Woman Becomes First Openly Gay General

[onehandle]

Source: New York Times



WASHINGTON — An Army officer being promoted to brigadier general openly acknowledged her homosexuality on Friday by having her wife pin her star to her uniform, thus becoming the first openly gay officer of flag rank in the United States military.

The officer, Brig. Gen. Tammy S. Smith, 49, a 26-year veteran of the Army, was promoted in a ceremony at the women’s memorial at Arlington National Cemetery. The star was affixed by Tracey Hepner, who was a co-founder last year of the Military Partners and Families Coalition, which “provides support, resources, education and advocacy for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender military partners and their families,” according to its Web site.

The couple married in March 2011 in the District of Columbia. The military dropped its “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy for gay service members on Sept. 20, 2011, after a change in federal law.

The Army said that General Smith was not available for an interview on Sunday. However, she said in a statement that the Defense Department had made sexual orientation a private matter, but that “participating with family in traditional ceremonies such as the promotion is both common and expected of a leader.”

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/13/us/army-woman-is-first-openly-gay-officer-promoted-to-flag-rank.html

[Botany]

1. I have something in my eye

Last edited Mon Aug 13, 2012, 11:41 AM - Edit history (1)

And General Smith will do a good job, life will go on, and slowly one more myth about
the threat by gays in the military will go down into the dustbin of history.

[goclark]

5. I have something dripping on my face

It's HAPPY TEARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[proud patriot]

25. me too

must be contagious

[WilliamPitt]

41. Kinda dusty in here

[Botany]

44. I am a straight guy but that picture shows what can be possible if we stop the hate.

Those two women are good Americans who love their country and
their being gay has nothing to do with that.

[Justice wanted]

2. What a beautiful couple.

[cbayer]

3. Wow! This is very cool.

[bigdarryl]

4. NICE

[WooWooWoo]

6. I'm really happy for her

It takes courage to do something like that, especially when I'm still getting safety briefs every weekend telling me not to "do dudes."

[Stargazer09]

8. It will take time

The old stereotypes are still out there.

Those safety briefings must be pretty interesting. Are the females instructed to not "do dudes," too?

[WooWooWoo]

16. there are no females in my company

I'm in an infantry unit. Oddly enough, my CO is currently a woman (and pregnant).

[tabasco]

24. Wait a minute.

Your infantry commander is a female?

Help me out here.

[WooWooWoo]

34. it confuses me too

Our regular CO is in Afghanistan right now and our current one (the preggo female) is like a fill-in. I hardly ever see her around the company. In fact, since she assumed command a few months ago I've seen her maybe three times. For all intents and purposes our XO runs everything and he's a guy.

[sarge43]

35. In a combat zone, isn't pregnancy an automatic ticket home?

The restriction on assignment to combat MOS is a glass ceiling for women officers, not so much enlisted. The Army is moving, slowly, toward opening them, so perhaps she's a test case. Still very risky especially considering the available OBGYN facilities probably aren't the best.

[WooWooWoo]

37. we're not deployed

only a handful of people from our company, including our CO, are over in Afghanistan. The rest of us are back here in garrison.

[sarge43]

38. I see. Then I'm going with test case.

Saw a lot of that during the mid-seventies when many of career fields were finally opened up for women.

[tabasco]

47. She cannot be an infantry officer and cannot

be an infantry commander.

What type of unit are you in?

[WooWooWoo]

49. i'm in a unit

With infantry elements, but also elements of other things. We have a scout sniper platoon, a mortar platoon, a fister platoon, a commo platoon, and a supply platoon.

[tabasco]

50. A task force. What branch is the female officer? n/t

[Trunk Monkey]

36. When I was in the safety briefing generally went something like this

(All Male artillery unit mind you)

If you're gonna drink don't drive, if you're gonna drive don't drink.

If you dip it , wrap it

Make sure you have the phone numbers of your NCO support chain in your pocket at all times. (the days before cell phones).

I imagine that haven't changed too much in the years since I got out

[SpankMe]

7. Gay or not, we need more women leaders in the military anyway

I deal with the military often in my job with a major aerospace contractor to the DOD. Things are almost always easier, smoother and nicer in terms of temperament, flexibility, ego, schedule, interpretation of contract - everything - when the program manager I'm dealing with is a lady Major or Colonel.

About half the uniformed men I deal with in leadership positions (officer ranks) are rigid, authoritarian, egotistical assholes.

[Stargazer09]

9. YES!

I completely agree. I'm a vet married to a retiree. The women I've worked with were nearly always the more compassionate and effective leaders. Of course, there were exceptions both ways.

[Auggie]

11. +1

[Stargazer09]

10. This is so wonderful!

I'm happy to see a new female general, and I'm glad that she was able to have her spouse with her. A few years ago, she wouldn't have been able to show off her family at any sort of public or military event.

Change takes time, but we are getting there!

[sarge43]

14. A few years ago she would have been kicked out

and the service would have been short a good soldier. Bigotry: It hurts all of us.

[seanpencil]

12. pretty damn awesome

[sarge43]

13. Excellent!

Congratulations on that star. ma'am.

[rocktivity]

15. "The military dropped its 'don’t ask, don’t tell' policy for gay service members..."

And but for that, the military would have lost out on all her experience and knowledge, not to mention what we taxpayers have invested in her training!


rocktivity

[Aristus]

17. First gay general! Hooray!

49 year-old general: also pretty cool.

Service members who even attain the exalted star rank usually do so in their 50's. She must be a real powerhouse.

Good luck to her. She's earned her star.

[sarge43]

18. No not the first, but the first to be able to say so openly.

You're right about the powerhouse. Check the bling.

[Aristus]

20. Ah! Gay generals. We finally have one we can celebrate openly!

About time.

England had Richard the Lionheart (who was actually French)
Classical Greece had Alexander the Great.

Now we have one of our own!

Hi, sarge!

(I was going to put T.E. Lawrence, but I realized he wasn't a general; gifted leader of soldiers, though...)

[sarge43]

22. Frederick the Great

Tactical genius and put himself in the forefront of battle several times.

[jberryhill]

26. And Charles The Fabulous

[longship]

28. He was an accomplished musician.

He employed one of J.S. Bach's sons (CPE = Carl Philipp Emanuel) as Capellmeister. Old Bach himself dedicated the Musical Offering to Frederick, the main theme of which was composed "on the spot" by Frederick upon J.S. Bach's visit in May, 1747.

It's a great story told in the introduction to Gödel, Escher, Bach by Douglas R. Hofstadter, the smartest book I've ever read.

But, the take-away here is that Frederick was no dummy. Where have we gone wrong these days when we have people like the Republicans put forth, and the public embraces them?

Sigh! Whatta ya gonna do?

[4th law of robotics]

48. Well . . . first *openly* gay general in *US* military history

[joshcryer]

19. Can you imagine? A lifetime of service and DADT could've ruined her life.

Wow, that is incredible. I'm so glad for her.

[underpants]

21. Great to read

love it

[tclambert]

23. First in the United States, it says. Okay, then. I was gonna bring up Alexander the Great.

And Marcus Licinius Crassus (the Roman who crushed the rebellion of Spartacus). Though you could argue they were both bi-sexual.

[Lint Head]

27. Excellent!

[Glaug-Eldare]

29. I was reading an article about this on a right-wing site

and the majority of the comments described what an outrage it is that a treacherous, lying, unreliable fagosexual was allowed to lead normal people. Seems like they're incredibly angry that she presumably answered "No" to the question of whether she was a homosexual when she joined.

1. I wonder what they think of that lying scum Audie Murphy, who falsified his identity documents to support a fraudulent age claim.

2. Since being homosexual is a personal choice, how do they know she didn't just decide to become gay in 1993?

[DissidentVoice]

53. It doesn't matter what they think

If they're in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps or Coast Guard, what their opinion of General Smith may be is irrelevant.

I learned on my first night of Air Force basic training that you salute the RANK, not necessarily the person wearing it...and one of these kooks, if they're in the military, refusing to salute a Brigadier General because they don't approve of her sexual orientation, can be in big trouble indeed.

[adicortez]

30. Hooah ma'am!

*renders salute*

[Heather MC]

31. I have been to several promotion ceremonies, it is a great

honour to pin the promotion stripe or star on a loved one. This is wonderful. Bravo Army!!!

[lunatica]

32. This is amazing

It blows my breath away. It's happening!

Wow!

[myrna minx]

33. Congratulations!

What a wonderful day.

[YOHABLO]

39. It Really Isn't Fair

Think of all the recruits who more or less could of had a career in the service but were outed and then kicked out .. sometimes dishonorably. Why do these career officers who have been in hiding all these years get to reap the benefits that are denied to so many? This means she stood back and watched hundreds of other gay men and women be denied there right to serve while she stayed in hiding. And don't you know that because of her status, that many of the officers who knew, kept it very quiet and protected her. This doesn't happen with recruits. It's bullshit.

[sarge43]

40. Officers got nailed too. I processed a couple of discharges.

Ask the ghost of TSgt Leonard Matlovich what happened if a gay/lesbian came out. It got ugly and accomplished nothing but another good serviceman kicked out. It took another forty years after he sacrificed himself.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matlovich

[DissidentVoice]

42. (popping a salute)

As a male, heterosexual former enlisted Airman, I never bought into the fiction that "homosexuality is incompatible with good order and discipline." There have always been homosexuals in the military, the vast majority of which did the same thing as heterosexual Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Coasties: their job.

General Smith is just proof of what most people in the military have known all along.

[UnrepentantLiberal]

43. It's wonderful that this happened.

[fightthegoodfightnow]

45. Bravo

Doesn't get much better than this.

She joins the ranks of Alexander the Great....but on her own terms and as a woman!

Congratulations!!!

[Redford]

46. Good for her!

Looks like a lovely couple.

[jody]

51. Congratulations but one simple question “having her wife” poses a question, how does the Army

determine which is “wife” and which is “husband”?

[WooWooWoo]

52. technically she's neither

The army wouldn't recognize her marriage.