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A
Gay Soldier
Capt.
Avner Even-Zohar
Israeli Defense Forces
by
Denny Meyer |
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Looking
at the title of this article, I suddenly realized that
if it stood alone, without another word, it would say
a great deal all by itself. A Captain in the
toughest fighting force on earth is gay. If a
gay person can serve with distinction in the Israeli
Defense Forces (IDF) then all arguments against the
character and fitness of homosexuals serving in any
armed force become moot.
Gay
Israeli citizens, and nearly all other Israelis, have
always been required to serve in the IDF; being gay is
no excuse, everyone is needed in the armed forces of a
nation surrounded by countries sworn to destroy it and
its people. In 1993, Prime Minister Yitzhak
Rabin enabled gay service members to serve without
discrimination; thus carrying out a democratic policy
of equality, in a religious and masculine dominated
nation, that has yet to be enacted in the United
States.
According
to Capt. Even-Zohar, gay service members were
considered a security risk during the 1980s due to the
concern that they could be blackmailed; so the policy
at that time limited them to lower rank and security
clearances during their mandatory service. In
1993, amidst parliamentary hearings on gay rights,
poignant testimony was heard from a former officer and
research scientist who had been a principle
contributor in Israel's most top secret national
security project. Under suspicion of
homosexuality, he'd been demoted to sergeant and his
security clearance was revoked. Prime Minister
Yitzhak Rabin realized the absurdity
of dishonoring one of the nation's heroes. He
essentially ordered an end to the policy telling his
top military commanders that if they could not
bring themselves to follow orders to fully integrate
openly homosexual service members, he'd find
others who would. Rabin had been the Chief of
Staff of the Israeli Army during the Six-Day War
and
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KEVIN
SCOTT
Military's
Loss;
Corporate Gain
by
Denny Meyer
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Kevin
Scott is an assistant vice president for a major national
bank corporation. He is openly gay and has been
active in an employee group that worked to get a non
discrimination policy and partner benefits
implemented. He lives in a house with his long term companion and their
dog. He'd always wanted the love, the
house, and even the dog; but his career path is not
the one he'd originally chosen for himself.
Since
his year's in high school in Junior ROTC and as a
Civil Air Patrol cadet; he'd had the military in mind
all along and intended to become a career
officer. In fact, in his senior year in high
school, he was Cadet Commander. His efforts
earned him a provisional Army ROTC scholarship; right after high
school, he entered The
Citadel,
South
Carolina's four year military college. He
excelled. Yet, in his junior year, realizing that what
he was being taught about the undesirability of
homosexuals in our armed forces contradicted who he
knew he was, he did not take the
commission and career that had awaited him. This
was in 1990, when being discovered to be gay meant a
dishonorable discharge and disgrace. While no
one wants to experience that, it was as well a matter
of personal integrity for him to not compromise the
very values of honesty he had been taught and believed
in.
At
the time that he graduated from The Citadel, in 1990,
there was no network for LGBT cadets or service
members to seek support from. As was the
experience of so many others, he thought he might be
the only gay cadet and reservist; a very lonely place
to be for anyone. Had it not been for the
bigotry of rejection regarding gay service in our
armed forces, and had he not had to deal with it
alone, he would have gone forward with his dream and
his potential of becoming an Army officer.
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