Frontlines: The Latest from OutServe-SLDN

Help Wanted

This past weekend, I went up to Boston Pride to spread the world about SLDN. I also got to meet a friendly recruiter from the Armed Forces Recruiting Station across the street from the Boston Commons. I was walking by and lo and behold – what do I see in the window? A large advertisement saying the Army needs Arabic translators! That’s funny, I thought, because we at SLDN have numerous clients who happen to be Arabic translators. They would like to serve. They would like to translate Arabic! But alas, they cannot, because they are openly gay. A recruiter came out of the office while I was trying to photograph the sign and he asked, “Can I help you?” I was caught a little off guard – so I told him that I worked for a non-profit that assisted service members affected by DADT, and that we have clients who are translators who have been kicked out of the Army simply because they are gay. I told him that I thought it was kind of funny that here they were, advertising, that they needed more translators. He didn’t really say anything. He just walked back inside. He didn’t even ask me if I wanted to enlist! Well – there’s an easy fix to the quandary of a) the Army needs translators but won’t let you translate if you’re openly gay and b) many gay translators are willing and ready to serve: lift the ban! - Aaron Tax

Labels: linguists, Pride, recruiting

06-12-07