WASHINGTON
(AP) — In the course of a year, Marine Capt. M. Matthew Phelps says he went
from being a gay man "in the closet," afraid of being discharged, to
invitee at the White House gay pride reception, drinking champagne with his
commander in chief.
 |
Matthew
Phelps (Photo by
Chris Henscheid)
|
"Last
June ... I was at a point in my career that if anyone had found out that I was
gay ... I could have lost my job," Phelps told some 400 uniformed and
civilian Defense Department employees packed into a Pentagon auditorium.
"A
year later ... I, Capt. Matthew Phelps, was invited to attend this pride
reception at the White House," Phelps said of the June 15 reception hosted
by President Barack Obama. "And I thought how amazing is it over the
course of a year, I could go from being fired for being who I am, to having
champagne with the commander in chief — on cocktail napkins with the
presidential seal on it."
Phelps
appeared on a panel of current and former service members, some of whom told of
their experiences before the repeal of "don't ask don't tell" and how
life is different now. The audience filled the seats and dozens more stood
along the walls, roughly 1 in 5 were in uniform and the rest civilians who had
not been subject to the old policy.
"For
those service members who are gay and lesbian, we lifted a real and personal
burden from their shoulders," top Pentagon lawyer Jeh Johnson said in a
speech opening the event that lasted about an hour and a half. "They no
longer have to live a lie in the military" or "teach a child to lie
to protect her father's career."
Before the
repeal, gay troops could serve but could be discharged if they revealed their
sexual orientation. At the same time, a commanding officer was prohibited from
asking a service member whether he or she was gay.
"For
all of us, we should honor the professional and near-flawless manner in which
our entire U.S. military implemented and adapted to this change," Johnson
said of the months since repeal.
Although
some had feared repeal would cause problems in the ranks, officials and gay
advocacy groups say there have been a few isolated incidents but no big issues
— aside from what advocacy groups criticize as slow implementation of some
changes, such as benefit entitlements to troops in same-sex marriages.
Defense Secretary
Leon Panetta said last month that military leaders had concluded that repeal
had not affected morale or readiness. A report to Panetta with assessments from
the individual military service branches said that as of May 1 they had seen no
ill effects.
An argument
against open service for years had been that acknowledging the presence of gays
would hurt unit cohesion, which is military talk for the sense of being part of
a team that works well together.
Phelps
argued Tuesday that repeal did just the opposite — improved unit cohesion. He
said that hit home for him during a 2007 deployment to Iraq.
"Every
Saturday night, the officers used to get together and smoke cigars and watch
movies," he said. "Of course, their thoughts would all drift to home
and everyone would talk about their families and their wives and the letters
that they got from their kids — and I sat the in the back of the room not
talking to anybody.
"Not
only was it so hard to have left somebody at home ... but when everybody was
getting together and growing closer as a unit, by virtue of the fact that I
wasn't allowed to say anything, I was actually growing more distant from my
unit," said Phelps, who now serves at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot, San
Diego.
After
repeal, he said, unit cohesion improved.
Phelps drew
long laughter when he told of the day "don't ask don't tell" ended
last fall.
"I
went to work on the 20th of September, thinking my life was going to change. I
sat down at my desk and I kind of braced myself on the desk, waiting for
everyone to come and ask me if I was gay," he said. "And
believe it or not, nobody did."
Related Article:
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.