutServeMag — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 03:04:17 +0000

In Honor of LT Jeff Petrie, USN
USNA ’89

By Tom Carpenter, Esq.

Long before West Point’s Knights Out or Air Force Academy’s Blue Alliance, Jeff Petrie founded USNA Out and fought for formal recognition of his group by the Naval Academy.

Achieving national status in gymnastics while growing up in Oregon, Jeff Petrie was recruited by many colleges during his senior year at South Eugene High School. At the urging of his grandfather, who had served as a Navy officer in WWII, Petrie chose to attend the Naval Academy. As a midshipman, he competed on the men’s varsity gymnastics team and was elected by his teammates to be Team Captain senior year. Petrie graduated in May 1989 with a B.S. in Economics.

As a newly-commissioned Ensign, Petrie’s first billet was Assistant Varsity Gymnastics Coach at Navy, a temporary position he held until December 1989. In January of 1990 he moved to Coronado, California, to attend Surface Warfare Officers School before reporting aboard USS KIRK (FF 1087) in Long Beach.

As a junior officer in charge of OC Division, he led 30 enlisted men in exercises ranging from submarine tracking and torpedo launchings to naval gunfire support for which he served as the Gunnery Officer. He had a natural knack for standing bridge watches and was the first of eight ensigns onboard to qualify as Officer of the Deck. While deployed to the Persian Gulf he took over the role of First Lieutenant, managing Deck Division and overseeing topside evolutions including flight operations, underway replenishments of fuel, cargo, and weapons, and the exterior maintenance of the ship. Petrie enjoyed being at sea and got along well with the other junior officers despite his always making excuses for not joining in the social activities of the officers’ mess. In those situations he would find himself forced to lie to his shipmates when responding to mundane conversational questions about where he spent the weekend and with whom; the book he was reading; or his favorite restaurant or television program. It hurt him to lie to people who trusted him completely.

No measure of success could make up for the Navy’s requirement that gay service members secretly do whatever they have to do to hide the truth of their identity. With no hope for change on the horizon, Lieutenant Petrie resigned his commission and left the Navy on his 26th birthday.

Now as a gay man and civilian, Jeff faced several challenging years. In 2000, he took a position working in the Membership Department of the Legion of Honor art museum in San Francisco. Living in the Bay Area inspired him to form USNAOut, the first-ever LGBT alumni group of any service academy.

On November 11, 2003, Veterans’ Day, Jeff and a contingent of other former naval officers who served with distinction presented the Director of Career Programs at the United States Naval Academy Alumni Association (USNAAA), a proposal to establish a gay alumni association chapter–USNA Out. By December 6 the Board of Trustees of USNAAA unanimously rejected the proposal because they contended the Association did not charter special interest chapters, only geographical chapters. This was in spite of the long-standing existence of an Recreational Vehicle Chapter.

Jeff was not deterred. A year later, again on Veterans’ Day, Jeff and his fellow LGBT alum, thinking they had remedied the objections of the Trustees, submitted a request to establish the Castro Chapter of the USNAA. In an interview Petrie stated, “Now that we’ve transformed ourselves into a chapter that meets the criteria, we get to put to the test the statement they made last year when they said our sexuality was never taken into consideration,” For a second year in a row, the Trustees unanimously voted to not recognize the Chapter. The reason given this time was that there already was a San Francisco Chapter and the board did not support a chapter within a chapter. Further, the chapter had not met the “critical mass” of 25 members.

In spite of his disappointment, there is no denying Petrie started a movement that has taken off. Since that time, LGBT alumni from the Air Force Academy and West Point have followed suit and started groups of their own, Knights Out and the Blue Alliance.

Stepping down from his position as leader of USNA Out in 2009, Petrie served as the 2010 Chairman of the Board for the Service Academy Gay and Lesbian Alumni Network while concurrently serving as a board member for USNA Out. He continues to serve as a board member for both organizations.

Jeff has led the way and has demonstrated courage and perseverance in the face great adversity. He is one of the unsung heroes of the continued fight for equality.

The OutHeroes Project: Captain Phil Adams

OutServeMag — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 03:01:35 +0000

In Honor and Loving Memory of Captain Phil Adams, USMC

By Tom Carpenter, Esq. and Sue Fulton

Former Marine Captain Phil Adams, USNA ’83, was a founding member of SAGALA and an early volunteer for SLDN. In his own words, from an article written for HRC:

I grew up in San Francisco and lived in the Castro before it became known as a gay neighborhood. I entered the U.S. Naval Academy in the summer of 1979 and excelled there. My grades were excellent, and I was busy as captain of my battalion’s crew team. I embraced Christianity as my excuse for why I wasn’t dating girls — further delaying issues regarding my sexuality. I was conflicted about my sexual orientation, my religion, and the military’s and society’s homophobic norms. 

I was a second lieutenant at the Marine Basic School in Quantico, Va., when the first significant terrorist attack on Americans took place late in 1983. In just a few months, we would be taking up the torch of freedom from our fellow officers — many of whom died in Beirut. In what must have seemed at the time like an act of complete insanity, I volunteered for duty with the Marine infantry. It was tough training but the beginning of a great challenge.

I was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 7th Marines and met 3rd Platoon, Company A at the Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center. There are few greater challenges for a young second lieutenant than to meet his rifle platoon for the first time in the field. I was very demanding — perhaps too demanding — at first. We were living in snow caves and traversing mountains with snow shoes. Over time, my Marines learned that I demanded more of myself than I required of them.

At this early point in my career, a young Hispanic Marine from another platoon “came out” as gay to a chaplain. I watched the chain of events that took place very carefully. It confirmed my views about Marine leadership. This young man was afraid that if his peers found out that he was gay they would beat him up — maybe even kill him. Nothing was further from the truth. The first sergeant took time to speak with the young man and find out what he was all about. His company mates looked out for him and took care of him until he was discharged. There was never any discussion about his shower or living arrangements. We Marines were all brothers and the first sergeant made sure everyone understood that. Leadership creates the mindset of an organization, and the leadership in my unit set the standard.

At one point during our training at the amphibious base in Coronado, Calif., my Marines played a joke on me. At mail call, I received a plain manila envelope and opened it — revealing the contents to all present. Inside was a gay erotic magazine, which my Marines admitted they had sent. It was certainly funny to them, and it was their way of communicating to me their sense that they knew I was gay. It never affected our relationship.

In fact, everything we seemed to touch turned to gold. We were chosen to lead the battalion on tactical operations for desert warfare training in 29 Palms, Calif. We practiced hostage evacuation operations, amphibious assaults and chemical warfare exercises. We led the 7th Marine Regiment in barracks inspections and were asked by our battalion commander to represent the battalion as the drilling platoon for the general inspection. And I was selected to lead our company on the advance party to the 3rd Marine Division in Okinawa, arriving a month prior to the battalion’s deployment overseas.

Adams was made a company commander as a first lieutenant, and commanded an infantry company in Korea, then received a second company command at Camp Pendleton.

Like so many, he could not live with the conflict between the ban and the core values of the services, and despite successful command, Adams resigned his commission in 1991.

In April 1993, shortly after the so-called compromise that became known as DADT was signed into law by President Clinton, Adams published a piece entitled “We are Here To Stay” in the Naval Institute Proceedings, the leading professional magazine for the sea services.

Adams went on to become one of the founding members of the Service Academy Gay and Lesbian Association (SAGALA) and was also a member of USNA Out. His mother became a very active member of Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG), and he was a frequent speaker at their events, always talking about his experiences at the Academy, as a Marine Officer and as a proud out gay man. Adams was an original volunteer for Servicemembers Legal Defense Network in Los Angeles and worked tirelessly for the repeal of DADT.

In a state of extreme depression over being forced to leave the Corps and never finding satisfaction in a civilian profession, on June 28, 2006, Adams took his own life. He is remembered with fondness and respect. Semper Fi.

The OutHeroes Project: Specialist Jose Zuniga

OutServeMag — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 23:51:26 +0000

In Honor of Specialist Jose Zuniga

by Sue Fulton

Joe Zuniga, the only son in his conservative Mexican-American family, enlisted in the Army in 1989 after graduating from Texas A&M with a degree in journalism. He had turned down an appointment to West Point to stay close to his mother, who was ill with stomach cancer, but coming from a long line of soldiers, he felt drawn to military service. His mother’s experience drew him away from journalism and toward medicine, thus his selection of a medic specialty.

He was awarded the combat medical badge for his medic work with Iraqi prisoners during the Gulf War, but he truly excelled at his chosen field: journalism. Then-Specialist Zuniga was honored as military print journalist of the year in the Army’s largest major command, where he wrote about taboo subjects such as HIV/AIDS in the military. That same year he became the Sixth US Army’s 1992 Soldier of the Year.

At the time, shortly after the election of President Bill Clinton, debate raged over lifting the ban on gays in the military. Many argued that gays simply weren’t fit to serve; the few gay veterans were not well-known, or dismissed as misfits. Zuniga, having served with distinction as a combat medic and earned the extraordinary honor of Soldier of the Year, decided to come out.

On the eve of the 1993 March on Washington, with the support of the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force, Zuniga came out as a gay soldier at a major public event. He garnered huge media attention, including the front pages of every major newspaper, the cover of the New York Times Magazine, and interviews on every major broadcast. He also became the target of attacks and threats that come with celebrity, especially a gay celebrity in an era before the acceptance and tolerance taken for granted today.

At a pivotal time, Zuniga was able to put a face to the issue – the face of a decorated gay soldier. Through 1993 and into 1994, especially with the publication of this book Soldier of the Year, he traveled around the country speaking to audiences about his experiences. He received numerous letters from closeted gay, lesbian, and bi service members, which he said sustained him during difficult and dangerous times and made sacrificing his career worthwhile. He says that the most important thing he learned through his work is that “Some things are worth fighting for, even if it means sacrificing what is most important to you in order to effect change.”

In addition to his ongoing work since DADT’s enactment, including on the Board of Directors of the Servicemembers’ Legal Defense Network (SLDN), Zuniga has since 1999 continued to work for the community in his role as President of the International Association of Physicians in AIDS Care (IAPAC), a professional medical association with 17,000 members who work in the fields of HIV, malaria, and tuberculosis worldwide.

The OutHeroes Project: Corporal Kevin Blaesing

OutServeMag — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 23:30:45 +0000

In Honor of Corporal Kevin Blaesing

by Michelle Benecke, Esq.

Marine Corporal Kevin Blaesing was stationed in Charleston, South Carolina with the Marine Security Force in the early 1990s, and served under the mis-named “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. In the course of private counseling sessions with a Navy psychologist, he asked some general questions about sexuality and sexual orientation. Because the psychologist was a Naval officer, he was not bound to keep this information confidential, and he voluntarily reported Blaesing as gay. Fortunately, Blaesing’s commander did not act on this information and Blaesing continued to serve – until there was a change in command. The new commander, Lieutenant Colonel Martinson, reacted differently.

Although the Navy psychologist admitted that Blaesing never actually said he was gay or discussed his sexual orientation, Martinson initiated discharge proceedings. Additionally, he downgraded Blaesing’s performance evaluations, against the recommendations of Blaesing’s supervisors. Corporal Blaesing was discharged in 1994.

To add insult to injury, Martinson gave Corporal Blaesing the lowest possible recommendation for reenlistment, thus effectively killing any opportunity to reenlist and continue his military career, even if DADT were to end.

After leaving the Marine Corps, Blaesing continued to fight on behalf of other military members. As a volunteer with Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, he advocated for repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and for changes to Department of Defense policies and practices – specifically the policies under which mental health providers believed they had a duty to turn in suspected gay military members. In 1998, Defense Secretary Cohen issued new guidance making it clear there was no duty to turn in GLB military members who sought mental health services. Subsequently, President Clinton signed an Executive Order providing for a limited psychotherapist privilege. These actions stem from Blaesing’s efforts to assist other military members. Today, Kevin Blaesing works in the private sector in Savannah, Georgia.

The OutHeroes Project: Major Margaret Witt

OutServeMag — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 12:00:55 +0000

In Honor of Major Margaret Witt

by Michelle Benecke, Esq.

“I always wanted to be a nurse so I could help people. I joined the Air Force so I could help my country. I always thought that was the mission, until 2004 when I was discharged under DADT. After it happened, my friend and role model, Col. Margarethe Cammermeyer, told me I had a new mission – to help lead the way toward the day when all people could serve their country – and their military families – openly. And so, here we are, seven years later, and we’ve won: “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is ending. It’s been a long battle, made so much easier by the love and support of my partner, Laurie, my family, my military friends, and the phenomenal legal support of my attorney, Jim Lobsenz, and the ACLU in Seattle. I will always wish I could have finished my career the way I started it. I miss being an operating room nurse and a flight nurse, and I miss saving lives. I will never forget the honor of serving in Germany during the first Gulf War and in Southwest Asia during Operation Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. I am one of the fortunate few who have been able to retire despite DADT and I am deeply grateful to those who have fought before me and whose immense sacrifices have made this possible. My next chapter is to complete my doctorate in physical therapy, to co-author a series of nursing textbooks, and to continue to serve as the rehabilitation coordinator at the Veteran’s Administration hospital in Spokane. People ask me if I’m still proud of being in the Air Force after everything that’s happened, and I say that I am. To those still serving – in all branches of the military – and to those I served with – you will always have my respect and loyalty.” – Major Margaret Witt

Air Force Major Margaret Witt is a decorated flight nurse who was discharged under DADT in 2004 and for the past seven years has fought for her reinstatement and the rights of other GLB military members.

In 2008 the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that before discharging Witt or other service members under DADT, the military must actually prove that the service member’s conduct hurts morale and unit cohesion. No longer could the military simply assert that the presence of known gay people harmed readiness. This requirement became known as the “Witt Standard.” This standard became the basis for three other successful suits brought before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, accelerating momentum for ending DADT.

Applying this standard, the US District Court found in favor of Major Witt in September 2010 and ordered her reinstatement. In May 2011, the Air Force reached a settlement with Witt that will allow the 18 year veteran to retire with full benefits.

Witt served in Germany during the first Gulf War and in Southwest Asia during Operation Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom, where she earned an Air Medal while delivering medical care to injured service members. In 2003, Major Witt was again decorated for saving the life of a civilian Defense Department employee who collapsed while on a flight from Bahrain.

Bringing the fight against the military’s gay bans full circle, Witt was represented in her lawsuit by the ACLU of Washington and cooperating attorney Jim Lobsenz, the same attorneys who represented famed Army Sergeant Perry Watkins. Watkins was drafted as a gay man in 1968 during the Vietnam War and served openly until 1981. In 1989, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled as a matter of fairness that the Army could not discharge Watkins since the military had known he was gay when they drafted him and went on to reenlist him three times during his career. Given the years that had passed, Watkins reached a settlement with the Army and made history when he became the first openly gay person to be officially retired from the military with full benefits.

The OutHeroes Project: Senior Chief Petty Officer (Ret.) Timothy McVeigh

OutServeMag — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 12:00:32 +0000

In Honor of Senior Chief Petty Officer (Ret.) Timothy McVeigh

by Michelle Benecke, Esq.

Timothy McVeigh was a senior enlisted leader onboard the nuclear submarine USS Chicago when the Navy tried to discharge him in 1997 based on information the Navy fraudulently obtained from America Online (AOL).

McVeigh challenged his discharge in federal court and, on January 29, 1998, Judge Stanley Sporkin granted a permanent injunction to prevent the Navy from discharging McVeigh. In a strongly worded opinion, Judge Sporkin ruled that the Navy violated the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) by failing to obtain the required warrant or court order before seeking information about McVeigh from AOL. He termed the Navy’s actions a “search and destroy mission” and wrote that the Navy “went too far” in pursuing McVeigh.

Ultimately, McVeigh settled with the Navy and was allowed to retire with full benefits and the promotion the Navy had denied him during its investigation.

America Online conducted an internal investigation and admitted its mistake in releasing information about McVeigh. Further, AOL found that the Navy deliberately violated the law by using a pretense to obtain information that tied McVeigh to a personal profile that contained the word “gay.” AOL also settled with McVeigh and turned over the results of its investigation to the court.

With a slim chance of saving his career under DADT, Servicemembers Legal Defense Network sought assistance from the nation’s foremost internet privacy experts to bring suit on McVeigh’s behalf and publicize his predicament. They included Christopher Wolf and his team at Proskauer Rose; the Electronic Privacy Information Center; Center for Democracy and Technology; and, Wired Strategies. The latter launched an internet advocacy campaign that was itself a landmark and engaged activists and journalists in the fledgling field of internet privacy, some of whom are leading online commentators and bloggers today.

McVeigh’s case protected anonymous statements and secured the ability of gay, lesbian and bisexual military members to find community online and to organize, including during the effort to end DADT. OutServe, Servicemembers United and others are McVeigh’s legacy. More broadly, McVeigh’s case set a landmark precedent to protect all Americans from government snooping.

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UPDATE: This post incorrectly listed McVeigh as a “Master Chief Petty Officer,” and has since been updated to reflect his correct rate of Senior Chief Petty Officer, as well as his position as one of the most senior enlisted leaders onboard the nuclear submarine USS Chicago. Thanks, William!

The OutHeroes Project: Nicole Galvin

OutServeMag — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 18:17:31 +0000

In Honor of Nicole Galvin

by Michelle Benecke, Esq.

After three years at West Point, Nicole Galvan was looking forward to graduating from the academy the following year and being commissioned as an Army officer. Instead of joining the long grey line, however, she joined the long line of women who were lesbian baited and forced to leave under DADT.

In February 1996, just after Galvan’s 21st brithday, she was questioned by her commander, Lieutenant Colonel (LTC) Turner, about her relationship with another cadet: “Are you friends, pen pals or lovers?” When she replied “friends,” he was not satisfied and continued his diatribe in which he mentioned homosexuality several times. Galvan later heard from another cadet who was an eye witness to this incident that LTC Turner had questioned the other cadet and and asked her to speculate on Galvan’s sexual orientation.

Galvan approached some faculty members who helped her write a memo explaining the harassment. When the memo reached top West Point officers, LTC Turner retaliated by calling Galvan back in for questioning and ordering his subordinates to seize her personal journal. Galvan had started keeping the journal on the advice of a West Point grief counselor in the wake of her mother’s death. A witch hunt ensued against every woman (but none of the men) mentioned in the journal.

Galvan’s father tried to intervene with West Point officials including the Commandant, General Graves, but he was rebuffed and forced to step down as President of the West Point Parents Club of Northern California.

After a hearing panel recommended her separation, Galvan decided it was best to leave. However, she contacted Servicemembers Legal Defense Network to cut off the witch hunt against other women and, after leaving, spoke publicly about her ordeal because she did not want what happened to her to happen to anyone else.

Galvan returned home to California and finished college at California State University at Hayward. Today, she works as a personal trainer and fitness Bootcamp instructor with START and is about to enter the Fire Academy to become a firefighter. She and her partner of seven years, Elana, have a three year-old daughter, Zoe, and live in Laguna Beach, CA.

The OutHeroes Project: CPT Michelle Benecke

OutServeMag — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 16:07:27 +0000

In Honor of Captain Michelle Benecke

by Sue Fulton

Former Army Captain Michelle Benecke is a co-founder and former CEO of Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN). She and colleague Dixon Osburn formed SLDN the day after President Clinton announced DADT in 1993 to assist military members and implement a long term strategy to overturn DADT. Establishing an advocacy organization for military members had long been a goal of Benecke’s based on her experience as an Army officer.

In 1983, Benecke graduated from the University of Virginia and was one of a small number of women commissioned in the Army’s Air Defense Artillery (ADA) branch. Excluded from Infantry and Armor, women who served in ADA were a rare breed, among the very few women leading combat arms units. Thanks to her recognized leadership ability and hard work, Benecke was selected early for battery command (the artillery’s equivalent of company command), and performed well enough to be selected for a prestigious fellowship to law school, paid for by the Army.

However, Benecke’s selection for the fellowship heightened the ethical dilemma she was experiencing because of the gay ban. Not only would she have to lie to continue her military career, but she faced the possibility of having to prosecute other gay people as an Army lawyer. As a result, Benecke made the painful decision to resign her commission and forfeit the fellowship for reasons of integrity.

In the 80s, Army women faced discrimination and sexual harassment – especially in “non-traditional” fields like Air Defense and Field Artillery. And in a time of widespread witch hunts, women were frequently charged with being gay, whether they were or not. Such charges might be leveled in retaliation for spurning a male soldier’s advances or to smear a fellow officer who might be competing for a choice assignment. Typically, investigators sought to gather lists of suspected gay people for further investigation.

Several weeks before Benecke’s tour ended, she was caught up in one of the many investigations. Already accepted to Harvard Law School, the pressure was intense, but Benecke survived the investigation and did not name names. With only days to spare, Benecke was released from the Army and began Harvard Law School in 1989.

While at law school, Benecke began speaking and writing for repeal of the gay ban. Among others, she and classmate Kirstin Dodge published an influential law journal article that exposed the military’s use of the gay ban against women in non-traditional fields. The article circulated, and Benecke started to hear from gay and lesbian military members.

When President Clinton announced DADT on July 19, 1993, it was clear that military members would need ongoing legal help. Gay organizations had no plans to assist military members or to seek repeal of DADT. So, Benecke and Osburn launched SLDN. Benecke served as co-director from 1993 to 2000, providing free legal assistance to military members, watch dogging the military and laying the foundation to overturn DADT.

Among many incidents of abuse, the brutal murder of PFC Barry Winchell is one of the most well-known. Soldiers in Winchell’s unit sought outside help – they were concerned military officials were attempting to cover up the circumstances of his death. SLDN’s investigation found evidence that Winchell was killed in a hate crime and helped to ensure prosecution of the attackers.

The OutHeroes Project: CPT Tanya Domi

OutServeMag — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 01:37:49 +0000

In Honor of Captain Tanya Domi, US Army

by Sue Fulton

Former Army Captain Tanya Domi was National Gay & Lesbian Task Force’s (NGLTF) lead in fighting the gay ban in 1992-93.

Tanya Domi enlisted in the Women’s Army Corps in 1974. Her high scores qualified her for specialized training in Military Intelligence, and she was sent to Ft. Devens – site of one of the most infamous witch hunts of the 1970s. Tanya barely even considered herself gay at that point, though she had “kissed a girl” in Basic Training, but when a group of friends went into Boston to a gay bar, she went along. Within 24 hours of their return, all of the women were called into CID, read their rights, and asked “did you go to a gay bar?” Having grown up in a progressive family, she knew enough to contact the local ACLU. Thanks to her, many of the women were provided legal assistance; but she got the reputation of being a “barracks lawyer,” and she suffered as a result.

Over that two-year-period (’74-’75), some sixty to seventy women were discharged from Ft. Devens for being gay. Some women were hounded into turning themselves in, some committed suicide. Tanya survived; but her investigation was dragged out for months, her clearance was downgraded, and despite her extraordinary scores and academic success, she was reassigned… as a cook. Tanya refused to accept it. She fought, calling anyone who would help, including her congressmen, progressives Robert Drinan and Ted Kennedy – and succeeded in getting her orders changed to petroleum chemist. She went through training and was sent to Ft. Bragg and the 82nd Airborne. As the Army was starting to integrate women into the force, she was assigned as one of only six women in the 230-person company providing fuel support to the entire division. Sexual harassment was rampant, and the unit had the highest rate of disciplinary actions in the Army, but she stuck it out and finished her enlistment.

After a year at Central Michigan University, she missed the Army, and ended up joining ROTC. She earned a degree in journalism and was commissioned a 2LT in the Military Police. After a tour at Ft. McLellan, she went to Schofield Barracks in Hawaii, and took command of an MP company. During her successful company command, shortly after being selected to teach at West Point, she reported an incident of sexual harassment by a fellow officer. Not long after, CID called her in because they’d received an unsigned, undated letter, alleging a relationship with a female E-7 in another unit. The allegation was false; Tanya wasn’t in a relationship, her time being completely taken up with the demands of her job, but that didn’t matter. She was able to survive the new investigation, but under incredible stress, she developed ulcerative colitis and realized she needed to leave the Army.

Tanya went directly into politics, working for a Hawaiian congressman, then in Washington for a member of the House Armed Services Committee. She finally came out publicly in 1991, and with a few others, started Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Veterans of America (possibly the first ever gay military group in the US). Her work came to the attention of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, and she went to work for them in
December 1992.

When President Bill Clinton announced he would lift the military’s gay ban, and the right-wing backlash started in earnest, Tanya led the Campaign for Military Service Bus Tour. The group of GLB vets started in Minneapolis, and traveled through the Midwest and South before ending their tour in the nation’s capital right before the 1993 March on Washington. Tanya also joined a small group of gay vets who testified against the ban in May 1993 before the House Armed Services Committee.

After the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy was adopted, Tanya worked on drafting of the original Employment Non-discrimination Act in ’94, and worked with Senator Kennedy and Coretta Scott King before she went abroad in 1994. She worked to guarantee free elections in Nepal, Haiti, the Gambia, then went to Bosnia in ’96 for the State Department, and stayed for four years

Today she lives in New York, a city she loves, with her partner Deborah and golden retriever Bailey, and teaches at Columbia University. She continues to work on behalf of LGBT military servicemembers and vets, blogging for The New Civil Rights Project.

The OutHeroes Project: Capt Rich Richenberg

OutServeMag — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 22:15:36 +0000

In Honor of Captain Rich Richenberg, US Air Force

by Michelle Benecke, Esq.

Rich Richenberg served in Desert Storm One, where he commanded the control center aboard the AWACs aircraft and garnered numerous accolades as an Air Force officer. He was top notch; it was widely accepted that he was destined for the highest ranks. That all unraveled when he acknowledged he was gay.

Rich believed deeply in the military’s stated values of integrity, honor and courage and that is what led him to be honest with his command in 1994. As a result, he faced derision from his superiors for being gay and, ultimately, he was discharged. To add insult to injury, the Air Force gratuitously downgraded the characterization of his discharge — to “General (under honorable conditions)” instead of “Honorable” — notwithstanding his impeccable service record.

His coworkers could not believe the Air Force would kick out an officer of his caliber. The vicious means by which senior Air Force officers sought to harm Rich as he was being discharged moved many to oppose Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.

Rich was one of the first military members to challenge his discharge under DADT in federal court, however the courts were not ready to overturn the law. Within the military, he worked with Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) to have his discharge upgraded. Ultimately, Rich was given the Honorable discharge characterization he had earned, but not before taking his case all the way up the chain to the Secretary of the Air Force.

After his discharge, Rich was a lifeline for other military members who were harmed by DADT, first as an individual and, later, as an employee with SLDN. He subsequently moved to San Diego, where he worked in real estate and IT, but moved to the Midwest last year to take a position with FEMA, where he assisted disaster victims during this season’s record-level floods.

Rich’s case was a turning point. For decades, military officials forced gay military members to accept downgraded discharge characterizations on the theory that being gay, alone, was an affront to military standards of conduct. In other cases, military investigators forced gay people to accept less than honorable discharge characterizations and leave quietly by threatening them with prosecution and prison.

Rich Richenberg brought this practice into the national spotlight. As we transition to a post-DADT world, the practice of downgrading gay military members’ discharge characterizations is now well-documented. This should assist veterans who seek to have their characterizations upgraded in the future.