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Soldier Discharged For Being Lesbian- The Consequences Of DADT

Posted by: Bridgette P. LaVictoire on February 10, 2009.

The military needs soldiers. The national guard needs soldiers. Some just feel that they don’t need our kind of soldier.

The Kansas National Guard recently discharged a soldier for being gay.

Amy Brian was discharged from the military for being lesbian. She did not inform her superiors, and did not inform anyone except those close to her. However, a civilian co-worker with U.S. Property and Fiscal Office reported her for kissing a woman while in line in Walmart. An investigation was opened up in August of 2008, and Ms Brian was discharged.

Amy Brian served in Iraq. She was part of the supply structure behind the lines moving supplies from Kuwait into the military based in Iraq. For many who study military strategy and insurgency, there is an understanding that the most dangerous place to be is in the supply chain. The enemy will do what it can, when ever it can, to target, disrupt and destroy the supply lines. One of the convoys which she was a part of was hit by an IED on the way to its destination. The convoy was not badly damaged and no one was killed. The convoy made its way without further incident. She has a shelf full of awards from her service in Iraq, which was her second run of service in the Kansas National Guard. She originally joined back in the 1990′s. In between then and her reenlistment in 2003, she married, had a child, and divorced.

She cannot be fired from her civilian job because the Federal Government does not allow for its civil servants to be fired based upon sexual orientation. However, based upon this discharge, she loses her benefits, including the money which she was using to get her MBA.

It is not as if her sexuality was a secret from her fellow soldiers. She has stated that “everyone I went with (to Iraq) knew I was gay, and no one had a problem with it.” This is not atypical. Many soldiers know of other soldiers who are gay or lesbian and never report them. However, no formal complaints were ever filed against them. Amy Brian’s case seems more of a case of retribution based upon one person’s views of homosexuality. Since she could not get Brian fired from her civilian job, she undermined her military career.

The good news is that Ms Brian does not blame the military officers who simply followed the law by discharging her. Major Jared Maag, who acted as Amy Brian’s council and deputy solicitor general with the Kansas Attorney General’s Office, has stated that Ms Brian has been given a low reentry code for the day that DADT is no longer the law of the land. Amy Brian looks forward to that day.

Sixty years ago, Chief Warrant Officer Alfred Delgado’s jeep overturned and fell into a ditch in the Philippines. A unit of soldiers spotted him, and overturned the jeep rescuing him. The catch is that there were some who did not want those soldiers to be part of the military. They were, after all, black. They certainly did not want to integrate them into the military. On the battlefield, a soldier is a soldier. In a time when we are facing a dearth of experienced soldiers, and two wars, DADT seems wasteful. The often ridiculous excuses given for why DADT should be kept boil down to a desire to not allow homosexual people to be equal. When Bill Clinton signed DADT, he stated that it was a bridge, a compromise. It gave the military time. It gave them time for the older soldiers to retire and leave, and to let the newer soldiers come up the ranks. It gave the military time to get closer to the society which it served and protected. The time has come for DADT to come down.

While President Obama wants to have a study group over it, he should call for a moratorium to be enforced. No one should be discharged for being homosexual until that study is done. And that study will show the simplest of things. The bulk of the military is all for repealing DADT.

Sei is a trans-lesbian who lives in Vermont and has a strong passion for LGBTI rights. She has a BA in History and her hobbies include sci-fi, anime, fantasy, action movies, video games, and more. You can visit her Blogger profile here.