The summer of 2010 seems to
be a time which will be remembered in American
military history for its anachronistic lack of
insight. LT Dan Choi, a Korean American and
1st Lt Robin
Chaurasiya, an Indian American were
discharged under DADT for being gay. And West
Point Cadet Katherine Miller, a Japanese American,
resigned rather than endure further homophobia.
They are hardly the only minorities hounded out of
our armed forces because of who they are; but the
profound loss of these three happened within a few
weeks this summer, at a time when the policy of
exclusion should be in its last days. I have
the sense that the vital importance to our armed
forces of their diversity was not even
considered in the deliberations leading to their
dismissal. The deliberations seem to have
focused simply on whom they happen to
love.
All three devoted their final
high school years to preparing themselves physically
and academically to qualify to enter our officer
service academies. Like our president, they
were determined to overcome ignorant stereotypes
about who can lead. Like our president, they
sacrificed the usual teenage fun times in order to
study and work out, to excel to achieve a goal.
In speaking with these three
exceptional Americans over the summer, I was struck by the fact that each
one is intensely patriotic, and each is the child or
grandchild of an immigrant. Being a child of
WWII Holocaust refugees to America, I wondered if
they shared my own experience, two generations
later. During the war in Vietnam, I
volunteered to serve because of a strong desire to
"pay my country back for my family's freedom."
That sense of patriotism overpowered the
inconvenient fact that I am gay. I thought, "I
want to do this, I can do this, I will sacrifice
that part of my personal freedom to do this."
More than 40 years later, these three young
Americans told me that they had the same sense, the
same thoughts, the same flag-billowing patriotism
and willingness to sacrifice in order to serve,
despite being gay. And to this day, some 40
years later, our armed forces still have the same
sense of discrimination and willingness to exclude
these American born patriots from serving.
Some things have changed and progressed.
When I served during and after Vietnam, I had no
expectation of equality; I served in silence in a
deep camouflage closet. Today, our proud young
leaders and cadets have every expectation of
equality regardless of race, religion, or gender;
proud to serve as women of color and or as Americans
with ethnic identities. They expect zero
tolerance of any form of discrimination, including
discrimination against gay and lesbian service
members who are forbidden to speak
about who they love. That is the policy but
not the reality.
Leadership is the principle
element in successfully implementing a policy of
non-discrimination; and the three lost this summer
were exactly the ones with the potential needed by
our military to progress to a future free of
discrimination.
Between them, Lieutenants Choi
and
Chaurasiya
speak 10 languages (Korean, Arabic, Farsi, Hindi,
Urdu, Turkish, German, Luganda, and Swahili, as well
as English). LT Choi, an Iraq combat veteran,
is an experienced infantry officer and platoon
leader. 1st Lt
Chaurasiya's
specialty is communications. Former Cadet
Miller has a background in non-discrimination and
diversity education; she has been accepted to begin
continuing her education at Yale this month.
Did we really want to loose these three along with
all the others driven out this year, pending the
repeal of the policy, either by involuntary
discharge or declining to reenlist due to the
continuation of the DADT policy that requires hiding
who they are?
Denny Meyer
former SFC, USAR
Contributing Editor: Andrea
Egert
© 2010 Gay Military Signal