Nathaniel Boehme is serving with the Air National Guard out of Portland, but on Sunday he will make history when he becomes the first active-duty gay military member, with permission from the Pentagon, to march in uniform in Seattle’s Pride Parade.
Thousands will make their way to Seattle this weekend for the annual Seattle Pride celebration and when they do many will be witnessing history.
Nathaniel Boehme is currently serving with the Air National Guard out of Portland, but on Sunday he will make history when he becomes the first active-duty gay military member, with permission from the Pentagon, to march in uniform in Seattle’s Pride Parade.
Boehme enlisted just six days before the September 11 terror attack, and for years he served quietly as a gay man.
“In my time in Iraq I served under ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’ and I had to, much like many of my colleagues had to serve in silence,” Boehme said.
But over time many things have changed. He is now married to his husband and after three years of work he received the permission he needed to march in the parade. Not long ago he received a letter approving the effort from a Lieutenant General at the Pentagon.
“I honestly cried a little bit. I teared up. And for me personally, again, as a gay service member, it’s really monumental because it means that we are working toward a military and a community that’s more inclusive and recognizes all people’s contributions to the service of this nation no matter what,” Boehme said.
As he gets ready to march in the parade, he shared these thoughts for any current, past, or future LGBT military member.
“We live in a great nation, we really do, and we have our ups and downs, but we have a nation, and a state especially here in Oregon, and Washington truthfully, that supports us in all that we do,” Boehme added. “So those who want to serve need not do so in silence anymore, and I would say follow your heart."
MrSmurfGuy on June 25th, 2017 at 23:42 UTC »
This will likely get buried, but I want to try and bridge the toxic divide I see in this thread between, serving, non serving, supporting, and non supporting.
One thing that needs to be understood about our military service is that we suffer consequences for the actions and behaviors of service members who do not uphold the image of the military. Any service member who has been in long enough has been prevented from going out on town in foreign bases because of the actions of others. We have had to work extra, we have had safety briefs about certain actions and behaviors, we have been held late at work to be told what most of us already know, but must be told again because of others.
My job is to support and defend the constitution, and obey the orders of those appointed over me. I take this seriously, and so when I see that service member has gone through the right channels to obtain appropriate approval to attend a politicized event, I accept it. They were given authority by those appointed over me.
However, given our culture, I understand why many service members are having a hard time dealing with this situation. Most of us serve with openly gay people, gay women in specific have been very common for me to serve with. Generally, most of us don't care and base people on the merits of their character and performance.
You have to try to understand that objectively speaking, it is beat into our minds on a regular basis to avoid interviews, to not make statements, to not partake in rallies or organizations. We get regular speeches about how what we do or say on social media can affect our brothers and sisters as well as ourselves. It's ingrained into our very beings that supporting anything while in uniform is a huge problem, and for good reason.
When a member of the military does something, the news reports don't say "John Doe Did X", it says that "United States (Marine, Sailor, Soldier, Airmen, Coast Guard) Did X". This inevitably falls on our shoulders. With the events that happened recently with the USS Fitzgerald, we've all been told to not give opinions unless we're well wishing their families or the service members. There are security risks as well as PR risks associated with talking about it.
There are layers of intricacy that exist in service life that are very hard to define. There are constant grey areas lorded over by the Uniform Code Of Military Justice (UCMJ). Because of these grey areas, we can make requests formally, as this service member did (successfully!)
As service members, we do need to amend the decades of abuse and unfair treatment to our gay members. Many of them whom I serve with are fantastic and upstanding people. They do their jobs, and they do them competently, and the icing on the cake is that most of them are thick skinned. They are not easily offended, it makes them fun to joke with, it makes them easy to work with. They are a valuable part of our service, and I'm happy to wear a uniform next to them and represent this country.
But unfortunately in our country, gay rights is a politicized issue that should be apolitical, just as birth control should be apolitical, just as trans rights should be apolitical. At the base of these civil rights issues is a simple reality that human beings are being treated unfairly for something that simply DOES NOT MATTER. Parts of our society disagree though, and make these issues a political matter unneccessarily. So this makes service members uncomfortable, because at the end of the day it goes against a lot of what we're required to enforce within our military doctrines.
The whole truth is, this service member did the right things to express their identity and beliefs. They were granted permission to be involved in an event that is politicized, but not necessarily political in nature. The military is likely trying to use this as part of an ongoing bridge to repair relations with the gay community, I've no doubt that it's a strictly objective choice. That's okay. My gay brothers and sisters do deserve to represent their service as individuals. They were denied part of their identity for decades, and maybe this really is the type of thing we need to start showing that gay members are just as worthy as anyone else.
Our rules and structure change with societal change. Civil rights movements change our rules and policies. It's certainly a good thing too. The military has cracked down on rape, hazing, and segregation over the past sixty years. It's slow going, but it's a conservative environment by virtue of our structure and rules. Quick change doesn't work well for the military, it takes time and thoughtful implementation. But progress is being made because society is shifting its views. We as service members just have to be careful about our involvement with these movements and views.
So please understand that we tend to have objections because of our service requirements, because of what is demanded of us. We do many of the things we do to uphold an image for our organization, but also because we must be conservative in our personal lives to protect not only ourselves, but those whom we serve next to.
We sacrifice a lot for what we do, whether it's our free time, some of our freedoms, or for some our lives. We love each other in a really weird way, and most of us don't want life to be harder for anyone of us. So we can be reactionary sometimes, and we don't make a lot of sense to people who haven't served. Most of us just follow the rules like regular people, we just have more of them. So when they hear a service member is doing something in uniform at a place that might be political, they worry. It's beat into us, try not to take it personally please.
Keep challenging the system. We have to evolve with it, and it has helped a lot of service members lead a more fulfilling life in our ranks. Please try not to hate us for supporting the doctrines that we've been trained to follow.
revamp11 on June 25th, 2017 at 20:42 UTC »
Man, we've come a long way from the military sending investigators to gay bars and pride events taking pictures that might later be used as evidence. (USN, 1990's)
Assclown_wrangler on June 25th, 2017 at 19:07 UTC »
Have they changed the uniform regulation? Before you could attend events in uniform but could not participate without prior approval.
Edit: i see where he did get permission, but this is going to open the flood gates for wear of the uniform for all kinds of different events and wondered if the regulation had changed or was in the process of being changed.