DADT Final Repeal September 20, 2011

Sixty more days left.

My 62nd birthday takes place on September 23rd. DADT's final repeal is on September 20th.

On my 30th birthday, in 1979, I was informed by my Air Force attorney that my (forced) resignation had been approved. I had taught the first female-inclusive class at the Air Force Academy the previous academic year, but I had to resign simply because I was gay. In two months, no longer will someone be forced to resign as I was simply because he is gay.

How many men and women have been forced to resign over the years that not just DADT was in effect but all of the other excluding policies were in official policy? How many of those men and women are no longer with us, to experience the quiet satisfaction that I am feeling now with this impending repeal?

Whenever I began to doubt that this despicable policy would never be overturned in my lifetime, I thought of the lyrics by the late Sam Cooke: "It's been a long, long time coming; but a change gonna come. Oh yes, it will."

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After DADT's Demise, Part III

The SLDN option did not really pan out.

They suggested I try to apply to the Air Force Reserves, given my age. But while I was searching online jobs associated with the Air Force, I did come across two notifications that the English Department at the Air Force Academy was looking for two civilian professors next fall: One with a degree in Rhetoric and Composition and the other in Post Civil War American Literature. While I do not have a PhD, I do have a Master's Degree in the Humanities that was good enough to get me hired at the Academy back in 1977-8 to teach, starting in the fall of 1978.

I am currently reworking my cover letter, resume, and professional/personal references to apply. Fortunately, I have already sent off for an additional copy of my DD 214, for veteran's preference; and I sent off for Official copies of my four sets of college transcripts.

I suppose this means I could return to teach at the Academy in an ideal situation because I would be a civilian instructor there. While I would not be in uniform, I would be back in the classroom. That is, of course, if I am selected. And that could be a long shot, depending upon the other applicants.

Of course, while I have significant experience teaching military students at Fort Carson and Peterson Air Force for Pikes Peak Community College, as well as Academy cadets in the fall of 1978 and the spring and summer of 1979, it's been a few years since I was last in the class room. I have also been a technical writer/editor at IBM and elsewhere for the past 31 years, so that ought to count for something.

When I taught at the Academy, I was also chosen to be the Officer-in-Charge (OIC) of the Cadet Film and Badminton Clubs, in addition to being co-editor of the cadet creative writing publication, Icarus. I was selected to be the English Department liaison for the introduction of computers since I was the department supply officer. In the fall of 1979, I was to teach the prestigious television course, Blue Tube. That never happened, obviously. But the fact that I was selected ought to also count for something.

Tomorrow will be the 32nd anniversary of my leaving the Academy on October 12, 1979. When I was clearing out my books from my office, the elevator stuck between floors while I was aboard. I took it as a sign that even the building didn't want to let me leave. Eventually, it reached the top floor and opened to let me out.

When I got home, I took off my uniform for the last time and went to dinner with a neighbor. It all seems like recalling the immediate events of yesterday not yester year.

AIDS, PCs, laptops, Hi Def TVs, Blu-ray discs, the coming in and going out of DADT, gay marriage, and so many other tragic or remarkable developments have occurred since then. Of those whom I met at the Academy or knew because of events at the Academy, Dan Stratford's friend George Gordy and his partner, Dick Tuttle, died in 1989, while Dan died in 1995. I do believe they would have been surprised at many of these changes.

Not a day would go by--if I were able to return to teaching at the Academy--that I would not remember all that we went through back then and all that has happened to us since. Will the cosmos click back into place, undoing what was done so many, many years ago? I simply do not know though I always remain optimistic.

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After DADT's Demise, Part II

I did have a bit of decent news yesterday in an email. The day before, after contacting the Air Force through their website, I also contacted the Servicemen's Legal Defense Network, SLDN, leaving them a message about what I had learned. (They help with legal issues involving gay and lesbian service members.)

Yesterday afternoon, I got a reply that I should contact one of their lawyers between the hours of 9:00 AM and 5:00 PM Eastern Time. It was too late to contact them Friday, so I will do so next week.

They said they are working with many DADT-discharged veterans, in addition to those discharged before DADT. So, perhaps they can help me with my quest to return to the Air Force.

Twice before in my potential and current Air Force career, all was almost lost. When I first applied through my AF recruiter whose office was in Huntington Park, CA, I was told that my scores on the AF exam were not high enough. A few months later, after I'd left Marine OCS, I got called by the same AF recruiter and told that my scores were now acceptable, so I reapplied.

A few months later, when I was at AF Officer's Training School (OTS) at Lackland AFB, I had failed the Flight Screening Program to become a pilot. I had no other options. My flight commander came to me when we were playing one-pitch softball and said my discharge paperwork had arrived and I would be discharged the next day. In the afternoon, however, we learned that the Air Force was sending recruiters to talk prior service personnel into switching to missile careers since there was a critical shortage of missile officers. I and a couple of others went over the club where they were meeting to volunteer. We were not encouraged by what we were told.

The next morning, in class, our squadron commander showed up. My fellow flight members told him of my plight and desire to remain in the Air Force. Impressed that so many of my fellow officer trainees were on my side, he told my flight commander to hold up my out-processing paperwork until he explored all the options. It took weeks of waiting and little news, but a few days before graduation I did learn that my application for missiles had been approved. I finally had an Air Force career.

So, I suppose I am not always totally discouraged by bad news relating to the Air Force. Where there is hope, there are always possibilities.

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After DADT's Demise

I was intending to drive out to the sole USAF Recruiting Station in the Denver area later today (14187 E. Exposition Ave., Aurora, CO, 80012) to find out if the repeal of DADT also had provisions for the thousands of us who were separated before DADT took effect in 1993. But I figured I'd use the Air Force's website to find out as much as I could before making the drive.

When I input all of my personal information and submitted it, the Air Force computer declined my attempted application:

"09/22/2011

To: Gregory Sanchez

While we are excited to see that you are considering a career in the United States Air Force, based on the information you have provided, you are not eligible for the following reason:

You are over the age criteria for the program you selected."

They also have an effective chat function which I then utilized. "Dale" told me that I was not eligible for the Prior Service alternative because it has been over six years since I last served. Heck, DADT alone ate up approximately 18 years.

Obviously, these two responses were quite discouraging. After waiting 32 years for the military to allow gays to serve openly, now I am told I cannot reapply. When I was a missile combat crew commander at Minot, and an instructor of English at the Air Force Academy, I didn't need to be in the kind of shape I was in then. However, I have continued to stay in shape for the past 32 years, and I am in at least as good a shape as I have ever been in my life, and likely in better shape than many currently serving in the Air Force. If I had been allowed to take a physical, and had I not passed that physical for any number of valid reasons, I would not have an effective complaint. Had I been discharged under DADT in 1993, regardless of my age, instead of under a different system in 1979, I would be able to reapply.

There may be some out there who were discharged in 1992, just before DADT came into effect; but they will also not be able, under this repeal, to reapply. They are in the same situation as I, sadly.

As I said, if we were allowed to apply anyway, and take the required physicals, then we would at least have been treated fairly, given all that we lost in past and can now never get back.

This feels very much like it must have felt for the freed slaves to be told that, yes, after so many years in abject captivity, they are free but are not entitled to the forty acres and a mule compensation they felt they were promised when they were finally free.

Freedom without the means to directly benefit from that new freedom rings just a bit hollow for those of us who are not allowed to return to serving our country as we were once able to.

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DADT Has Ended

Interrupting my look at Gay Theater in Denver, at 12:01 AM earlier this morning, DADT ended. At my age, it may be difficult to get back in; however, I still intend to try.

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DADT Final Repeal September 20, 2011

Sixty more days left.

My 62nd birthday takes place on September 23rd. DADT's final repeal is on September 20th.

On my 30th birthday, in 1979, I was informed by my Air Force attorney that my (forced) resignation had been approved. I had taught the first female-inclusive class at the Air Force Academy the previous academic year, but I had to resign simply because I was gay. In two months, no longer will someone be forced to resign as I was simply because he is gay.

How many men and women have been forced to resign over the years that not just DADT was in effect but all of the other excluding policies were official policy? How many of those men and women are no longer with us, to experience the quiet satisfaction that I am feelilng now with this impending repeal?

Whenever I began to doubt that this despicable policy would never be overturned in my lifetime, I thought of the lyrics by the late Sam Cooke: "It's been a long, long time coming; but a change gonna come. Oh yes, it will."

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Merry Christmas

With DADT going away at some point next year, I have much to be thankful for.

Who knows? I may see what the requirements are to rejoin and try to get back in. I would enjoy nothing better than to be back teaching at the Air Force Academy. I only got to teach for one year before I was forced to resign.

I wish everyone a joyous new year.

DADT now significantly closer to ending

The Senate voted 65-31 to repeal DADT. Two more Republicans voted to repeal than voted to end the filibuster. This was pretty definitive and far better than I anticipated.

We should thank the U.S. Senate for doing what was right and long overdue.

There are many of those whom I knew years ago who were forced out but who died in all those many intervening years. I choose to believe they were here in spirit and certainly are here in my thoughts.

There are two more major steps: the President needs to sign the bill and then "the president and his top military advisers must certify that lifting the ban won't hurt troops' fighting ability. After that, there's a 60-day waiting period for the military."

This is going to be a very happy holiday season for me. After waiting for 31-years, this was long anticipated. However, that does not diminish my joy at this significant moment in history.

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Filibuster now prohibited

The Senate voted 63-33 to end the fillibuster on DADT.

The Senate will likely vote soon to repeal DADT. Several Republicans have joined with the Democrats to reach this stage of the process.

At this moment, there is a Quorum Call - Waiting for Senators to speak before the final vote.

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DADT could end today

MSNBC reports that Senator Reid believes he has the necessary 60 votes to overturn DADT later today.

This is it. The final showdown to end decades (and generations) of discrimination against gay people. We've always been treated as second class as much because of this as any other measure or issue.

My fingers are crossed.

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DADT 11th Hour

The House has passed a final, stand-alone measure and repealed DADT. However, the Senate must still confirm the new bill.

Three Republican Senators have said they will support the measure. Unfortunately, for the last vote in which the measure was part of the defense bill, a single Democrat Senator, the new one from West Virginia, sided with the other Republicans against repealing DADT.

For DADT to end and gays and lesbians to be able to serve without fear of being ousted, one more vote apparently is needed to reach 60 votes for the measure to overcome John McCain's filibuster threat. Either the new West Virginia Senator needs to vote with his Democrat colleagues or one more Republican Senator needs to be found to join with the Democrats to ensure passage.

This will likely be the very last chance for some time to come. The more conservative Republican house members and senators are not likely to revive this issue while they are in control of the house and are closer to control in the senate.

It was a shame that the previous West Virginia Senator Robert Byrd died on June 28th of this year. Had he lived six months longer, he would likely have easily supported the repeal of DADT and we would not be in this predicament of needing one more vote in the Senate to end this enduring nightmare. Same with the late Edward Kennedy.

To be this close is agonizing for someone like me who has waited over 31 years for this to end.

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DADT Repeal could occur tonight

I received an email from the Campaign to repeal DADT that Senator Harry Reid may bring a vote to repeal DADT tonight.

I emailed my two Colorado (Democratic) Senators who voted to repeal the last time and asked that they please vote to repeal DADT.

Consider calling or emailing your own senators and as them to vote to repeal. Because of the study published several days ago, even a couple of Republican senators have expressed their view that they will vote for repeal.

This opportunity may not come again for a long, long time.

-Greg Sanchez

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DADT Study

The Pentagon is about to release the study regarding what the troops feel about allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly. Apparently, the results are highly favorable.

Now, not only do the troops concur with oveturning DADT, but most of the top military brass agree (not the top Marine Corps officer, but that's understandable--they're sometimes a bit Neanderthal), and the American population as a whole also believes that we can serve openly.

So who still stands in the way? John McCain primarily. He's changed his position on this issue so many times in the past few years. First, he said he would accept change if the top Pentagon brass agreed to alter the policy. When that happened, he pinned his bigotry on the troops and this study. Now that the results have been leaked and he doesn't like what he hears, he's saying the results of this study are invalid and he now wants to conduct lengthy hearings--again--to get the results he wants. He wants to keep this from happening. One man; one bigot, trying to stop the future.

The senator is the consumate flip-flopper and always has been. He's been what's wrong with Washington for decades even though he can be found to say that the system in Washington is broken and needs to be fixed. He's been saying this while he's become more and more the reason Washington is perpetually broken. Now he wants to filibuster even when the American people, the top Pentagon brass, and now the troops have spoken otherwise. While the voters were sacking many incumbants this fall, primarily Democrats, the people of Arizona should have sacked John McCain. And the rest of the nation should have sacked several other Republicans who have contributed to the mess the country is currently in yet got away with retaining their political offices this fall.

So, we are on the cusp of an historic moment, if the Senate acts now to right this wrong. If it is not repealed this time, the nation will see that it was primarily the Republicans who are against progress and for bigotry and prejudice, as they have been for decades. Bashing gays and standing firm against our achieving equality and fairness has been their party's mantra in winning just enough votes from the bigots out there, to keep themselves in power.

Their agenda is that of "No". No to equal rights. No to equality and fairness. No to the middle class and the poor. They can only say Yes to the rich and the corporations, who lavish them with millions of dollars every election year so that they themselves may be rewarded, in turn, with more tax cuts they do not need. They say Yes to the bigots out there who blame their failing marriages and cultural blunders on anyone who doesn't fit the norm they have promoted.

We shall see what results now that the troops and the brass and the American people have spoken. We shall see if John McCain and his right-wing minority of cultural zealots will attempt yet again to stop us with all means, legal and illegal. The Republicans said in the fall that they have learned from their mistakes in the recent past. We shall see if that is true or not.

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DADT lives, unfortunately

Some flaw in this system wiped out my post on this issue. I haven't the heart to rewrite what I finished writing moments ago.

I suspect that the vote yesterday was the high water mark of our being able to serve openly. With the country veering again to the right, no Republican will ever vote to help us achieve equality. We will have to continue to serve, and die, in silence for the rest of my lifetime.

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