A stray article on Right to Serve
by Matt | October 27th, 2006 |
I found an article online today on the September 21, 2006 Right to Serve events in Greensboro. The Winston-Salem Chronicle, a weekly devoted mainly to the African-American community, offered some great coverage on September 28, 2006:
Gay activists invoke city’s great sit-in past
Protest ends with arrestsGREENSBORO – Nine people were arrested last Thursday in a sit-in conducted at the Army Recruitment Station on Merritt Drive. They were protesting the military’s 13-year-old Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy, which forbids openly gay individuals from serving in the military.
Similar sit-ins at military recruitment centers have been happening all over the country organized by Soulforce, a gay rights organization. Each protest has had openly gay individuals apply at military recruitment offices, followed by a sit-in after the applicants are rejected on the basis of their sexual orientation.
“I’m not participating in this protest to stir the pot,” said local participant Alex Nini. “I believe in what I am doing, the fact that I should be able to enlist and, if I am allowed, I am ready and willing to go into the military.”
Nini, Matt Comer, Jessica Arvidson and Stacy Booe went into the Greensboro recruiting office last week and told a recruiter that they would like to serve in the military but will not hide the fact that they are gay. The recruiters refused them as a matter of policy and they promptly began a sit-in along with six supporters in the lobby of the station.
The police were already there in anticipation of the widely-publicized protest. When the protesters refused to leave, a plain cloths police officer told them they would be arrested for trespassing.
Booe left because she did not wish to be arrested. The remaining nine protesters were escorted away by the nearly two dozen police officers at the site. Each protester had his or her wrists bound with plastic restraints and was taken to a prisoner transport van.
“We live in a land of equality, and today we’re testing that equality,” said Comer as he was escorted out of the building by officers.
Each protester went before a magistrate. All nine were charged with second degree trespassing and released on a written promise to appear in court.
Lt. Jane Allen of the Greensboro Police Department said the protesters were compliant and there were no incidents. She said the large number of officers were there in case the crowd of protesters had been larger than it was.
In a press conference before the protest, Comer, the sit-in’s city organizer, invoked Greensboro’s tradition of nonviolent protests. He cited the famous 1960 sit-in by four N.C. A&T students at the former downtown Woolworth’s.
Comer acknowledged that the Civil Rights struggle for blacks is different from the one that gays face today. He said African-Americans experienced discrimination that was far more widespread, prevalent and destructive than what gays face. However, he said, discrimination of any kind is wrong and that the only way to get change is through peaceful protest.
Comer said he is furiously patriotic with a real desire to be in the military. He said he comes from a very patriotic family with a history of military service going back generations. He said in the Boy Scouts, he was taught everything there is to know about U.S. history, including how to fold an American flag exactly as it should be. He said if the Army had recruited him last Thursday, he would’ve joined in a heartbeat.
“I love my country and I love it enough to defend it, if it has to be defended,” he said. “My sexual orientation shouldn’t get in the way of that.”
However, Comer said he won’t join if he has to hide his homosexuality. He said his desire to be openly gay in the military isn’t about flaunting his sexuality, it’s about not having his personal life interfere with his career.
Comer believes it’s inevitable that Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell will be repealed. He pointed to public opinion polls showing that most Americans support lifting the ban on gays in the military. A March 2006 poll from the Pew Research Center found that 60 percent of Americans favor having gays serving openly in the military.
Currently a bill entitled the Military Readiness Enhancement Act, which allows gays to serve openly in the military, is in the U.S. House of Representatives with 122 sponsors. Comer, before the protest last Thursday, asked why Brad Miller is currently the only sponsor from North Carolina.
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.
View all posts by Matt