“I could have written a statement denying that I was homosexual, but lying did not seem like the right thing to do… The result was the termination of our careers, and the loss to the military of two more Arabic translators.”
That, in a nutshell, is the testimony of an outed gay sailor, writing an op-ed in today’s New York Times. (Pictured is a model, not the op-ed author.)
“I was an Arabic translator,” writes Stephen Benjamin, recounting an all too familiar tale of excellence denied because of the backward, religion-based opposition to gay men and women from right-wing politicos.
“After joining the Navy in 2003, I attended the Defense Language Institute, graduated in the top 10 percent of my class and then spent two years giving our troops the critical translation services they desperately needed. I was ready to serve in Iraq.”
He continues:
My story begins almost a year ago when my roommate, who is also gay, was deployed to Falluja. We communicated the only way we could: using the military’s instant-messaging system on monitored government computers. These electronic conversations are lifelines, keeping soldiers sane while mortars land meters away.
Then, last October the annual inspection of my base, Fort Gordon, Ga., included a perusal of the government computer chat system; inspectors identified 70 service members whose use violated policy. The range of violations was broad: people were flagged for everything from profanity to outright discussions of explicit sexual activity.
Among those charged were my former roommate and me. Our messages had included references to our social lives — comments that were otherwise unremarkable, except that they indicated we were both gay.
The result was the termination of our careers, and the loss to the military of two more Arabic translators. The 68 other — heterosexual — service members remained on active duty, despite many having committed violations far more egregious than ours; the Pentagon apparently doesn’t consider hate speech, derogatory comments about women or sexual misconduct grounds for dismissal.
My supervisors did not want to lose me. Most of my peers knew I was gay, and that didn’t bother them. I was always accepted as a member of the team. And my experience was not anomalous: polls of veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan show an overwhelming majority are comfortable with gays. Many were aware of at least one gay person in their unit and had no problem with it.
“Don’t ask, don’t tell” does nothing but deprive the military of talent it needs and invade the privacy of gay service members just trying to do their jobs and live their lives.
Political and military leaders who support the current law may believe that homosexual soldiers threaten unit cohesion and military readiness, but the real damage is caused by denying enlistment to patriotic Americans and wrenching qualified individuals out of effective military units. This does not serve the military or the nation well…
In addition to those [58] translators, 11,000 other service members have been ousted since the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy was passed by Congress in 1993.
Many held critical jobs in intelligence, medicine and counterterrorism. An untold number of closeted gay military members don’t re-enlist because of the pressure the law puts on them. This is the real cost of the ban…
In response to difficult recruiting prospects, the Army has already taken a number of steps, lengthening soldiers’ deployments to 15 months from 12, enlisting felons and extending the age limit to 42. Why then won’t Congress pass a bill like the Military Readiness Enhancement Act, which would repeal “don’t ask, don’t tell”? The bipartisan bill, by some analysts’ estimates, could add more than 41,000 soldiers — all gay, of course.
As the friends I once served with head off to 15-month deployments, I regret I’m not there to lessen their burden and to serve my country. I’m trained to fight, I speak Arabic and I’m willing to serve. No recruiter needs to make a persuasive argument to sign me up. I’m ready, and I’m waiting.
How sad and unfortunate. It just shows religious persecution is alive and well, as such archaic policies would no longer exist were it not for the religious right. Other countries allow gays in the military and have no problems (hell,,some countries even allow gays to get married! Imagine that!)
All in Gods name! - what a fuckin’ joke - there nothing more frightened than a self righteous religious zealot - at the moment the world seems full of ‘em!
The Bush Administration opts for cronyism over competence once again. The system works.
Bill Maher said it recently: gays should just declare themselves a religion, invoke/name drop God at every chance we get, and declare that we are the chosen people.
In case Stephen Benjamin has never heard the cliche : Lie down with dogs, wake up with fleas.
If in his careerist pursuit of invading sovereign nations, subbornining torture, and creating civil war he thought he could happy go lucky about his “job”, then , yeah, he deserves the same pity and compassion of most misguided fools.
Gry: That could actually work in one way or another.
Just replace ‘God’ with…well…by lack of better example I can think of…’Madonna’ or something, and change around some people names and locations and tadah!
Anyways… it just shows here that, as always, keeping the thing that works for the people that cast their votes is the way to go for politicians, and not the thing that’s best for the people and the country.
Even if, supposedly, gay people were sinners and all that…well…crap…, then still that would not affect our ability to work properly. One does not turn stupid by being gay, nor does one turn stupid by outing oneself or being outed.
If God, in all His wisdom, seeks to condemn us, then by all means he’s free to do so. But it’s his job. Most certainly not the job of the American government. Or even the believers in God. Judge not lest ye be judged thyself (or something like that).
People should stop thinking about condemning others and start thinking about how to make their own lives better. That’d be a big help to everyone. Nobody needs a socially inept, grouchy gay-hunter. A friendly neighbour, now that’s better.
But alas, people always look outward, rarely ever inward. Life sucks, the world turns, and that’s how the story goes…*sighs*
I just wanted to say you probably knew it would happen if you disclosed and you did things that would jeopardize your career,Nonetheless, The gov’t is an entity of dispationate hippocrits, liars and stupid head their ass power weilding dickless sycophants. who use what they want to exact their will on to others. My question to you is why would you want to work or be associated with a system like that. You can do more good in so many more arenas, but if you just want to die, go to Detroit. There are so many more agencies that could use you. Don’t despair ;it’s not worth it.
Sad,sad.
This is why I left the Navy
I have a friend that recently went and joined the Royal Australian Navy.
He is proud eager and willing to serve his country.
He is given excellent training and conditions and is respected for his attention to
his duties and overall an asset to his ship.
Can the representitives of goveernment and religion, please let go of your fear and create equality. And all your citizens, demand it of your representitves in your parliament they are of the people… make sure they hear your voice and that of your friends and family colleagues.
You are each an asset to your country and our service is equal to others.
MZ