Latest News
02-15-09
By Malcolm Garcia
Kansas City Star
February 15, 2009
TOPEKA | These days Amy Brian, a former Kansas Army National Guard specialist, can hold hands with her partner without fear of discovery.
She can sit next to her in a restaurant booth and not worry about what people think, what they might say, what they might do.
Still, Brian cannot forget how her service in the Guard officially ended last month after a civilian co-worker said she saw Brian kissing a woman in a Wal-Mart checkout line.
"I got along with everybody," said Brian, 34, seated on the couch of her Topeka home. "My close friends knew I was gay. I never said it - it was just known and wasn't a problem."
Brian is the only gay person to be discharged from the Kansas Army National Guard under the "don't ask, don't tell" policy, which was introduced during the Clinton administration in 1993 and which the military began implementing in 1994. About 12,500 lesbian, homosexual and bisexual service members were discharged under the policy between 1994 and 2007. Figures for 2008 are not yet available.
The policy bans military recruiters or authorities from asking someone about his or her sexual orientation, but it also prohibits a service member from revealing if he or she is gay.
"This decision was not based on performance, but federal law," Sharon Watson, public affairs director for the Kansas adjutant general's office, said of Brian's discharge. "We recognize the sensitivity of the issue. It's a federal law all military must follow."
Before the policy was put into place, gay men and lesbians were barred from serving in the military. When he ran for president in 1992, Bill Clinton pledged to change that. But after he was elected, Clinton had to compromise with "don't ask, don't tell."
Top civilian and military leaders in the Defense Department have expressed support for the policy. In 2007, Marine Gen. Peter Pace, then chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he believed homosexual acts were immoral and worked against good order and discipline in the services.
During the most recent presidential campaign, Barack Obama said he would work to end the policy, but because it is dictated by federal law, the rule cannot be overturned except by Congress.
According to the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, more women than men are discharged from the armed services under the law, although they make up only 15 to 17 percent of all military personnel. The Washington-based network is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to ending the policy.
"It's really difficult to pinpoint why that is happening," executive director Aubrey Sarvis said. "But it's clear women have been caught up in the law."
For example, according to figures the network has for fiscal year 2007, women made up 14 percent of the Army but accounted for 46 percent of all "don't ask, don't tell" discharges in that branch of the service.
However, the number of discharges for homosexual behavior decreased by half after Sept. 11, 2001, Sarvis said.
"Commanders need people," he said. "They don't want to know. It's very arbitrary."
Brian saw herself as one of the people the Guard needed. She had grown up with stories about the Guard from her father, who was in the Navy during the Vietnam War, was a Guard member most of his life and served in the Persian Gulf War. She remembered her mother ironing his uniform. Brian would polish his boots.
She joined the Guard in 1991 as a high school senior and served until 1994, when she married. She had a son and eventually divorced. She re-enlisted in 2003. The following year, just as she was preparing for a deployment in Iraq, she told her parents she was gay.
"I just found myself," Brian said. "My mom and dad were supportive. They knew their grandson was being taken care of and that the woman I was with was good for me. They just didn't want me to flaunt it."
The reality of her deployment to Iraq did not hit Brian until she landed in Kuwait and found herself living in a tent and bathing with bottled water.
She then drove in a convoy from Kuwait to Camp Anaconda in Balad, Iraq.
Brian soon became accustomed to daily mortar fire that might last from 20 minutes to a few hours. The soldiers jokingly referred to the base as "Mortaritaville" during the bombardments.
Brian worked 12-hour shifts on a vehicle maintenance crew. Later, she was assigned to narrate award ceremonies, write evaluations and perform office work. She did not see combat, but she did see Iraqi children in the camp hospital being treated for injuries that included missing limbs from roadside bombs.
"That was one of the hardest things, seeing injured children," she said. "It made me think of my son."
Everyone, she said, knew she was gay. It didn't seem to matter.
In October 2005, Brian left Iraq and returned to her full-time job at the U.S. Property and Fiscal Office, which is part of the Kansas Guard's Topeka headquarters.
She worked as a secretary and then moved up to purchasing and contracting. She completed college and enrolled in Friends University to earn a master's degree in business administration.
Her life was on a roll.
But last July, everything came to an abrupt halt. A gay guardsman urged her to delete her MySpace page, which included a photograph of Brian with her partner. Someone, the guardsman told her, had a problem with that.
Then in August 2008, a lieutenant told her she was being investigated for homosexual conduct. A civilian co-worker claimed to have seen Brian kissing a woman at a Wal-Mart.
Someone else began sending anonymous e-mails to as many as 12 officers in Brian's chain of command, saying Brian was gay. The e-mails gave the address of a Web site - not her MySpace page - showing her photograph and revealing her sexual orientation.
The accusations led the Guard to begin an investigation. Brian chose not to request a hearing before a board of three officers. To do so risked a dishonorable discharge if they found her guilty.
Instead, she resigned from the property office in September. She continued her military affiliation until Jan. 13, when she received a general discharge under honorable conditions.
"Each (accusation) alone may not have been enough," said Brian's appointed counsel, Maj. Jared Maag, senior defense counsel for Trial Defense Services for the Kansas National Guard. "But combine them, the command obviously thought they had enough to go forward."
Maag said he has requested a low re-entry code for Brian, which would make it easier for her to re-enlist should the policy change.
But Brian said she doesn't know if she would re-enlist. Losing her $22-an-hour job was bad enough, but she also lost her education benefits, which prevented her from completing her master's degree.
Angry and "stressed out," she removed her son from school and left Topeka for two months to recover from the shock. She cashed out her 401(k) to make ends meet until she returned to Topeka and found a job managing a store that sells glasses and contacts.
She lives in a small, comfortable house. Framed prints she bought in Iraq decorate the walls. An aquarium gurgles in the living room. Photographs of Brian and her partner decorate a bookshelf, and below them stand the awards she earned for her service in Iraq.
"I regret losing my job, not finishing school, not being in the Guard," Brian said. "I have a lot of friends in it."
Brian never confronted the woman who said she saw her at the Wal-Mart, and she said she can't recall an incident at the store. She had never had a problem with the woman who made the report, she said - they had worked together, shared candy.
She also said that she would like to know who sent the anonymous e-mails, that she doesn't understand the person's motive but has stopped dwelling on it.
Brian said she is not a vengeful person.
"I was not discharged for a criminal act," she said. "My last evaluation was great. Everyone knew I was gay. No one said anything about it. And then all of a sudden..."
To reach Malcolm Garcia, call 816-234-4328 or send e-mail to mgarcia@kcstar.com.
Kansas City Star: Kansan�s Discharge Heightens “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” Debate
By Malcolm Garcia
Kansas City Star
February 15, 2009
TOPEKA | These days Amy Brian, a former Kansas Army National Guard specialist, can hold hands with her partner without fear of discovery.
She can sit next to her in a restaurant booth and not worry about what people think, what they might say, what they might do.
Still, Brian cannot forget how her service in the Guard officially ended last month after a civilian co-worker said she saw Brian kissing a woman in a Wal-Mart checkout line.
"I got along with everybody," said Brian, 34, seated on the couch of her Topeka home. "My close friends knew I was gay. I never said it - it was just known and wasn't a problem."
Brian is the only gay person to be discharged from the Kansas Army National Guard under the "don't ask, don't tell" policy, which was introduced during the Clinton administration in 1993 and which the military began implementing in 1994. About 12,500 lesbian, homosexual and bisexual service members were discharged under the policy between 1994 and 2007. Figures for 2008 are not yet available.
The policy bans military recruiters or authorities from asking someone about his or her sexual orientation, but it also prohibits a service member from revealing if he or she is gay.
"This decision was not based on performance, but federal law," Sharon Watson, public affairs director for the Kansas adjutant general's office, said of Brian's discharge. "We recognize the sensitivity of the issue. It's a federal law all military must follow."
Before the policy was put into place, gay men and lesbians were barred from serving in the military. When he ran for president in 1992, Bill Clinton pledged to change that. But after he was elected, Clinton had to compromise with "don't ask, don't tell."
Top civilian and military leaders in the Defense Department have expressed support for the policy. In 2007, Marine Gen. Peter Pace, then chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he believed homosexual acts were immoral and worked against good order and discipline in the services.
During the most recent presidential campaign, Barack Obama said he would work to end the policy, but because it is dictated by federal law, the rule cannot be overturned except by Congress.
According to the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, more women than men are discharged from the armed services under the law, although they make up only 15 to 17 percent of all military personnel. The Washington-based network is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to ending the policy.
"It's really difficult to pinpoint why that is happening," executive director Aubrey Sarvis said. "But it's clear women have been caught up in the law."
For example, according to figures the network has for fiscal year 2007, women made up 14 percent of the Army but accounted for 46 percent of all "don't ask, don't tell" discharges in that branch of the service.
However, the number of discharges for homosexual behavior decreased by half after Sept. 11, 2001, Sarvis said.
"Commanders need people," he said. "They don't want to know. It's very arbitrary."
Brian saw herself as one of the people the Guard needed. She had grown up with stories about the Guard from her father, who was in the Navy during the Vietnam War, was a Guard member most of his life and served in the Persian Gulf War. She remembered her mother ironing his uniform. Brian would polish his boots.
She joined the Guard in 1991 as a high school senior and served until 1994, when she married. She had a son and eventually divorced. She re-enlisted in 2003. The following year, just as she was preparing for a deployment in Iraq, she told her parents she was gay.
"I just found myself," Brian said. "My mom and dad were supportive. They knew their grandson was being taken care of and that the woman I was with was good for me. They just didn't want me to flaunt it."
The reality of her deployment to Iraq did not hit Brian until she landed in Kuwait and found herself living in a tent and bathing with bottled water.
She then drove in a convoy from Kuwait to Camp Anaconda in Balad, Iraq.
Brian soon became accustomed to daily mortar fire that might last from 20 minutes to a few hours. The soldiers jokingly referred to the base as "Mortaritaville" during the bombardments.
Brian worked 12-hour shifts on a vehicle maintenance crew. Later, she was assigned to narrate award ceremonies, write evaluations and perform office work. She did not see combat, but she did see Iraqi children in the camp hospital being treated for injuries that included missing limbs from roadside bombs.
"That was one of the hardest things, seeing injured children," she said. "It made me think of my son."
Everyone, she said, knew she was gay. It didn't seem to matter.
In October 2005, Brian left Iraq and returned to her full-time job at the U.S. Property and Fiscal Office, which is part of the Kansas Guard's Topeka headquarters.
She worked as a secretary and then moved up to purchasing and contracting. She completed college and enrolled in Friends University to earn a master's degree in business administration.
Her life was on a roll.
But last July, everything came to an abrupt halt. A gay guardsman urged her to delete her MySpace page, which included a photograph of Brian with her partner. Someone, the guardsman told her, had a problem with that.
Then in August 2008, a lieutenant told her she was being investigated for homosexual conduct. A civilian co-worker claimed to have seen Brian kissing a woman at a Wal-Mart.
Someone else began sending anonymous e-mails to as many as 12 officers in Brian's chain of command, saying Brian was gay. The e-mails gave the address of a Web site - not her MySpace page - showing her photograph and revealing her sexual orientation.
The accusations led the Guard to begin an investigation. Brian chose not to request a hearing before a board of three officers. To do so risked a dishonorable discharge if they found her guilty.
Instead, she resigned from the property office in September. She continued her military affiliation until Jan. 13, when she received a general discharge under honorable conditions.
"Each (accusation) alone may not have been enough," said Brian's appointed counsel, Maj. Jared Maag, senior defense counsel for Trial Defense Services for the Kansas National Guard. "But combine them, the command obviously thought they had enough to go forward."
Maag said he has requested a low re-entry code for Brian, which would make it easier for her to re-enlist should the policy change.
But Brian said she doesn't know if she would re-enlist. Losing her $22-an-hour job was bad enough, but she also lost her education benefits, which prevented her from completing her master's degree.
Angry and "stressed out," she removed her son from school and left Topeka for two months to recover from the shock. She cashed out her 401(k) to make ends meet until she returned to Topeka and found a job managing a store that sells glasses and contacts.
She lives in a small, comfortable house. Framed prints she bought in Iraq decorate the walls. An aquarium gurgles in the living room. Photographs of Brian and her partner decorate a bookshelf, and below them stand the awards she earned for her service in Iraq.
"I regret losing my job, not finishing school, not being in the Guard," Brian said. "I have a lot of friends in it."
Brian never confronted the woman who said she saw her at the Wal-Mart, and she said she can't recall an incident at the store. She had never had a problem with the woman who made the report, she said - they had worked together, shared candy.
She also said that she would like to know who sent the anonymous e-mails, that she doesn't understand the person's motive but has stopped dwelling on it.
Brian said she is not a vengeful person.
"I was not discharged for a criminal act," she said. "My last evaluation was great. Everyone knew I was gay. No one said anything about it. And then all of a sudden..."
To reach Malcolm Garcia, call 816-234-4328 or send e-mail to mgarcia@kcstar.com.
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