One of the best things about coming to college is having the chance to meet other queer activists. The Queer student group at American University is known as Queers & Allies. I simply cannot express how amazing it is to be a part of this group; it simply has redefined my role as an activist. Queers & Allies does things that I only dreamed of in high school.
For instance, about a month ago our student group participated in a sit-in against the military's ban on openly serving gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender service members.
The sit-in was sponsored by the gay Christian group Soulforce and it was organized locally by the wonderful and sexy Soulforce organizer known as Adam Bink (boy do I EVER crush on him!).
On the day of the sit-in, I made sure to dress professionally. We were, after all, protesting for the right to have a job in the army. It would seem very counter-intuitive to our goal to show up to a planned job interview in ripped jeans.
Most of the organizers were not there to actually go up to the recruiters and ask for applications. We left that to two individuals that with all their heart actually sincerely wished to join the military for their country. We weren't doing this simply as a message to the recruiters at this particular center, but also to send a message to the nation: We're here, We Want to serve our Country, Deal with it.
The press conference had some local news, the queer local media and even CNN. We quickly unraveled our signs covered with slogans like "Let Me Serve" and "My Patriotism is not defined by my sexual orientation". My sign was special, since it carried a quote that I hold very dear to my heart. It is a quote by Sgt. Leonard Matlovich, who was the first person to fight discrimination against gays and lesbians in the U.S. military.
The quote goes as so: "When I was in the military they gave me a medal for killing two men and a discharge for loving one." During the day my job was to drum up support from pedestrians walking by the recruitment center. Work like that is hard, but even just one smile and conversation thanking you for your work is more than enough to feel as if you made a difference.
The Service Members Legal Defence Network is the organization that fights Don't Ask Don't Tell. They have put together some of the key reasons for why the ban simply should no longer be tolerated:
The American people agree. In two separate public opinion polls, Americans registered their strongest support for gays serving openly in our armed forces. In a December 2003 Gallup poll, 79% of Americans said they support allowing lesbian, gay and bisexual Americans to serve openly in the armed forces...
Our nation's most respected newspapers agree. Almost every major daily newspaper has weighed in on the side of opportunity for lesbian, gay and bisexual service members. The New York Times. The Washington Post. USA Today. The Chicago Tribune. The New Orleans Times-Picayune. The Los Angeles Times. The list goes on and on.
Why did I choose now to write about this? Because while the military bans us, the Pentagon just yesterday decided that us queers aren't mentally insane after all, but instead we're more similar to bed-wetters. Rep. Marty Meehan laid down the facts as they are in response to this news:
"More than 30 years after the mental health community declassified homosexuality as a mental disorder, it is disappointing that the Pentagon still continues to mischaracterize it as a 'defect."
- Rep. Marty Meehan (D) House Armed Services Committee.
It's almost surreal to hear the Pentagon's classification of us. Do they still classify African-Americans as mentally inferior to whites or women mentally unfit for the military? Do Latinos have "poor English skills" according to the Pentagon? No, all those are not endorsed by the Pentagon. Instead, it's the gays who were formally mentally disabled for service and are now OFFICIALLY and CURRENTLY "defects". YAY! We've moved up a notch! Maybe next we can be redefined as simply "damaged goods" and maybe after that as "half human, half freak".I could go on and on about this, but then again, I have better things to do, like working to fight Don't Ask Don't Tell.
Anyway, I'll leave you guys with 365gay.com's "Today in History":
November 17, 1999 - Methodist minister Jimmy Creech was stripped of his clerical status for presiding over a same-sex holy union.
Author's Note: My name is Kevin Ballie, a student at American University (AU). I happen to work at the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Ally (GLBTA) Resource Center at AU. My area of activism centers particularly around GLBT activism. My goal is to write diaries on DailyKos as a regular update concerning issues facing the GLBT community. I sincerely hope to gain a readership base of committed GLBT activists and our supporters. Such a base will only enhance DailyKos and provoke greater thought. Just as a note, I may use terms like gay, lesbian, bisexual transgender (GLBT) or queer (a substitute for GLBT).