Your Stories
Melissa Sheridan Embser-Herbert
When I was in college, I was introduced to the possibilities of military service by the lesbian service members I met at a bar in Washington, D.C. Upon graduation, I enlisted. I was on active duty in the Army, serving as a member of the military police.
John Ball Jr.
As a Marine I served under the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy from September 1999 to September 2003. As a 23-year-old sergeant I was honorably discharged after serving in the Iraqi war.
Phil Adams
I grew up in San Francisco and lived in the Castro before it became known as a gay neighborhood. I entered the U.S. Naval Academy in the summer of 1979 and excelled there. My grades were excellent, and I was busy as captain of my battalion's crew team. I embraced Christianity as my excuse for why I wasn't dating girls — further delaying issues regarding my sexuality. I was conflicted about my sexual orientation, my religion, and the military's and society's homophobic norms.
Rachael Goss
My whole life I have been different. You see, I am a transsexual — someone born into one gender who identifies as the other. It took me a long time to come to terms with this and the military still won't, but here is my story.
Margarethe Cammermeyer
Born in Oslo, Norway, during Nazi occupation in 1942, I immigrated with my family to America when I was 9 years old. While I was studying nursing at the University of Maryland, I heard about the Army Student Nurse Program and jointed the military at 19.
Nathan White
I joined the navy on October 6, 1950 when I was 18 years old. I went to Great Lakes, IL for boot camp and Hospital Corps School. Then I went to the Naval Hospital at Beaufort, S.C. I worked on a combination medical and psychiatric ward for seven months, then in the special diet kitchen for seven months, and finally in the hospital commissary for another seven months.