Kiosk - Conduct Unbecoming

Conduct Unbecoming

by Lauren Biron

"In every case that I'm familiar with, and there are many, when it became known in a unit that someone was openly homosexual, polarization occurred, violence sometimes followed, morale broke down, and unit effectiveness suffered.” – General H. Norman Schwarzkopf, 1993

HE HAD tan skin, bright eyes, a cleft chin, and straight, white teeth. He had played football in Portland, New York, and been elected Homecoming King at his high school. He stood straight-backed with shoulders squared, aware of his surroundings. He wore dusty camo fatigues and stared out at Baghdad from under his helmet. He had pinned a bronze medal above the U.S. Army label, recognition for treating injuries under fire. He was a medic in a field artillery unit; he worked on bloody stumps and bullet holes. He was Sergeant Darren Manzella. And he liked men.

Under the 1993 “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, homosexual members of the military were in danger of a discharge if they at any time stated their true sexual orientation. But the law was generally ignored. Friends in his unit had met – in fact, had eaten dinner with - Darren’s boyfriend, A.J. Darren was useful, a member of the team, a brother in arms, a stancher of wounds. But one day, an anonymous person started sending emails.

You’re being watched, the author wrote. Be careful. “Turn down the flame.”

Darren went to his commanding officer for help, who promptly reported him to his battalion commander. An investigation began.

Darren was sick of hiding, so he held nothing back. He gave the investigators photos: he and A.J. were hugging, shirtless; a toothy A.J. wrapped his arms around Darren; A.J. pressed his hand against Darren’s chest as Darren grabbed his waist. He gave the investigators a video: as Darren sat behind the steering wheel of a car, A.J. leaned over and kissed him on the lips; Darren grinned as A.J. rested his head on his pink shirt and nibbled at his earlobe.

It was 2005, and there were two wars on: one in Iraq, and another in Afghanistan. Medics, like everything else, were in high demand. The investigators reviewed the materials and passed judgment. There was, they told him, no evidence of homosexuality.

“Go back to work. You’re not gay.”

"To win wars we create cohesive teams of warriors who will bond so tightly that they are prepared to go into battle and give their lives if necessary for the accomplishment of the mission and for the cohesion of the group and for their individual buddies." - General Colin Powell, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, 1993

Until 1981, gays were simply not allowed to serve in the United States military. Homosexual status was grounds for a dishonorable discharge, typically in the form of a Section 8, a declaration that the soldier was mentally unfit for duty. Depending on the military’s needs, many people who engaged in homosexual acts were allowed to remain in the service if they could prove it was a departure from their normal behavior. This became known as the “Queen for a Day” rule. To combat the Queen for a Day rulings, in January, 1981, the Department of Defense issued Directive 1332.14, which created stricter rules requiring discharge on evidence of homosexuality. Finally, with the election of President Bill Clinton in 1992, Congress made an effort to amend the military policy towards homosexuals.

When he first arrived in office, Clinton expressed the desire for an open military that would repeal the ban on gays once and for all. But when calls from angry citizens besieged Congressional phone lines, a compromise emerged instead. From March through July of 1993, streams of military commanders, gay rights activists, experts in military personnel policy, social scientists, interested civilians, and members of the armed forces testified before the Armed Services Committees of the House and Senate. The result was formally named “Title 10: Section 654 – Policy concerning homosexuality in the armed forces.” Millions would come to know it as the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy.

The Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell law, in theory, is simple: commanders do not ask their troops about their sexual orientation, and the soldiers do not volunteer the information. The commanders cannot investigate someone without evidence that the soldier might be gay – and suspicion from other soldiers is not sufficient. Associating with homosexuals, frequenting gay activities or locations, or reading gay literature is also not grounds for an investigation. Soldiers, meanwhile, cannot engage in homosexual conduct, state their homosexuality, or attempt to marry a person of the same biological sex. Silence and celibacy are their responsibility.

The military, the policy contends, is not the same as civilian life, where couples can be open. Homosexuals, according to many of the more than 50 officials that testified when making the policy, threaten unit cohesion, morale, good order, and discipline, and thus the ability of the U.S. to successfully defend itself. Furthermore, the military standards of conduct apply to a member of the armed forces at all times that the member has a military status: off base or on, on duty or off. Thus, in practice, a soldier can never discuss his or her sexual orientation while in the military – through emails, phone calls, or letters to friends, family, or lovers, in discussion with fellow soldiers, or in “confidential” conversations with psychiatrists, psychologists, or chaplains.

Nevertheless, since the passage of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, soldiers have come out to friends and officers. Like Darren Manzella, there are currently 500 gay and lesbian individuals serving openly in the military. Over 1,000,000 veterans are homosexual. Almost 12,000 soldiers have been discharged since the policy took effect in 1994, at an estimated cost of $364 million, and 20,577 more were discharged between 1980 and 1993, bringing the total cost to more than $606 million. An estimated 65,000 gays serve silently. Julianne Sohn was one of them. For her, the experience under Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell was different from that of Darren. Every day she lived with the fear of being discovered.

“Homosexual service members [do] not pose a greater security risk than heterosexual personnel.” Crittenden Report, commissioned by the Navy, 1957

Julianne was supposed to be a princess. The only girl out of four children, her father wanted to dote upon his little girl. Her mother and father had survived the Korean War, entered the United States, and graduated from prestigious universities. They had also planned out the perfect life for Jules: she would grow up in Fullerton, California, head off to college, complete law school, get married, settle down, and have 2.5 children with Prince Charming.

Jules, however, did not feel like a princess. Her father had to accept the fact that his only daughter was a tomboy. Yet part of her parents’ plan did come true. She went to college. While studying anthropology and political science at the University of California, Los Angeles, Jules realized that the princess didn’t always have to fall in love with a prince, which was a welcome but confusing change. She had dated boys throughout high school, but when they made out, she was bored. “How much longer is this going to take?” she always asked herself, staring at the inside of her eyelids. During high school, kissing girls never occurred to her as an option.

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