Gay Patriots

By Joseph Van Dusen

Photo courtesy of campusprogress.org

   

         Yale Law school students stand in silent protest wearing gags and suits in New Haven, Conn., against the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.

           

            Ian Edward Kohlepp, a native of Downingtown Pa., joined the Marines on Oct. 31, 2005 when he was 20 years old. Serving as a 0331 machine gunner in 22 Fox Company, Second Marine Division, he distinguished himself in combat, earning the Navy Marine Core Achievement Medal and a Purple Heart when he took shrapnel from an IED in his spine during combat operations in Iraq.

            He's also gay.

            "All the men in my family are veterans," he said. "Vietnam, Korea, the Pacific campaign at Guadalcanal and Saipan. I needed a job and I figured I would serve my country at the same time."

            By the time Kohlepp received his discharge from the Marines in 2009 he had reached the rank of corporal and become a machine gun section leader.  Throughout the majority of his four years of service and two tours of duty in Iraq, he did his best to hide his sexual preference from his fellow soldiers.

            "When I would go out with my friends, I would talk to girls, and eventually I would find myself in situations where they wanted to come home with me or get a hotel room," he said. "When I turned a woman away from that sort of thing, it seemed strange to my friends."

            Kohlepp's attempts to keep his secret ended after his second tour when a staff sergeant discovered certain materials in his wall locker during a barracks inspection.

            "There were no ifs ands or buts," Kohlepp said. "I was asked if I wanted to explain myself and I said no. I was relieved and embarrassed at the same time."

            In Kohlepp's case, the information never went higher than his immediate chain of command and he was able to serve out the remainder of his obligation to the Marines. "It was awkward at first, but because it was after my second deployment and there was no deficiency in the way I worked," he said. "It didn’t matter to the people who knew."

            Not every gay soldier receives the same treatment, however.  The Congressional Research Service published a report on Oct 14, 2010 stating that 10,958 service members have been discharged under the "Don’t ask, don’t tell" policy since 1997.

            The "Don’t ask, don’t tell" policy prohibits openly gay individuals from serving in the armed forces, but new legislation could have it repealed. On Oct 12, 2010, federal judge Virginia Phillips filed an injunction against the law, but eight days later a federal appeals court blocked her order.

            On Nov 12, The Department of Defense reported on its Web site: "The court denied without comment an emergency request from a gay rights group to suspend implementation of the 'Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell' law while it is under review by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco."

            According to the Palm Center, a research institute at the University of California, most western nations already allow gays and lesbians to serve in their militaries, including France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom.  

            Nevertheless, the idea still faces strong opposition in the United States. Results from a 10 month study ordered by defense secretary Robert Gates revealed that while only 30 percent of soldiers surveyed felt that allowing gay and lesbian soldiers to serve openly would cause a problem, 56 percent of Marines serving in combat roles felt repeal would have a negative effect on unit cohesion.   

            The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation calls the "Don’t ask, don’t tell" policy unconstitutional and discriminatory on its Web site. In a press release dated Sept. 10, 2010 Jarrett Barrios, the president of GLAAD, said: "For years gay and lesbian people have made great sacrifices to keep our country safe, yet faced the travesty of dismissal from the military simply for being who they are."

            Kohlepp wasn’t the only gay soldier in his unit. Together they agreed that coming out would be an unneeded distraction during a combat operation.

            "Within the military, especially infantry related fields, you need to fit a certain character to do that type of work," Kohlepp said. "The military isn't there to work for you, you're there to work for it."

            Kohlepp hopes that eventually homosexuality will be seen as a sexual preference, not a lifestyle, and that "Don’t ask, don’t tell" should be lifted when most of America is comfortable with gay people. 

            "It's a shaky situation," Kohlepp said. "You have to understand the fundamentals most Americans grew up with. If you want to go into the military, you have to conform to their regulations because it's a dictatorship, not a democracy."

            Today, Kohlepp has been accepted to the Lancaster College of Nursing and General Health, where he will be attending the spring 2011 semester using the Montgomery GI Bill to pay his tuition.

            When asked about ending his military service, he said, "I was tired of living a lie, but I'm proud of my service."