Donald Hallman Gets His Honorable Discharge After Sixty Years

Donald Hallman served in the United States military from 1953 through 1955, but  after getting caught meeting with a young man in Frankfurt, he was given an “undesirable” discharge for being a “Class II homosexual”.

Aside from merely being an insult, the status disqualified Private Hallman from ever claiming any veterans benefits, and would also show up on employment checks. So, Donald Hallman lied, keeping his entire military record a secret from his family, rather than explain the humiliating discharge.

He spent some sixty years holding on to that secret – until the ban on openly gay soldiers finally was lifted with the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell in 2010.

And, after revealing his secret to his daughter just last year, he gathered the courage to take his case to the Army Review Board, appealing for his ‘undesirable’ discharge status to be revoked.

That request was granted last week.

The LGBT group Stonewall Columbus helped Hallman through the process:

“We are SO very proud to announce that Veteran Donald Hallman has received his honorable discharge after once being given an “undesirable” discharge and removed from the Army in 1955.We have been working with Don through our ‘LGBT Veterans Discharge Review Program’ since last June and we are so proud to announce this great news! We sincerely want to thank Senator Sherrod Brown and his staff for collaboration with us to this happy end and for demanding a timely and appropriate response from the Army Review Board.”

There are an estimated 100,000 US citizens who have been discharged from the military because of their sexual orientation.

That’s bad enough, but to block them from claiming their benefits after serving their country is disgusting.

Hopefully Donald Hallman’s story will spur on other gay and lesbian vets to step forward and demand the respect and benefits they deserve. And, hopefully, it won’t take sixty years.

Pink News

Minute Rant: Two Liars, Sittin' Around, Talkin'

So Mike Huckabee, soon-to-be failed presidential candidate again, and Brian Fischer, spokesman for the American Family Association Hate Group, were sittin’ around, talkin’ about The Gays because they just love spending time together talking about us.

Huckabee, who last week announced that he will announce he’s running for president next month … let that tidbit of stupidity sink in … believes that the Obama administration has “an open hostility toward the Christian faith,” and urged prospective military recruits to wait until the end of President Obama’s term to enlist:

"When you have a president whose administration orders its chaplains to put its Bibles away, not to pray in Jesus name, not to counsel people on the issues of sexual morality; when you have this attitude that is more about promoting gay marriage and gay rights in the military than it is about being able to protect religious liberty for those people of faith, it’s going to be hard to find people that are truly devoted people of faith and Christian believers and Orthodox Jews and others.”

Then Fischer, not to be outdone in the Ridiculousness, threw in his two cents … though I think that’s a high price to pay for his crazy:

"The reason the morale is low in the military is because it's become a giant, social engineering laboratory and values that are absolutely contrary to the military ethos, to the military culture, are being forced on members of the military - crammed down their throats whether they like it or not." 

Bryan does love to talk about The Gays and cramming things down people’s throats; he really should just come out already.

And Mike Huckabee, who has a direct line to Jesus, apparently, should just go away.

The time for LGBT hate as a campaign platform are ending.

via Towleroad

Mike Pence Says He 'Abhors Discrimination' But His Actions Tell A Different Story

There was always the assumption that one day Indiana Governor Mike Pence would run for President. I always thought that odd, because he wasn’t well-known outside Indiana, and I got the impression that he wasn’t well-liked inside the state.  I figured he’d have to do something big, take a stand, make a point, and then he’d get national recognition and a shot at the White House … one day.

Sadly, his big move was to sign into law Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act which basically said business owners could discriminate against anyone of their choosing as long as they used the “deeply held religious conviction” excuse. And most folks rightly believed that this law meant anti-LGBT discrimination, no matter how many times Pence shouted “Hoosiers don’t discriminate.”

And no matter how many times he said he would let the law stand, and how many times he said he personally abhorred discrimination, this was Baby Jeebus Discrimination so it had to stand … until it didn’t.

And so I kept returning to Mike Pence saying he “abhors discrimination.” And how he said if he was eating in a restaurant that refused to serve a gay person, he’d up and leave and I got to thinking, “Really, Mike?

As a member of Congress for six terms, from 2001 to 2013, Mike Pence earned a ‘Zero’ from the Human Rights Campaign [HRC]; that means that during his twelve years in Congress he didn’t support one single pro-LGBT bill and did not oppose one single anti-LGBT bill. Sounds like discrimination to me.

Mike Pence is also firmly entrenched in the anti-marriage equality camp. The website for his 2000 congressional campaign said this:

“Congress should oppose any effort to put gay and lesbian relationships on an equal legal status with heterosexual marriage.”

Now, folks can say that maybe he’s evolved; I mean, Obama did it right? But, in 2006, he cosponsored and voted for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution to define marriage as the union of a man and a woman.  Mike Pence continues to speak out absent marriage equality while saying he abhors discrimination, as he did at the Conservative Political Action Conference in 2008:

“Marriage was ordained by God and instituted in law. It is the glue of the American family and the safest harbor to raise children. Conservatives must defend traditional marriage by passing the Federal Marriage Amendment.”

In 2013, when the U.S. Supreme Court gutted the Defense of Marriage Act [DOMA], Mike Pence said he was disappointed by the decision; he began pushing for Indiana to amend its own constitution to ban same-sex marriage even though the state already had a statutory ban on same-sex marriage. He wanted it written into the state Constitution that The Gays must never be allowed to get married.

Mike Pence, who “abhors discrimination”, is also against protecting LGBT employees. In 2007, as a member of the U.S. House, he voted against the Employment Non-Discrimination Act because he felt that:

“By extending the reach of federal law to cover sexual orientation, employment discrimination protections, in effect, can wage war on the free exercise of religion in the workplace. Some examples, under ENDA, would mean employees around the country who possess religious beliefs that are opposed to homosexual behavior would be forced, in effect, to lay down their rights and convictions at the door. For example, if an employee keeps a Bible in his or her cubicle, if an employee displays a Bible verse on their desk, that employee could be claimed by a homosexual colleague to be creating a hostile work environment because the homosexual employee objects to passages in the Bible relating to homosexuality.”

Mike Pence does not support LGBT-inclusive hate-crimes legislation either. In fact, he opposed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009 — passed by Congress and signed into law by President Obama. Although he said he objected especially to the measure being attached to a defense spending bill, he didn’t like the hate-crimes bill itself:

“The president has used his position as commander in chief to advance a radical social agenda, when he should have used it to advance legislation that would unequivocally support our troops.”

By the way, it’s no surprise that Mike Pence has never supported lesbian, gay, and bisexual troops, and, in fact, opposed the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell [DADT]:

“There is no question that to mainstream homosexuality within the active duty military would have an impact on unit cohesion, an impact on readiness.”

He said that repealing DADT was akin to “using the American military, our armed forces, to advance a liberal social agenda.”

Mike Pence won't say whether same-sex couples should raise children, and when asked that specific question in 2012, he refused to answer. But, back in 2004, while arguing on the House floor in favor of a federal constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, Pence seemed to suggest that he considers straight parents superior at raising children:

"Marriage is the glue of the family and the safest harbor for children."

Mike Pence’s stand on funding for HIV services also reeks of an antigay bias. His 2000 website stated:

“Congress should support the reauthorization of the Ryan White Care Act only after completion of an audit to ensure that federal dollars were no longer being given to organizations that celebrate and encourage the types of behaviors that facilitate the spreading of the HIV virus. Resources should be directed toward those institutions which provide assistance to those seeking to change their sexual behavior.”

Though he didn’t say it, it kinda sounds like Pence is in favor of ex-gay therapy to change a person’s sexual behavior. And he has long opposed needle-exchange programs to help prevent the spread of the virus among injection-drug users, but after one Indiana county saw a spike in HIV cases among intravenous drug users, Mike Pence temporarily changed his stance, and he allowed for a short-term, state-supervised needle-exchange program for that single county.

Mike Pence says he abhors discrimination, but his words are meaningless when his actions clearly state the opposite. And if we can trust his deeds as governor of one state, how can we trust him as president of all fifty?

sourced from: The Advocate

UPDATE; Madelynn Taylor and Jean Mixner Will Be Buried Together

I first wrote about Madelynn Taylor — a 74-year-old US … United States … Navy veteran — back in April of this year; see post HERE.

Here’s a recap: Madelynn Taylor met and fell in love with Jean Mixner back in 1995, and they were married in California in 2008; afterwards they moved to Idaho and lived happily ever after until Jean died in 2012.

Madelynn Taylor, who had Jean cremated, wanted to be buried in Idaho’s Veterans Cemetery — she’s a veteran, remember — and she wanted to have Jean’s ashes interred with her. She contacted the cemetery to reserve one single plot for both she and her wife, but was told that they could not be buried together, not because of the space, but because, at that time, same-sex marriage was illegal, and unrecognized in Idaho.

To be clear, however, both Taylor and Mixner could be buried together in a national military cemetery — because their marriage is federally recognized — but Taylor wants to be buried in Boise where there are family close by. She even went so far as to ask a friend to hold onto her wife’s ashes, and hers, should she die before marriage became legal, and have them buried together then. And then, Barry Johnson is a retired U.S. Army colonel who lives in Potlatch, Idaho, became involved after he read Madelynn’s story; see that post HERE.

Barry wrote to Madelynn via The Idaho Statesman:

“I'll tell you what. I will donate the plot I earned in the Idaho State Veterans Cemetery to you and Jean. I am happy to give my fellow veteran that small peace of mind. And I do it to honor all the great Americans I've served with along the way - gay, straight, whatever.”

Now, it looks like he won’t have to do that; now it looks like Madelynn won’t have to have a friend old onto the ashes, because last week Idaho state officials agreed to allow Madelynn and Jean to be buried together.

The first thing Madelynn Taylor did was to head to the Idaho State Veterans Cemetery to make arrangements to have both her ashes and those of her late wife interred together at the cemetery.

Simple, yes, but it took the recent victory in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which found that Idaho’s ban on marriage equality violated the U.S. Constitution, to allow these women, this couple, the rights that every other opposite-sex married couple in this country has taken for granted forever.

“Words can’t describe how incredibly grateful I am for all the work that went into making our wishes possible. Idaho is where some of our best memories together are and it’s where I want to spend eternity with Jean.”—Madelynn Taylor

It seems such a simple request, one that, for many, is a non-issue, but it’s just another perk of equality for married same-sex couples.

Even in Idaho.

via National Center for Lesbian Rights

DADT Still Exists For The 'T' In LGBT

Landon Wilson seemed destined to join the military from an early age, having been born in Warner Robins, Georgia where everyday life centered on its namesake Air Force Base, but there were battles to overcome and struggles to endure before he could do so.

See, Landon realized at a very young age that he felt different; his body felt different; his thoughts, too. He remembers one day, at age four, shouting to his mother, “Hey, I’m a boy.” But the reaction he got from her, and other people nearby, made him believe that he needed to tamp down the feeling that he was the wrong gender; he was born female, and even though he felt it was wrong, he thought he should live life as a female.

But then, as a teenager, a young girl in the eyes of everyone who knew him only from the outside, Landon took to wearing men’s clothes and cutting his hair very short. And growing up near that air base he saw the military as a way to fit in once he learned that, according to research, the percentage of transgender people in the military is twice as high as it is in the civilian population.

So Landon Wilson enlisted and in 2012, stationed in Hawaii, he began reading up on transitioning; he began connecting with other transgender men and women in the military online and learned that men who struggle with a desire to transition to women see the military as a barrier to keep them from taking that step. Landon saw it differently; as a biological girl who wished to finally be male, it was an easy environment in which he might fit, and he decided it was time to act.

He obtained a formal diagnosis of gender identity disorder from a counselor — a step transgender people sometimes take before undergoing hormone therapy — and after coming out to his mother, he began the process of taking hormones once a week.

“I knew everything that was on the table, but at the same time it was completely worth it. It was like taking my first breath.”

And the changes came about almost instantly; the hormone injections deepened his voice and changed both his face and body; his muscles and strength grew, along with light facial hair, and, because the hormones trigger a reaction similar to puberty, he also developed acne. But Landon Wilson finally felt at home in his skin; his skin. It’s a feeling not many of us can even fathom because we’ve known that feeling our whole lives, but for Landon Wilson he was finally himself. It seemed like his life had started, though soon it would seem to end.

After volunteering for a year-long deployment in Afghanistan, he arrived at the Navy processing center in Virginia, where he was assigned to male barracks and given male uniforms. But that same day medical personnel noticed paperwork which indicated Wilson was female and they inexplicably ordered a pregnancy test, while allowing him to still be housed with the men and clothed as a man.

And then, when he was sent to South Carolina for combat training, he again was assigned to male barracks and all of his paperwork was changed to reflect the gender that everyone assumed he was, at least outwardly. And because his former name — which he has since changed to Landon — was somewhat androgynous, no one asked questions; even the men who shared his living quarters assumed he was a man.

Last fall his assignment came up, and he was sent to Afghanistan, where he went to work on the night shift, intercepting communications by militants and then guiding Special Operations troops in carrying out missions. Feeling indispensable in his new position, Landon stopped worrying about being discovered.

 “At that point, I had no concerns about it. I felt confident about my ability to do my job and I was hopeful that would be enough if everything did come out. That that would be enough to stay.”

But his secret came out when one of his commanders spoke to his superiors in Hawaii to make arrangements for a promotion; the officials in Hawaii used female pronouns to refer to Wilson, while those in Afghanistan referred to him as male, and then, one night while on duty, a superior asked him to step outside.

“This Navy record says female, but this paper says male,” the sergeant major said, comparing two sets of personnel records. “So, what are you?”

Landon, who had joined the navy as a female — a woman whom most colleagues assumed was a lesbian because of the short hair and masculine attitudes — but since he’d begun the transition process, gave the only answer that fit.

 “I am a male.”

His commanders in Afghanistan decided to send him home and within hours he was on a plane.

 “I didn’t get to say goodbye to anyone. I have no idea what they told people.”

And strangely enough, when he arrived back on base in Hawaii, a few days later, his commanders promoted him; he even received a commendation letter from Vice Admiral Jan Tighe, who oversaw his unit. His superiors in Hawaii were respectful and at times almost sorry, with one telling Landon, “You know, we are overreacting because we have no idea what to do with you.”

However, that feeling of belonging, of being acknowledged for being a model soldier, was short-lived; after weeks of deliberations, Landon was given a choice:

“You can transition, or you can serve.”

Landon Wilson, who wanted both, signed his honorable discharge papers and left Hawaii and even though most officials in the Navy won’t comment on record, one did say, simply, “Petty Officer Wilson served honorably.”

Now Landon is sleeping on the floor of a friend’s apartment in Manhattan. E still has his security clearance and could easily find work as a civilian for an intelligence agency or even the Pentagon, he wants to return to the military.

“The military gave me the backbone to transition, to be who I am, because they look so fondly on honor and courage and all those things you have to have to be fully authentic. I don’t think I would have gotten to where I am today without that.”

Even with the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell [DADT], the law that banned gay men and lesbians from serving openly in the military, transgender service members can still be dismissed from the force without question and that subtle difference left Landon feeling resentful.

“I knew that the lesbian and gay community were getting all these freedoms and all their privileges. There was still that silent T that was completely ignored.”

And all of this is because of a decades-old policy that dates back to when gender nonconformity was widely seen as a mental illness. Although the American Psychiatric Association revised its manual last year to indicate that gender nonconformity is “not in itself a mental disorder,” the Defense Department still relies on the outdated guidelines that call transgender individuals “sexual deviants” and so there are thousands of transgender military personnel serving today that stay closeted.

The good news is that now the policy is coming under scrutiny with more and more service men and women like Landon Wilson stepping forward and becoming more visible. And more of those transgender service members are beginning the process of transitioning, causing most medical experts top ask the Defense Department to rescind that discriminatory policy as some of America’s closest allies, including Canada, Britain and Australia, have done.

And hopefully, one day, sooner rather than later, Landon Wilson can return to the job for which he was trained; the job at which he excelled,; the job which brought him commendation after commendation for his excellent service.

His excellent service.

source

All She Wants Is To Be Buried With Her Wife, And Idaho Says 'No'

Madelynn Taylor is a 74-year-old US — United States — Navy veteran who met Jean Mixner in 1995, and married her in California in 2008, but all hell broke loose when Jean died in 2012.

Taylor, who had Jean cremated, decided that when she dies, she’d like to be buried in Idaho’s Veterans Cemetery and have Jean’s ashes interred with her, but the state has said she cannot do that because same-sex marriage is illegal in Idaho.

Taylor contacted Idaho Veterans Cemetery last fall to reserve a single plot for both she and her wife, but was told that they could not be buried together; now, it’s not an issue of space, because Taylor will also be cremated when the time comes and the two urns could easily fit in the same niche in the cemetery. It’s a simple question of ‘recognition.’ Since the Idaho state constitution bans same-sex marriage the state doesn’t recognize Taylor and Mixner as a married couple, and since the state refuses the recognize them as such, the state cemetery is following suit, and refusing to honor Taylor’s request, saying they must abide by the Idaho state constitution.

“I'm not surprised. I've been discriminated against for 70 years, and they might as well discriminate against me in death as well as life." — Madelynn Taylor

Madelynn Taylor spent six years in the Navy before being dishonorably discharged under Don't Ask Don't Tell [DADT] when her superiors learned she was gay; she had that amended to an honorable discharge  following the repeal of DADT.

To be clear, however, both Taylor and Mixner could be buried together in a national military cemetery — because their marriage is federally recognized — but Taylor wants to be buried in Boise where there are family close by.

Madelynn Taylor has chosen to go public with her story in the hope it will move legislators to act, and she has joined the Add The Four Words — a campaign to add the words ‘sexual orientation’ and ‘gender identity’ to Idaho’s Human Rights Act. The group has been holding silent protests in the Idaho capitol building since 2010 and Madelynn Taylor was even arrested as one of those protests last month.

But Madelynn Taylor may have the last word on the subject, because, if legislators don’t act before she dies, she has asked a friend to hold onto both their ashes so that they can be interred together when Idaho’s ban on same-sex marriage finally comes to an end.

And it will. Idaho will, one day, sooner rather than later, recognize that Madelynn Taylor and Jean Mixner were a married couple and deserved to be treated as such in life, and in death.

“I'm a stroke waiting to happen. I don't see where the ashes of a couple old lesbians is going to hurt anyone.” — Madelynn Taylor

It shouldn’t make a difference at all.

via GayStarNews
top photo credit: Boise Weekly

Repost: LGBT History Month: Allen Schindler*

*originally posted October 27, 2009

We keep waiting for some action on Don't Ask, Don't Tell; we've been promised action time and time again, and then asked to be patient. But patience wears thin. Being patient didn't help August Provost, murdered last summer at Camp Pendleton, and it certainly didn't help Allen Schindler, murdered sixteen years ago today, simply because he was gay.

Don't ask.

Allen Schindler was from a Navy family, and following in those footsteps, he served as a radioman on the USS Belleau Wood, an amphibious assault ship. His close friends onboard knew he was gay, and also knew that Schindler was repeatedly victimized by other crew members. Schindler had made numerous complaints about the anti-gay harassment he endured, from simple pranks, like having his locker glued shut to comments from shipmates like, "There's a faggot on this ship and he should die".

Don't tell.

While on transport from San Diego, California to Sasebo, Schindler made a personal prank of his own. He announced himself as "2-Q-T-2-B-S-T-R-8” [too cute to be straight] on secured lines that reached much of the Pacific Fleet. For his prank, he appeared 'captains mast,' which allows commanders to administratively discipline troops without a court-martial. He asked for a closed hearing.

Don't ask.

The hearing was held open and some two-to-three hundred sailors attended. Schindler was put on restrictive leave for his unauthorized radio transmission, and was not allowed shore leave for the first few months that the ship was in Japan.

Four days after his confinement was over, Airman Apprentice Terry Helvey stomped Allen Schindler to death in a toilet in a park in Nagasaki. Schindler had "at least four fatal injuries to the head, chest, and abdomen," his head was crushed, ribs broken, and his penis cut, and he had "sneaker-tread marks stamped on his forehead and chest" destroying "every organ in his body" leaving behind a "nearly-unrecognizable corpse."

Allen Schindler was left on the bathroom floor until the Shore Patrol and a key witness to the incident carried his body to a nearby bridge. His body was held by the witness until the medical team from the Sasebo Base announced his death. The medical examiner compared Schindler's injuries to those sustained by a victim of a fatal horse trampling saying they were worse "than the damage to a person who’d been stomped by a horse; they were similar to what might be sustained in a high-speed car crash or a low-speed aircraft accident." At the wake in the family's home in Chicago, his mother and sister could only identify him by the tattoos on his arm as his face was so badly disfigured.

Bad enough to learn that your son died; worse to learn he was murdered; and horrific to discover that he'd been stomped to death by a fellow shipmate. But the hardest thing of all to endure was the idea that the Navy downplayed Schindler's murder. His superiors denied ever receiving any complaints of harassment and refused to speak publicly about the case or to release the Japanese police report on the murder.

Don't tell.

At trial, Terry Helvey denied killing Schindler because he was gay, saying, "I did not attack him because he was homosexual." Still, he could offer no reason for the vicious killing, and evidence presented by Navy investigator, Kennon Privette, showed otherwise. "He said he hated homosexuals. He was disgusted by them," Privette said. On killing Schindler, Privette quoted Helvey as saying: "I don't regret it. I'd do it again. ... He deserved it."

Don't ask.

A plea-bargain was arranged, and Helvey pleaded guilty of "inflicting great bodily harm," and was sentenced to lifetime imprisonment; he is guaranteed a clemency hearing every year. The captain who kept the incident quiet was demoted and transferred to Florida, and Helvey's accomplice, Charles Vins, was allowed to plead guilty to three lesser offenses, including failure to report a serious crime, and to testify truthfully against Terry Helvey. Vins served just 78-days before receiving a general discharge from the Navy.

Don't tell.

So, why do we need to end DADT? Why do we need to end secrecy and lies? For people like Allen Schindler and August Provost, who did nothing wrong, except maybe be open about being gay. When you force people to keep secrets, stories build about them, people talk, people taunt, people attack. People stomp you to death.

Ask. Tell.

The march goes on…but not for DADT which was repealed on December 22, 2010

On This Day In LGBT History

October 27, 1903 – In “Die Zeit”, Sigmund Freud was quoted as saying homosexuals are not sick and should not be treated as sick.

October 27, 1951 – The French postal service issued stamps with gay lovers Paul Verlaine and Arthur Rimbaud.

October 27, 1970 – Forty members of the Gay Activist Alliance invaded the offices of Harper magazine to protest an article which presented homosexuality as a mental illness. GAA president Arthur Evans verbally attacked editor Midge Decter for publishing an article which would add to the suffering of homosexuals. The protest led to a three-part television news series on gay liberation.

October 27, 1977 – A meeting between Quebec Human Rights Commission and representatives of gay group ADGQ results in public recommendation that government amend Human Rights Charter to include sexual orientation.

October 27, 1990 – US Congress repealed a law barring homosexuals from being admitted to the United States on grounds of mental illness.

October 27, 1992 – The Federal Court of Canada ordered the military to lift the ban on gay and lesbian service personnel. The Defense Department declined to appeal the decision.

October 27, 1993 – Allen Schindler, a gay American sailor, was beaten to death by his shipmates.

October 27, 1997 – BET-TV withdrew an invitation to Keith Boykin to appear on a show with Angie and Debbie Winans. The Winans objected to his presence on the show, which featured their anti-gay song “It’s Not Natural.”

October 27, 1999 – The Ontario provincial government changed 67 statutes to give same-sex couples equal treatment to heterosexual couples.

October 27, 1999 – Democratic presidential nomination candidates Al Gore and Bill Bradley promised that if elected they would do everything in their power to ensure equal rights for gay and lesbian Americans.

Repost: LGBT History Month: Blue Tickets*

*originally posted October 14, 2009

The Blue Discharge was neither honorable nor dishonorable, though it was the discharge of choice for commanders seeking to remove homosexual service members, and many times, African-Americans, from the ranks. Also known as the "blue ticket', this type of discharge began in the United States in 1916. Before then, the military had a long-standing policy that service members found to be homosexual or to have engaged in homosexual conduct were to be court-martialed for sodomy, imprisoned and dishonorably discharged.

However, with the onset of World War II, and the need for more troops, it was deemed impractical to convene court-martial boards, and commanders began issuing administrative discharges instead.

If you were openly gay, or even suspected of being gay, in the military, you were committed to military hospitals, examined by psychiatrists and then given the Blue Discharge papers. It is unknown exactly how many gay and lesbian servicemembers were given these types of discharges, but figures released by the Army in 1946 estimate that anywhere from 49,000 to 68,000 blue discharges were issued. Since there is no reason given for the blue discharge it remains unclear exactly how many were given to gay men and lesbians.

The psychiatrists who created and implemented the screening that excluded gay men and women from military service initially supported the blue discharges. However, when it became apparent that these men and women faced substantial discrimination upon returning to America, they urged the military to discontinue the practice. In fact, William C. Menninger, Director of the Psychiatry Consultants Division for the Surgeon General of the United States Army from 1944 to 1946, worked throughout his tenure to try to persuade the military to issue honorable discharges to gay servicemembers who had not committed any crimes while in-service.

With so much attention focused on the disparity to which blue-ticket veterans were subjected--they were often denied jobs and housing, and maybe faced being disowned by their families, since everyone knew what a blue discharge meant--the House Committee on Military Affairs convened a special committee. Their report--"Blue Discharges"--was issued in January 1946 and expressed amazement that anyone with a blue discharge would risk further stigmatization by speaking out against the discrimination:

"It should be borne in mind that even a moderate amount of complaint in a matter of this sort is significant. For a person to make such a complaint in his own case implies that he feels a sense of injustice so great that he is willing to risk publicizing the stigma of having been discharged from the Army under circumstances which savor of disgrace. For each complainant there are many more who feel the same sense of injustice but prefer to bury their hurt in as much oblivion as possible."

The committee found that the effects of a blue discharge "differ little from those of a dishonorable discharge...the discharged man finds it difficult to get or keep a job. The suspicion of society is aroused against him, all the worse in some ways for carrying an atmosphere of mystery." The committee made a number of recommendations for reforming the discharge system. It recommended:

• Automatic review for all blue discharges
• The Army would be required to demonstrate that it made multiple attempts to rehabilitate the servicemember before issuing a blue discharge
• The right to counsel for servicemembers being given a blue discharge, either provided by the military or private counsel
• Copies of procedural regulations regarding the blue discharge process be provided upon request
• That any discharge that did not specify the quality of service state plainly that it is not dishonorable

The committee also recommended changing the discharge classification system to consist of four classifications: honorable; "under honorable conditions" which would replace the blue discharge; general, to cover misconduct discharges; and dishonorable.

Still, despite the findings of Congress, the Veterans Administration continued to discriminate against gay blue-tickets, renewing its 1945 directive in 1946 and again in 1949. Blue discharges were not discontinued until July 1947, with discharges that would formerly have been blue now falling under one of two new headings, general and undesirable.

But this didn't apply to LGBT servicemembers. While they no longer suffered the indignities attributed to a Blue Discharge, they were also not eligible for a General Discharge, considered to be under honorable conditions. Servicemembers, found to be homosexual but who did not commit any homosexual acts while in-service, would receive an undesirable discharge. Those who were found guilty of engaging in homosexual conduct were dishonorably discharged.

By the 1970s, a gay servicemember who had not committed any homosexual acts while in-service would, in theory, receive a general discharge, while those found to have engaged in homosexual conduct would receive undesirable discharges. However, the reality remained that gay servicemembers received a disproportionate percentage of undesirable discharges issued.

This was the status quo until replaced in 1993 by the law commonly known as Don't Ask, Don't Tell. We are still being told to keep quiet or face discharge simply for being gay, but these days, we are "allowed" the honor of a General Discharge.

Whoever said "We've come a long way" never took the short trip from Blue Tickets to DADT.

The march goes on ... even with the death of DADT in 2013.

On This Day In LGBT History
October 14, 1979 – The first March on Washington for Gay and Lesbian Rights was held, attracting 50,000-100,000 participants.
October 14, 1982 – Scott Thorson filed a palimony suit against Liberace, requesting $113 million. He would later settle for $95,000 and a Rolls Royce.
October 14, 1987 – The US Congress voted in favor of banning federal funding for AIDS education organizations that “promote homosexuality.”
October 14, 1993 – Nikola Trumbo, daughter of writer Dalton Trumbo, came out.
October 14, 1999 – California state senator Pete Knight, who sponsored a ballot initiative banning same sex marriages in California, was criticized in the Los Angeles Times by his gay son. He questioned his father’s defense of family values because his father rejected him when he came out.

Repost: LGBT History Month: Miriam Ben-Shalom*

*originally posted October 10, 2009

Miriam Ben-Shalom was the first LGBT service member to be reinstated to her position in the U. S. military after being discharged for her sexual orientation. And even though the army eventually forced her out, she was able to serve successfully, and as an out lesbian, undermining the military's argument that openly gay men and lesbians pose a threat to military effectiveness and security.

After a short marriage, which produced a daughter, Miriam Ben-Shalom moved to Israel for five years, where she became an Israeli citizen and served in the Israeli army; she renamed herself after both Moses' sister, Miriam, and the house of Solomon, Ben-Shalom.

Ben-Shalom returned to her home state of Wisconsin and completed both her B.A. and M.A. at the University of Wisconsin. In 1974, she began serving with the 84th Training Division of the Army Reserves, where she completed drill instructor's school, and became one of the first two female drill sergeants in the division.

And she also became involved with lesbian organizations, making no attempt to hide her orientation. In 1975, when Technical Sergeant Leonard Matlovich appeared on the cover of Time as an openly gay Air Force service member, Ben-Shalom asked her commander, "Why don't they kick me out?"

"Because you're a good NCO," was his reply. It was okay to be gay, apparently, if you were a good leader, and quiet about it. The military often used their own discretion when it came to discharging gay men and women.

Ben-Shalom soon learned that her commander was right: to be gay in the military, one had to be good at your job, and silent about your life. But she decided not to be quiet. Her response to a reporter's question about her sexuality led her commander to push for her discharge. In spite of, privately, tolerating her sexual orientation, the commander was not comfortable about her being so open, and in 1976 Miriam Ben-Shalom was officially discharged from the Army Reserves.

Yet she wouldn't take it without a fight. She decided to challenge the policy and sue for re-instatement. Ben-Shalom alleged that she wasn't discharged for homosexual conduct, but for admitting she was a lesbian. In May 1980, Judge Terence Evans of the U.S. District Court ruled that Ben-Shalom's discharge violated the First, Fifth, and Ninth amendments, and added that sexual orientation should be protected from governmental regulation, including that of the military. The main reason for her reinstatement was the right to freedom of speech.

The Army appealed the decision, but withdrew its appeal shortly thereafter, and refused to comply with Judge Evans' order of reinstatement.

Ben-Shalom continued to fight, and in 1987, the U.S. Court of Appeals supported the lower court's previous ruling. The Army balked, but when the court threatened the Army with serious contempt of court fines, it relented and in September 1988, Ben-Shalom successfully re-enlisted and became the first openly gay or lesbian service member to be reinstated.

The Army, however, decided to appeal that verdict, and in August 1989, a federal appeals court ruled against Ben-Shalom. Judge Harlington Wood, Jr. did not see the case as solely about freedom of speech and concluded that since the military banned homosexuals, her admission--regardless of her sexual conduct--justified her discharge.

Ben-Shalom appealed the case to the United States Supreme Court, but they refused to hear the case and let the ruling for discharge stand, effectively ending, and ruining, Ben-Shalom's military career.

It was a fight she ultimately lost, but for a brief, shining moment, the army was forced to accept a lesbian service member; they were forced to realize that sexual orientation makes no difference; they were forced to show the world their own double-standards regarding gay and lesbian service members.

Be good and be quiet and you can be gay.

Miriam Ben-Shalom chose not to be quiet.

On This Day In LGBT History

October 10, 1949 – The periodical Newsweek published a story titled “Queer People” calling gays perverts and comparing them to exhibitionists and sexual sadists. It challenged the idea that homosexuals hurt no one but themselves.

October 10, 1953 – British newspaper “The Times” reported that Rupert Croft-Cooke was sentenced to nine months in prison and Joseph Alexander was sentenced to three months after they were accused of homosexual acts by two Royal Navy cooks. Croft-Cooke wrote about the case in “The Verdict of You All.”

October 10 1973 – Toronto City council passes resolution banning discrimination in municipal hiring on basis of sexual orientation. First such legislation in Canada.

October 10, 1987 – In Washington DC 2,000 gay and lesbian couples were united in a mass commitment ceremony in front of the IRS building. That morning, Rev Troy Perry, founder of Metropolitan Community Church, led a worship service at the First Congregational Church in Washington DC, and the crowd overflowed the church. The same day in Washington DC, a memorial service was held for Harvey Milk at the Congressional Cemetery at the burial plot purchased by the Never Forget Foundation to memorialize gay heroes.

October 10, 1990 – OutRage, a London direct action group, held a Kiss-In at Brief Encounter, a gay pub which had recently banned same-sex kissing.

October 10, 1995 – The US Supreme Court began hearing oral arguments in the case of Romer v Evans, Colorado’s Amendment 2 which would have banned all gay rights laws in Colorado.

October 10, 1997 – Lesbians organized a Daiku no Hi (Dyke Day) in Tokyo. It drew about 200 participants and received much media attention.

October 10, 1998 – Jackie Foster, a British broadcaster, actor, and lesbian activist, died at age 70.

October 10, 1998 – The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America held a conference in Minneapolis Minnesota on gay and lesbian clergy.

October 10, 1999 – The Washington Post reported that a Harvard University research team conducted a study which demonstrated that gay men and lesbians are better than heterosexuals at identifying other gay men and lesbians.

October 10, 1999 – Catholic Bishop Pat Buckley of Belfast came out.