USNA Out, the as-yet unrecognized U.S. Naval Academy LGBT alumni group, has just gained its 106th member – a soon-to-be civilian whose investigation has recently concluded. Investigators have "proven" that she is a lesbian and have recommended discharge, despite her many years of honorable service in the military. The degrading experience of our fellow Naval Academy alumnus only compounds the ignorance and bigotry expressed a few weeks ago by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Peter Pace, who also happens to be a 1967 USNA graduate. His remarks are not a surprise to us; we have come to expect such commentary by many of our fellow alumni. That General Pace – the nation's highest-ranking military officer – made those remarks in an interview with the Chicago Tribune , however, makes this different.
First, the problem of homophobia among senior brass at the Pentagon has been made very apparent by the remarks made by its highest-ranking officer. Additionally, the nation has been notified and reminded that "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" did not "solve the problem" of gays in the military, a misconception that we have found to be held by many Americans. There remains to date no scientific or other factual evidence that supports the claim that the presence of out gays and lesbians would harm the ability of a military team to do its job. The ban is based on the conjecture of the uninformed.
Second, in his choice of words last month, General Pace made it quite clear that "morality" motivates the gay ban – not concerns about "unit cohesion" as indicated in the language of the DADT legislation. Had DADT referenced "morality," it would have probably not been approved by Congress, even back in 1993. As church and state meld into one under the leadership of the current occupant of the Oval Office, religious bigots who are aligned with the right church can today be more bold in projecting their own morality on others. While criminals are now being admitted into our armed forces, LGBT service members who have served honorably are being removed. Judgment cast by religious conservatives should not have anything to do with determining the fitness of a sailor or soldier for duty.
Third, we realized that the Naval Academy, in its policies and traditions, has taken an official position of denial about the LGBTs who attend the Naval Academy. And its alumni are paying the price: Graduates of Annapolis who are otherwise intelligent, courteous, physically fit model citizens who vote and pay their taxes lose all credibility when ignorance and bigotry come spilling out of their mouths. By offering no intellectual or professional information about LGBT people and our issues over the course of four years of academic instruction, the academy is failing all of its graduates by not doing anything to prepare them to lead the gay and lesbian troops they will undoubtedly encounter one day out in the field or on the sea. A Naval Academy graduate's education about us is derived from the disrespectful jokes that they hear other midshipmen tell over meals in King Hall.
Finally, and perhaps most disappointing to us, we realized that the leadership of our own alumni association has been very much aware of the incredible crush of bigoted and ignorant alumni we are up against if we choose to get involved in its activities. We have twice requested our own discrimination-free alumni chapter, and twice requested an anti-discrimination policy to apply to the 52,000 members of the USNA Alumni Association. The association's board of trustees – made up almost entirely of the Old Guard, consisting of presumed straight, white males from classes in the 1950s and 1960s – has gone to great lengths in order to do nothing for us, clinging with white knuckles to a Leave it to Beaver life ring of a reality that never was. No matter the policy of the academy or our own alumni association, we will no longer tolerate such discriminatory behavior unbecoming of civilized men and women.
Still the only out LGBT and straight allied alumni group of any United States service academy, USNA Out remains very active. Our group is gaining in strength. Thanks to the efforts of many, momentum is now building at an exciting rate toward lifting the ban on gays in the military. We who have poured all of our effort into this issue are hopeful that a change with the military policy will impact all of our community's issues in a positive way. Until that change happens with our armed forces, we are keeping our engines at full speed ahead.
USNA Out is the first-ever out LGBT alumni group of any United States service academy. The organization, founded in the fall of 2003, started out as an effort to gain recognition for an alumni chapter that was free of anti-LGBT discrimination. Four unsuccessful attempts have been made to find a friendly avenue for its members' participation in the activities of their own Naval Academy Alumni Association. Today, there are 106 civilian LGBT and straight allied alumni members of USNA Out, representing the Class of 1942 through the Class of 2006. Visit us online at http://www.usnaout.org.