Stephanie Wade dedicated nine years of her life to military service, but she’s had to fight to have her service accurately documented and commemorated by the American government.
Wade served two stints in the Marine Corps as an infantry officer (1984-’88 and ’94-’98, but had yet to physically transition during her time in the armed forces. Just going back to have her record reflect her name change was an arduous process.
And she knows others have faced much harsher experiences.
She had to watch as those who were out as LGBTQ faced physical and emotional harassment and were drummed out of the military they had wanted to serve, she said.
“I was basically choosing to live among hunters,” she said, “because it was dangerous to be hunted.”
Now she’s seen the near impossible battle many have faced in trying to have their service records corrected.
Wade will moderate a panel on Saturday at Heroes Hall, the military and veterans museum at the OC Fair & Event Center, highlighting LGBTQ veterans’ stories of their time in the military and efforts to amend the records of their service.
Life for LGBTQ people who wanted to serve their country was never easy, for years their homosexuality was considered a mental illness and cause for discharge. In 1982, the U.S. Department of Defense explicitly issued a ban on gay and lesbian service members.
Attempting to better foster the inclusion of LGBTQ people, President Bill Clinton instituted Don’t Ask Don’t Tell in 1994, a policy that allowed their service, but encouraged them to hide their sexual orientation. Those who were out, or outed, still typically faced dishonorable discharges, Wade said.
In 2016, President Barack Obama’s administration removed a long-standing ban on trans individuals serving in the armed forced. That decision was temporarily reversed by President Donald Trump in 2017, until President Joe Biden reinstated it in 2021.
“Despite serving with extraordinary honor and courage throughout our history, more than 100,000 American service members have been discharged because of their sexual orientation or gender identity, including some 14,000 under Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” Biden said in a statement on Sept. 20, 2021, the 10th anniversary of the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.
Wade, who’s service coincided with Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, said the military had been a huge part of her life – the nine years she spent serving were “some of the very best.” At one point, Wade said she was spending more time with her commanding officer than with her wife.
However, when Wade attempted to have the record of her military service reflect her name change, she said it took a year and “15 pages of typewriter paperwork” to have it processed. Though she was successful, she said many other LGBTQ veterans face a much greater hurdle in trying to have their military experiences accurately reflected.
Many fall into a “gray area,” she said, having faced discrimination and drummed up complaints that lead to discharges. It is harder for these veterans to get their records corrected, Wade said.
Wade, now a district director and policy advisor for Orange County Supervisor Katrina Foley, has been advocating for the creation of better processes for people to have their service records amended, and she has been enlisting the help of Orange County community leaders.
As the vice chair of the Orange County Veterans Advisory Council, Wade brought the issue of LGBTQ discharge reforms to the OC Board of Supervisors. In 2021, the supervisors sent a letter to the county’s federal delegation asking them to support federal action that would streamline the revision process that President Biden had opened the door to.
“Under current law, the only way LGBT veterans can correct this information is through a ‘request’ to the very service that has caused their injury,” the letter points out, adding some 1,000 to 1,600 LGBT veterans in Orange County were currently affected – m–any of whom are “most at-risk for housing instability, homelessness, poverty, substance abuse, mental health disparities or suicide.”
Dishonorable discharges – in many cases on stirred up complaints of performance – or even out-dated names on file can affect the “honor, medical and financial benefits, and employment status of these veterans well after the Department of Defense acknowledged their right to serve in the military,” the letter says.
“If we haven’t corrected this past injustice, how can we go forth with confidence that things are better for those within the ranks now?” Wade asked.
Saturday’s panel is part of a broader speaker series – “Fighting for the Right to Fight” – that has been shedding light on the struggles and accomplishments of Black service members and other groups while serving in the armed forces, said Carol Singleton, the supervisor of the Heroes Hall.
“Maybe people don’t know the treatment that goes on in the armed forces toward LGBTQ veterans, and through the speaker series there can be an awakening,” she said she hoped.
Wade will be joined by other LGBTQ veterans representing different eras of service from the Vietnam War to post 9/11. The museum will also host a film screening prior to the panel of “Our Service, Our Stories” showcasing the experiences of LGBTQ veterans.
“We want people to remember veteran’s stories (and) their stories to be validated,” Singleton said.
Singleton also said she hopes the event will foster empathy for different veteran voices, adding that it could also bring awareness to policy changes that can rectify previous injustices.
“We believed in our oath to defend the Constitution of the United States of America – and were clear that it meant giving up our lives,” Wade said, “but we didn’t have the freedom to be ourselves.”
from Signage https://ift.tt/tlMdvqi
via Irvine Sign Company
