10 years after ‘don’t ask, don’t tell,’ cadets see progress
By DAVE COLLINS, Associated Press
10 years after ‘don’t ask, don’t tell,’ cadets see progress
AP Photo/Steven Senne
U.S. Coast Guard Lt. Kelli Normoyle, Commanding Officer of the Coast Guard Cutter Sanibel steps aboard the vessel, Thursday, Sept. 16, 2021, at a shipyard, in North Kingstown, R.I.
AP Photo/Steven Senne
U.S. Coast Guard Lt. Kelli Normoyle, Commanding Officer of the Coast Guard Cutter Sanibel steps aboard the vessel, Thursday, Sept. 16, 2021, at a shipyard, in North Kingstown, R.I.
10 years after ‘don’t ask, don’t tell,’ cadets see progress
AP Photo/Steven Senne
U.S. Coast Guard Lt. Kelli Normoyle, Commanding Officer of the Coast Guard Cutter Sanibel, stands for a photograph on the deck of the vessel, Thursday, Sept. 16, 2021, at a shipyard, in North Kingstown, R.I.
AP Photo/Steven Senne
U.S. Coast Guard Lt. Kelli Normoyle, Commanding Officer of the Coast Guard Cutter Sanibel, stands for a photograph on the deck of the vessel, Thursday, Sept. 16, 2021, at a shipyard, in North Kingstown, R.I.
10 years after ‘don’t ask, don’t tell,’ cadets see progress
AP Photo/Steven Senne
U.S. Coast Guard Lt. Kelli Normoyle, Commanding Officer of the Coast Guard Cutter Sanibel, adjusts her hat while walking on the deck of the vessel, Thursday, Sept. 16, 2021, at a shipyard in North Kingstown, R.I.
AP Photo/Steven Senne
U.S. Coast Guard Lt. Kelli Normoyle, Commanding Officer of the Coast Guard Cutter Sanibel, adjusts her hat while walking on the deck of the vessel, Thursday, Sept. 16, 2021, at a shipyard in North Kingstown, R.I.
How to get people’s pronouns right and what to do if you slip up
Phil Velasquez/Chicago Tribune
In 1924 the Society for Human Rights was founded by Henry Gerber in Chicago. It was the first documented gay rights organization in the United States, and meetings were held in his home.
The Henry Gerber House, pictured, is now a National Historic Landmark.
Phil Velasquez/Chicago Tribune
In 1924 the Society for Human Rights was founded by Henry Gerber in Chicago. It was the first documented gay rights organization in the United States, and meetings were held in his home.
The Henry Gerber House, pictured, is now a National Historic Landmark.
How to get people’s pronouns right and what to do if you slip up
Maurice Seymour/Wikimedia Common
Christine Jorgensen, a former U.S. Army private, made headlines in the 1950s after having sex reassignment surgery and talking widely about her experience, one of the first people in the U.S. to do so. Her gender conversion began with hormone injections in 1950, when she was 24, and was completed in 1952 with surgery at the Danish State Hospital in Copenhagen.
Maurice Seymour/Wikimedia Common
Christine Jorgensen, a former U.S. Army private, made headlines in the 1950s after having sex reassignment surgery and talking widely about her experience, one of the first people in the U.S. to do so. Her gender conversion began with hormone injections in 1950, when she was 24, and was completed in 1952 with surgery at the Danish State Hospital in Copenhagen.
How to get people’s pronouns right and what to do if you slip up
Kay Tobin Lahusen via Philadelphia Inquirer
Barbara Gittings, pictured at a rally, was a prominent gay and lesbian rights activist who, a decade before the Stonewall rebellion of 1969, was battling for the rights of homosexuals.
In the late 1950s she founded the New York chapter of the Daughters of Bilitis, the first national organization for lesbians, The New York Times reported.
In the early 1970s she helped lobby the American Psychiatric Association to change its stance on homosexuality; in 1973 the association rescinded its definition of homosexuality as a mental disorder.
Kay Tobin Lahusen via Philadelphia Inquirer
Barbara Gittings, pictured at a rally, was a prominent gay and lesbian rights activist who, a decade before the Stonewall rebellion of 1969, was battling for the rights of homosexuals.
In the late 1950s she founded the New York chapter of the Daughters of Bilitis, the first national organization for lesbians, The New York Times reported.
In the early 1970s she helped lobby the American Psychiatric Association to change its stance on homosexuality; in 1973 the association rescinded its definition of homosexuality as a mental disorder.
How to get people’s pronouns right and what to do if you slip up
Andrew Dolkart, courtesy of the National Park Service
Early on June 28, 1969, New York police raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay club in Greenwich Village. The raid set off a riot among bar patrons and neighborhood residents as police roughed up customers, leading to six days of protests and clashes with police.
The Stonewall riots were a defining moment for the nascent gay rights movement and the reason behind June being chosen as Pride Month.
Andrew Dolkart, courtesy of the National Park Service
Early on June 28, 1969, New York police raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay club in Greenwich Village. The raid set off a riot among bar patrons and neighborhood residents as police roughed up customers, leading to six days of protests and clashes with police.
The Stonewall riots were a defining moment for the nascent gay rights movement and the reason behind June being chosen as Pride Month.
How to get people’s pronouns right and what to do if you slip up
Darin Oswald/Idaho Statesman
The idea for PFLAG, which originally stood for Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, began in 1972 when Jeanne Manford marched with her son, Morty, in New York's Christopher Street Liberation Day parade, the precursor to today's pride parades. In March 1973 the first meeting of what would become PFLAG was held.
The group went national as Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays in 1982. Since 2014, PFLAG is no longer considered an acronym but rather the entire name of the organization.
Darin Oswald/Idaho Statesman
The idea for PFLAG, which originally stood for Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, began in 1972 when Jeanne Manford marched with her son, Morty, in New York's Christopher Street Liberation Day parade, the precursor to today's pride parades. In March 1973 the first meeting of what would become PFLAG was held.
The group went national as Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays in 1982. Since 2014, PFLAG is no longer considered an acronym but rather the entire name of the organization.
How to get people’s pronouns right and what to do if you slip up
Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times
The first pride parade was held in New York on June 28, 1970, one year after the Stonewall raid on Christopher Street. A few thousand people took to the streets in New York, and gay activist groups on the West Coast held a march in Los Angeles and a march and gay-in in San Francisco. In Chicago people marched the day before New York and marked the Stonewall anniversary with a week of events.
Today, millions around the world march and rally for LGBTQ pride around the world, including in West Hollywood, pictured, which has one of the biggest and best-known pride events in the country.
Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times
The first pride parade was held in New York on June 28, 1970, one year after the Stonewall raid on Christopher Street. A few thousand people took to the streets in New York, and gay activist groups on the West Coast held a march in Los Angeles and a march and gay-in in San Francisco. In Chicago people marched the day before New York and marked the Stonewall anniversary with a week of events.
Today, millions around the world march and rally for LGBTQ pride around the world, including in West Hollywood, pictured, which has one of the biggest and best-known pride events in the country.
How to get people’s pronouns right and what to do if you slip up
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images/TNS
Gays and lesbians also made strides in the 1970s by running for office. Kathy Kozachenko became the first openly LGBT American elected to public office when she won a seat on the Ann Arbor, Mich., City Council in 1974. Elaine Noble was the first openly gay candidate elected to a state office when she was elected to the Massachusetts legislature, also in 1974.
And Harvey Milk won a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977. Milk was loud and unapologetic about his sexuality, earning widespread attention. His remarkable career was cut short when he was gunned down about a year after taking office.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images/TNS
Gays and lesbians also made strides in the 1970s by running for office. Kathy Kozachenko became the first openly LGBT American elected to public office when she won a seat on the Ann Arbor, Mich., City Council in 1974. Elaine Noble was the first openly gay candidate elected to a state office when she was elected to the Massachusetts legislature, also in 1974.
And Harvey Milk won a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977. Milk was loud and unapologetic about his sexuality, earning widespread attention. His remarkable career was cut short when he was gunned down about a year after taking office.
How to get people’s pronouns right and what to do if you slip up
Jebb Harris/Orange County Register
Billy Crystal, pictured in 1998, played one of the first openly gay characters in a recurring role on a prime-time television show on "Soap," which ran from 1977 to 1981.
Jebb Harris/Orange County Register
Billy Crystal, pictured in 1998, played one of the first openly gay characters in a recurring role on a prime-time television show on "Soap," which ran from 1977 to 1981.
How to get people’s pronouns right and what to do if you slip up
Stephen Dunn/Hartford Courant
Writer and AIDS activist Larry Kramer's work with ACT UP and the Gay Men’s Health Crisis brought attention to the AIDS crisis at a time when many people preferred ignorance. He loudly demanded attention for the disease that was felling thousands of gay men, and his writing, including the play "The Normal Heart," captured the ordinary lives caught up in the ordeal of AIDS.
Stephen Dunn/Hartford Courant
Writer and AIDS activist Larry Kramer's work with ACT UP and the Gay Men’s Health Crisis brought attention to the AIDS crisis at a time when many people preferred ignorance. He loudly demanded attention for the disease that was felling thousands of gay men, and his writing, including the play "The Normal Heart," captured the ordinary lives caught up in the ordeal of AIDS.
How to get people’s pronouns right and what to do if you slip up
Arnie Sachs/CNP/Zuma Press
The Democratic Party added “sexual orientation” to its platform’s anti-discrimination protections at the 1980 convention in New York. It was the first American political party to officially incorporate such a plank. Jimmy Carter and his running mate, Walter Mondale, along with their wives, are pictured at the convention.
Arnie Sachs/CNP/Zuma Press
The Democratic Party added “sexual orientation” to its platform’s anti-discrimination protections at the 1980 convention in New York. It was the first American political party to officially incorporate such a plank. Jimmy Carter and his running mate, Walter Mondale, along with their wives, are pictured at the convention.
How to get people’s pronouns right and what to do if you slip up
Richard Messina/Hartford Courant
In 2004 Massachusetts became the first state to make it legal for same-sex couples to wed. It followed a controversial decision from the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.
Nooni and Alicia Hammarlund, pictured, were among the couples securing a license on May 17, 2004, the first day for legal marriages.
Richard Messina/Hartford Courant
In 2004 Massachusetts became the first state to make it legal for same-sex couples to wed. It followed a controversial decision from the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.
Nooni and Alicia Hammarlund, pictured, were among the couples securing a license on May 17, 2004, the first day for legal marriages.
NEW LONDON, Conn. (AP) — Kelli Normoyle was nervous as she arrived at the Coast Guard Academy campus in Connecticut in 2008. She had come out as a lesbian to a few friends near the end of high school, but she faced a military environment where “don’t ask, don’t tell” was still the policy prohibiting gay people from serving openly.
She kept quiet about her sexuality for her freshman year, fearing expulsion and the ruin of her not-yet-begun career. She started testing the waters her second year.
“OK, maybe this is somebody that I can trust, maybe this is somebody that identifies the way I do,” said Normoyle, now a lieutenant on the cutter Sanibel, based in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. “But then you always have that moment that was that kind of leap of faith.”
Marking the 10th anniversary this week of the end of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” a new generation of military academy students say that their campuses are now tolerant, welcoming and inclusive for the most part — but that more work needs to be done.
Homophobic or ignorant comments still arise occasionally. Many transgender students still do not feel comfortable coming out. And advocates say the military needs to do more to include people with HIV, as well as nonbinary and intersex people.
Normoyle, 32, of Mount Laurel, New Jersey, and fellow cadet Chip Hall led the formation of the Coast Guard Academy’s Spectrum Diversity Council, the first advocacy group for LGBTQ students at a U.S. military academy, a few months after “don’t ask, don’t tell” ended on Sept. 20, 2011. Similar groups later formed at the other four service academies.
Gays and lesbians were banned in the military until the 1993 approval of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” which allowed them to serve only if they did not openly acknowledge their sexual orientation. Rather than helping, advocates say, the policy actually created more problems. In its entire history, the military dismissed more than 100,000 service members based on their sexual or gender identities — 14,000 of them during “don’t ask, don’t tell.”
Repeal of the law was approved by Congress and President Barack Obama in late 2010 and took effect nine months later, allowing lesbian, gay and bisexual people to serve openly.
At the Air Force Academy in Colorado, second-year cadet Marissa Howard, who came out as a lesbian a few years ago, said she admires LGBTQ service members who struggled under the former policy.
“I commend them,” said Howard, of San Antonio, a member of the academy’s Spectrum group. “I feel very included in the environment, and it’s just a good place to feel like my identity is seen and I don’t have to hide who I am here.”
Some fellow cadets, however, don’t support their LGBTQ classmates, she said. Once, during an online class, someone called her “weird” for being gay, perhaps thinking they were muted, she said.
The Coast Guard Academy in New London was the only U.S. military academy to hold a public event Monday to mark the 10th anniversary. About 100 people attended a dinner that included a viewing of a documentary on “don’t ask, don’t tell,” followed by a discussion.
For many cadets, it is difficult to imagine what it was like because their generation has been more accepting, said K.C. Commins, a bisexual Coast Guard Academy senior from Altoona, Iowa, and current Spectrum Diversity Council president.
“There are so many of us now. It’s hard to ignore that we’re here and … it is the new normal,” said Commins.
Rear Adm. William G. Kelly, the Coast Guard Academy’s superintendent, told the crowd Monday that officials have worked hard on LGBTQ inclusion and are developing a campus policy for transgender students.
Transgender people were allowed to serve openly in the military beginning in 2016, but the Trump administration largely banned them in 2019. Although President Joe Biden overturned the ban earlier this year, formal policies are still being drafted at some locations.
At the U.S. Naval Academy, sexual orientation is mostly a nonissue, said Andre Rascoe, a senior midshipman who is gay.
“In my experience, you always have the one or two people who kind of feel uncomfortable either rooming with or being on, like, a sports team with someone who’s in the queer community, but they are anomalies,” he said.
After students graduate, they will face a military environment where sexual assault and harassment continue to be pervasive and where lesbian, gay and bisexual service members are disproportionately victimized, according to an independent review commission’s report submitted to Biden in June.
In its latest annual report on sexual assaults and harassment at West Point and the Air Force and Naval academies, the Defense Department said 129 sexual assaults were reported during the 2019-20 school year, down from 149 the year before. Twelve complaints of sexual harassment were received, down from 17 the previous year.
“Obviously there’s a lot more room to grow,” said Jennifer Dane, chief executive and director of the Modern Military Association of America, an LGBTQ advocacy group.
Dane, who served in the Air Force from 2010 to 2016, said the Air Force began investigating her sexuality during her first year but dropped the probe after “don’t ask, don’t tell” was repealed.
“When it was repealed … I was finally able to be my authentic self, and it was very empowering,” she said.
