#1 Army Col. Stewart Bornhoft, Navy Capt. Joan Darrah, Air Force Master Sgt. Jean Albright and Army Brig. Gen. Keith Kerr ( all retired ) , spoke to the group about the reality of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' at the Center on Halsted Friday, Aug. 3, at an event benefitting the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network. Photo by Hal Baim. #2 Partners Lynne Kennedy and Darrah are joined by Chicagoan Dick Uyvari ( from left ) ; #3 Zoe Dunning, SLDN board co-chair and Navy Reserve Commander ( retired ) ; #4 Army Brig. Gen Keith Kerr ( retired ) ; #5 Tom Franklin and Stan Sloan with Bill Greaves, Mayor Daley's liaison to the LGBT community ( from left ) ; and Army Col. Stewart Bornhoft. Photos by Hal Baim and Kat Fitzgerald________
More photos at the link: www.windycitymediagroup.com/photos/SLDNChicagoAug3-2007
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Army General Keith Kerr, Navy Captain Joan Darrah and Army Colonel Stewart Bornhoft, all retired military officers and all working toward a change in the military's anti-gay Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy, spoke to a gathering of more than 80 supporters at the Center on Halsted Aug. 3.
Kerr had been one of three flag officers to come out as a gay man in an interview with The New York Times in 2003 in order to raise awareness of the reality that the policy has created. Darrah and Bornhoft were two of seven officers who came out in national media earlier this year in response to remarks by Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who said in an interview with The Chicago Tribune that gays were immoral and should not be allowed to serve.
Darrah spoke of how living under the policy impacted her life. On 9/11, "the plane hit the Pentagon at the space I had left just minutes before ... . What if I had been killed? I don't know how or when my partner of 17 years would have learned. She wasn't anywhere in my paperwork."
Darrah, a 30-year Naval veteran, retired soon after. Her partner was at last week's event.
Kerr and Bornhoft also shared their experiences and the bigger picture. 'There are two servicemembers fired every day under DADT,' said Bornhoft, who described a military suddenly missing linguists, mechanics, helicopter pilots, medics and squad leaders all discharged for only one reason. 'And that sergeant can't be replaced by someone hired off the street. It takes years to grow an experienced squad leader. Imagine the costs involved here. All your tax dollars spent to train those people, wasted. Then there's the cost to process them out, and to hire replacements, and train those replacements.'
The night event kicked off a weekend of meetings of the national governing and advisory boards of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network. SLDN is a national, non-profit legal services, watchdog and policy organization, working toward ending discrimination against, and harassment of, gay and lesbian military members and those perceived to be gay. It strategizes with all organizations working to change the policy, but it is the only one working toward that end full time. SLDN advised on the creation of the Military Enhancement Readiness Act ( HR 1246 ) now in the U.S. House, a bill introduced with more initial supporters than any previous bill related to a gay or lesbian issue. SLDN is also advising in a case now in the U.S. District Court in Boston regarding 12 former military members discharged under the policy and asking only to be reinstated.
The Urban Institute has said that 65,000 gay and lesbian members now serve.
Chicago has an active base of support for SLDN's work, one of the strongest in the midwest. Chicagoan Jean Albright, a retired Air Force Master Sergeant and member of SLDN's board of directors, was honored for her work last Friday by SLDN's board leadership.
For more information about SLDN and the work to change, Don't Ask, Don't Tell, visit www.sldn.org . Chicago contact is Jean Albright, jean@chicagoSLDN.org . Albright is director of new media at Windy City Media Group.
