Paula Zahn, CNN, Right to Serve transcript
Sorry folks… no video (yet… maybe YouTube will pull through).
Here is the transcript from the September 26th airing of CNN’s Paula Zahn NOW’s segment on the Soulforce Right to Serve Campaign (hosted by Soledad O’Bried this time):
O’BRIEN: Our “Top Story” in the war on terror continues with the incredible strain on the nation’s military and the shortage of troops. But you might be shocked to learn that just today, some physically fit, well-educated Americans tried to enlist but couldn’t and they’re angry.
They’re part of a protest movement called Right to Serve and they say the military’s don’t ask don’t tell policy on homosexuality keeps them from serving at a time when many soldiers are facing a third combat tour. And not only that, military standards have been lowered to allow high school dropouts, even some with drug and alcohol violations, to join but gays cannot. And they want to change that.
Three of them join us this evening for our “Top Story” panel. Alexandra Douglas-Barrera is a sophomore at the University of Maryland. She was turned away when she tried to enlist today. Rhonda Davis served in the Navy for 10 years, was discharged under the don’t ask, don’t tell policy. And Jake Reitan is a Harvard Divinity School student who was rejected from military service because he’s gay.
Nice to see you guys. Thanks for talking with us.
ALEXANDRA: Thank you. Thanks for having us.
O’BRIEN: Alexandra, let’s start with you because today you were turned down. Was your plan basically to enlist or was your plan to make a bigger point about gays in the military?
ALEXANDRA DOUGLAS-BARRERA, “RIGHT TO SERVE”: I feel like my plan was twofold. I’ve always had a desire to serve my country and, you know, in my opinion I think the ultimate way to serve one’s own country is join the military. And on the other side of it, there is a definite problem going on with the don’t ask, don’t tell policy. And we felt that this kind of publicity would call attention to this fact, this problem.
O’BRIEN: Jake, at the same time, as we mentioned, you hear about these extended tours of duty, you hear about a shortage — really a quite severe shortage of troops. When you hear that and you know that you are being rejected from military service, what do you think of that?
JAKE REITAN, “RIGHT TO SERVE”: It’s outrageous. I am 24 years old. I’m bright. I graduated in top 10 percent of my class from one of the nation’s best universities, but I’m turned down because I was born gay. And this is a very serious form of government-sanctioned discrimination that’s happening in America.
And it’s not just the three of us who would serve if the ban was lifted. You have thousands of others across America. And so the American people have really got to ask themselves a question. Why in the world do we still have this policy in place when there are bright, fit, capable young adults like us who want to answer the call to duty?
O’BRIEN: The people who oppose you serving in the military would say you are a distraction, Rhonda, that when you are there, and you are a lesbian and you’re boarding with other women that you could potentially hit on these women or something like that and you would be distraction.
RHONDA DAVIS, DISCHARGED UNDER DON’T ASK DON’T TELL: I’ll bringing the flannel shirts in and all of that. Well, these are actually some of the same arguments that we made in the late ’50s for integrating African-Americans, and we said that it would destroy unit cohesion and the military would be destroyed and when we decided to integrate women for the first time, we said this is going to ruin the tradition that is the military.
But, you know, our society evolves. And we weren’t destroyed by integrating blacks and other minorities and women. And we’re not going to be destroyed if we integrate gay people. And there’s 26 other countries now that are proof of this because they have already integrated openly gay people and there’s openly gay people serving alongside of our own American troops in Iraq right now, some in integrated units.
O’BRIEN: After 10 years in the Navy, you were finally discharged. You got an honorable discharge but on paper I read, they wrote homosexual. What’s it like?
DAVIS: It makes me angry. But, you know, I can serve my country in better ways, you know, and I know that it this is the first steps towards opening the American public’s eye. And even though it says — I’m not ashamed of being homosexual. I’m upset that if I had done other things, there are people who were discharged by drug abuse and discharged for criminal activity and those things are coded on their federal discharge papers.
But for me, any hillbilly down south — I’m from the south — and anybody can see those words “homosexual” on there. But I don’t look at that as a disgrace. I look at that as that was me. That was me speaking out and being honest. And I don’t feel not ashamed of being honest.
O’BRIEN: Jake and Alexandra, there are people who would say, listen, if you really wanted to serve your country, you could you do it. You could keep your mouth closed and you could go sign up pretty much anywhere and they would take you.
REITAN: Well, that’s a lot easier said than done. Being closeted really is a very difficult thing to be. Everyday questions, seemingly innocuous questions — what did you do last weekend, who were you on the phone with, who is that letter from — become a point of great stress for the closeted service member, and so they lived every day in fear that, like Rhonda, their military career could come to an end in an instant.
And nobody who is willing to fight and die for our country should be forced to lie in order to do so.
DAVIS: You have to watch every pronoun, you have to look over your shoulder. When you’re on your private time and you’re in a restaurant, you have to look and see if there is anybody there that knows you. You have to watch what you say to your own physician, or your mental health professional, because those people do and can turn us in. And for me, I reached a point in my career after 10 years — and I was a leader now — and I’ve reached that point that I’ve said, there’s lot that I’m willing to give up for my country, but I’m not willing to give up my dignity.
O’BRIEN: Rhonda Davis and Jack Reitan and Alexandra Douglas- Barrera, thanks for talking with us this evening. We certainly appreciate it. Our top story coverage will continue in just a moment. First, though, let’s get right back to Melissa Long with our CNN.com countdown.
[tag]Soulforce, Right to Serve Campaign, Military, Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, gay, Paula Zahn, CNN, Jake Reitan, Alexandra Douglass-Barrera, Rhonda Davis[/tags]
Matt, 22, is an LGBT journalist, activist and youth advocate currently living and working in Charlotte, N.C., where he serves as the Editor of Q-Notes, the Carolinas' LGBT news source. A native of Winston-Salem, N.C., Matt attended the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and is still continuing to pursue his bachelors degree. He is the Owner & Editor of InterstateQ.com and has been active in LGBT advocacy work since the age of 14.
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