Kicked Out of the Military for Being Gay: One Man’s Experience During “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” Title. [Video]

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James Garcia enlisted in the Air Force in 1996 despite knowing that, as a gay man, he could be discharged from the military. Despite the risks involved and the emotional strain of staying closeted, James stayed quiet about his private life. After a supervisor caught wind and began creating a toxic work environment, however, he knew his only choice was to come forward to his base commander about who he was. After coming out to his supervisor with the help of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, James was relieved of duty and honorably discharged three weeks later.

Transcript provided by YouTube:

0:00
[Music]
0:00
foreign
0:05
hi my name is James Garcia and I am from
0:08
New York City in 1996 I enlisted in the
0:12
Air Force
0:14
during that time don’t ask don’t tell
0:16
was in place that means
0:19
military wasn’t supposed to ask you
0:22
and it was preferred that you didn’t
0:24
disclose so I knew from the beginning
0:26
that
0:27
enlisting in the military as a gay man
0:30
wasn’t legal
0:32
that I took a risk
0:35
knowing that at any point
0:37
I could be discharged I could be
0:39
harassed or worse but I did it
0:43
and shortly after the onboarding process
0:47
I was sent to Texas
0:51
for boot camp once basic training was
0:53
complete they sent you to Technical
0:55
Training School
0:57
for about six weeks so two months into
1:01
Technical School
1:04
I received a call from a friend
1:07
who told me
1:09
that
1:10
someone I had been dating for several
1:12
years
1:14
was murdered it was
1:17
probably one of the most horrible
1:19
experiences I’ve ever I’ve ever had to
1:20
live through I think about that that
1:22
moment I can picture myself
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in that room
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on the pay phone
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and hearing her tell me the story
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about how he died I remember going to my
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dorm room
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and losing it just throwing things
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around
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I couldn’t cry I couldn’t scream
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because then I would get questions what
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happened what happened and I had to live
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with that for several months
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I couldn’t
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request time off to go to his funeral
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I couldn’t do anything but shortly after
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leaving Technical Training school I was
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I got my wish I got to go to the base in
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New Jersey so I could be closer to New
2:07
York City before I left Technical
2:09
Training school I’d been corresponding
2:12
with someone in the city
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we had met shortly before I left for
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basic training
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and
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I like the guy I developed a lot of good
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friendships with folks I served with
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I unfortunately did not confide in any
2:30
of them
2:31
about who I am
2:33
but they put two and two together
2:35
unfortunately one of the supervisors
2:39
heard about it
2:41
and didn’t feel comfortable with me
2:44
serving
2:45
and he created a very toxic energy
2:49
environment
2:51
it made me extremely uncomfortable
2:55
I didn’t know how to address it without
2:59
disclosing who I am because I knew it
3:01
wasn’t legal to serve as a gay man
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and at that time I started dating the
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guy that I had been corresponding with
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it wasn’t until later in the year
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in 1997 that I started to create a plan
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with his support
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and he connected me to an organization
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service members legal defense network
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they’re based in Washington DC
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and they help service members serving
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actively serving in the military
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obviously I thought their support and
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guidance because I didn’t know how to
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approach it I didn’t know what risk
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there were self-disclosing
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all I knew is it was illegal I was
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afraid
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that not only would I lose the respect
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from
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my peers
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but risk losing all the benefits
4:00
when you serve it’s all about serving
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with integrity
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and I couldn’t continue to lie about who
4:06
I am I eventually gave the commander of
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the base at that time
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a letter
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disclosing who I am
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so essentially the letter stated
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I am a gay man
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so I can’t continue to serve the
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conversation moved to Will
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we’re going to ask you to leave the base
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now
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and we’ll call you back once
4:39
the process investigation is closed so I
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packed everything
4:45
didn’t talk to anyone on the base
4:48
went to my car
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and drove back
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City three weeks go by I was called by
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the attorney’s office on base
4:59
and asked to come and sign my discharge
5:02
papers there was a little part of me
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that feared I would get a dishonorable
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discharge it happened all the time to
5:10
gay men and women who
5:12
were
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found out who were outed by their peers
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um
5:20
but I received an honorable discharge
5:22
shortly after assigning my documents
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I went back to the my Squadron
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and they were upset that I had to leave
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but I was surprised
5:35
they wanted to celebrate
5:37
my service and they all took me out to
5:39
lunch I have no regrets
5:42
signing up
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I loved everything about the military
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except this experience I share my story
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as a reminder not only to myself
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but to others who a didn’t know this was
6:00
illegal
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that you couldn’t serve being a gay man
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or woman
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and
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also a reminder that there’s so much
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more work that needs to be done
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to protect our current rights
6:13
and rights of future Generations
6:34
foreign

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This post was previously published on YouTube.

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