September marked the three-year anniversary of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy for gays and lesbians in the U.S. Military. DATD is perhaps one of the best contemporary examples of secrecy being woven into the fabric of an institution so large as our armed forces. The transition away form this enforced secrecy has been a critical one for increased rights for gays and lesbians in this country and, more importantly, marked an ideological shift with regards to how we treat openly gay people. While the transition for most has gone relatively smoothly, there are still stark examples of prejudice that have lurked, targeting the men and women who continue to serve an apparatus and a nation that doesn't always treat them with the respect to which they are entitled given such their service to the nation. (To see one example, see the article on Air Force Maj. William Britton http://www.glaad.org/blog/soldier-change-takes-one-soldier-closet-center-stage).
The decision to move away from DATD was not one that happened over night. Despite its official end, I don't believe it to be a policy we have entirely abolished. In an (article) published by GLAAD, a soldier by the name of Stephen Snyder-Hill (then Captain Hill) submitted a video to a 2011Republican primary debate two days after the repeal of the DATD from his station in Iraq. Hoping other people would ride the same tide of change that the military had, he reasonably urged the Republicans to consider extending spousal benefits to legally married soldiers. He was not only rejected in his request, but those attending the primary collectively booed the soldier off of the virtual stage. (While he no doubt assumed some sort of risk involved in submitting this video, there is still a line that was crossed by one who bashed him.) Although it is now a couple years after the fact, this resonates in a variety of ways. First and foremost, Snyder-Hill is a rather clear example of how somebody's secret can be used to malign them in the moment. As a result of his outing himself and merely encouraging further discussion of rights, he was ridiculed and almost certainly treated differently as a member of the armed forces after becoming the focal point for the military's gay rights movement. (His memoir, "Soldier of Change: From the Closet to the Forefront of the Gay Rights Movement", was released in June 2014). Secondly, just after making room for change, the door was slammed on an entire segment of the population, that had just been accepted regardless of preference, with a message that couldn't be missed: "we don't care if it's acceptable to tell your secret or not because you are still not equal."
While laws have since changed and the Defense of Marriage Act has been extended to the military, the importance of the secret exhibits itself in a couple of different ways in Snyder-Hill's case. While he was ridiculed by the Republicans in the moment and likely ridiculed as well by other soldiers for a period of time after that, the case he presented by coming forth with a secret has played a role in helping same-sex couples to have same benefits as heterosexual couples have extended to them. We all have secrets we come forth with at some point in our lives. Even if those don't have the same profoundness or audience that Snyder-Hill's did, there are very often two sides to the secret that determine whether or not a secret is worth sharing. Those two sides are the side that empowers and the side that maligns. Will you malign yourself but wind up helping people in the long run, will you wind up only benefitting yourself while damaging others' images, or is there another combination? Just some food for thought as we go about keeping and telling the big and small secrets in our daily lives.
Until next time,
Aaron
No comments:
Post a Comment