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DADT All Religion Night Pride Month
J.D. Smith came into being when a gay student group in upstate New York needed a speaker to talk about the U.S. military's ban on openly gay troops. In the 16 months since then, he advised the Pentagon on the policy, became an oft-quoted media commentator on the topic and was a White House guest when President Barack Obama signed the bill paving the way for the ban's appeal.
On Tuesday, when the 17-year-old "don't ask, don't tell" policy goes away, so does J.D. Smith, the name a 25-year-old Air Force officer assumed to shield his identity as he engaged in high-wire activism that could have crashed down on his career. Even if no one asks, Air Force First Lt. Joshua David Seefried is telling.
"It's all about leading now," Seefried told The Associated Press as he prepared to come out to his superiors, put a picture of his Air Force pilot boyfriend on his office desk and update his personal Facebook profile to reflect his sexual orientation. "Those are things I feel like I should do because I guess that is what a leader would do. If we all stay in the closet and don't act brave, then the next generation won't have any progress."
At Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey, Seefried works in finance, oversees a staff of 20 and is attached to the 87th Air Base Wing. Twice this year, he was set to deploy to the Middle East, and felt conflicted when his orders were canceled only because going overseas would have put J.D. Smith out of commission. A handful of friends at work know he is gay. Only one knows about OutServe, the underground network for gay military personnel he co-founded last year.
Although he expects only a fraction of the 65,000 gay men and lesbians estimated to be serving in the armed forces to reveal themselves at first, Seefried will not be alone. On Tuesday, his organization's magazine will publish an issue featuring photographs and biographies of him and 100 other gay service members. It will be available online and at Army and Air Force commissaries.
OutServe, which has grown to 4,300 members in more than 40 chapters from Alaska to Iraq, has had an exceptionally aggressive rise since February 2010 launch. From the start, Seefried and a tech-savvy civilian friend, Ty Walrod, saw its mission as two-fold: to ease the isolation of gay service members and to educate the public about the price of requiring them to serve in silence. Read More
The repeal of the 1993 law that banned gay military personnel from serving openly went into effect Tuesday at 12:01 a.m. after years of fierce debate in both Congress and the armed services.
President Obama had signed the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" in December.
"As of today, patriotic Americans in uniform will no longer have to lie about who they are in order to serve the country they love. As of today, our armed forces will no longer lose the extraordinary skills and combat experience of so many gay and lesbian service members," Obama said in a statement.
Since the policy went into effect under then-President Bill Clinton, more than 13,000 homosexuals have been booted from the armed services for revealing they are gay.
Service members kicked out under DADT will be allowed to re-enlist.
Some in Congress still oppose the change, but top Pentagon leaders have insisted it would not undermine the military's ability to recruit or fight wars.
The Army released a short statement Tuesday saying, "The law is repealed," and to treat soldiers fairly.
"No one should be left with the impression that we are unprepared. We are prepared for repeal," said Pentagon press secretary George Little on Monday. Last week the Pentagon said 97% of the military has been trained in the new law.
The military has been accepting applications from openly gay members for weeks while waiting for the repeal to take place.
Conservative groups, including the Family Research Council, urged the Pentagon to postpone the decision.
"The American military exists for only one purpose - to fight and win wars," FRC president Tony Perkins said in a statement Monday.
"Yet, tomorrow, the U.S. military becomes a tool in reshaping social attitudes regarding human sexuality. Using the military to advance a liberal social agenda will only do harm to the military's ability to fulfill its mission," Perkins said.
Several Republican presidential candidates have previously said they would reinstate DADT.
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney said he would keep the policy in place "until conflict was over," during a Republican primary debate in June. Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann said she would keep DADT and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum agreed, adding the military is "not for social experimentation."
Meanwhile, gay rights groups planned celebrations across the country.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi applauded the decision: "Our nation will finally close the door on a fundamental unfairness for gays and lesbians," the California Democrat said, adding it will "indeed affirm equality for all Americans."
