Posted on 11/29/2007 12:19:13 AM PST by AmericanInTokyo
© 2003- The Press Democrat
BYLINE: GUY KOVNER
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT PAGE: A1
For about 30 years, Brig. Gen. Keith H. Kerr lived a painful, personal lie. As a gay man in the Army and the Reserves, he risked the loss of a cherished career if his sexual orientation became known.
"It made you paranoid," the soft-spoken retired officer said at his home in Santa Rosa's Fountaingrove area.
Kerr's double life came to an end Wednesday, when the New York Times published an interview with Kerr, another general and an admiral in which all three declared they were homosexuals. They became the highest-ranking officers to fault the "don't ask, don't tell" policy on homosexuals in the armed forces.
Kerr, 72, said the policy unfairly discriminates against thousands of gays and lesbians in the military and costs the government hundreds of millions to train replacements for those who are booted out.
"It requires young men and women to deny who they are -- to conceal a part of their life," said Kerr, who retired in 1996 after 43 years in the Army and the Reserves, specializing in civil affairs and intelligence.
Military leaders including Secretary of State Colin Powell, a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs, have insisted that allowing openly gay people into uniform would degrade morale and combat efficiency.
Kerr, a native Californian who grew up in Oakdale and Lodi, is now an advocate and activist, one of 15 honorary board members of Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, a Washington-based nonprofit group working to repeal the military's gay ban and protect gay military personnel from harassment.
Kerr and the other two retired commanders -- Army Brig. Gen. Virgil A. Richard and Coast Guard Rear Adm. Alan M. Steinman -- timed their coming out to coincide with the 10-year anniversary of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy signed into law by President Bill Clinton on Nov. 30, 1993.
The Pentagon since has discharged nearly 10,000 service members for being gay or lesbian and spent $300 million to train replacements, said Kerr and Steve Ralls, spokesman for the advocacy group.
The Pentagon press office did not return a call Wednesday seeking confirmation of the number of discharges.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has said the Bush administration will not review the policy, and the Pentagon said Tuesday it will treat service members "with dignity and respect" and continue to expel those who violate the policy.
Critics say the policy -- a compromise by Clinton, who had promised to lift the ban on gays in the military -- has failed to allow troops to continue serving in silence, free of harassment and fear.
"I've seen careers destroyed. I've seen families humiliated," said Kerr, who lives with a golden retriever named Charity. Kerr's longtime partner died three years ago.
Jim Spahr of Petaluma, a gay rights advocate and former Navy officer, hailed the commanders for coming out. "It always helps'" to show the public that "gays are everywhere," he said.
There are no firm numbers, but Spahr and Kerr said they estimate up to 10 percent of the military's 1.2 million members are gay, the same percentage sometimes applied to the general public....
Kerr, a former dean and faculty member at San Francisco City College, said he accepted his sexual orientation in his mid-30s and kept it secret until recently.
It's hard to go to work every day and not talk about your family and friends and the significant other in your life," he said.
Because he never married or had a family, Kerr said military colleagues and relatives had guessed his sexuality years ago.
Despite the personal strain, Kerr said he remained committed to a military career. I'm a much better person for my military service," he said....
Kerr said he'll participate in another round of lobbying on Capitol Hill in May.
You can reach Staff Writer Guy Kovner at 521-5457 or gkovner@pressdemocrat.com.
CNN = deception is thy name,
Clinton is your game.
I don't think it helps at all. I doubt I would want to bunk with one. I am tired of the gay agenda & I think its better to not publicly be gay if you are in the military but thats just IMO.
Kerr and the other two retired commanders -- Army Brig. Gen. Virgil A. Richard and Coast Guard Rear Adm. Alan M. Steinman -- timed their coming out to coincide with the 10-year anniversary of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy signed into law by President Bill Clinton on Nov. 30, 1993.
My thanks to all of these men who served our country.
I just can't help laughing about the term Rear Adm now. I am always going to laugh when I hear it most likely but then I have an odd sense of humor.
BS! These are long discredited statistics. The last I read, two to four percent is the generally accepted statistic.
At least he never got syphilis. It’s a disease of the privates.
He’s on Hillary’s homosexual advisory committee. Anything more you need to know?
Correct. IIRC, the two to four percent is the CDC number for the general population.
In addition, the all-volunteer military, by and large draws from the conservative part of the population, since military service to the country is still considered an esteemed act among that subgroup. So the percentage of homosexuals in the ranks is probably lower than in the general population.
Prosecute all three of these clowns for fraudulent service.
I’m so glad he’s happy and gay. Everyone needs to be.
On what grounds? I'm betting were talking over 90 years combined service to their country. While they were on active duty you didn't ask and they didn't tell. Now that they're retired the reg doesn't apply to them.
He started out as a tail gunner.
“Prosecute all three of these clowns for fraudulent
service.”
I’m sure all three had security clearances, and had to be investigated for said clearance. If they were homos, and were having homo relationships, then they must have lied in the investigations, which are done under oath. Hence, federal perjury charges at the least.
See post #15.
If they didn't misbehave, weren't asked and didn't tell, they had to have served honorably to reach the ranks in question. Kerr may not have even lied in his initial interview as an officer candidate (back when they DID ask; the medical/mental checklist included "homosexual tendencies") as he only admitted it to himself in his mid 30's.
Thanks for your service, fellows, but I still wouldn't want you for a shipmate.
<
Barney Frank....................................................................................Keith Herr.
Seperated at....
Morning Hours BUMP
lmao yes! I will never hear that now without laughing. I wouldn’t want to be a Rear Adm...I would have tried to get that changed but hey maybe he liked being known as the Rear Adm. Least those who knew he was gay got a laugh.
“...then they must have lied in the investigations, which are done under oath. Hence, federal perjury charges at the least.”
My guess would be that the statute of limitations has long since past.
Anyway, don’t ask, don’t tell means what it says.
These guys served honorably, their apparent perversions notwithstanding.
If you want to see an amazing video about the Clinton deception go to www.hillcap.org and buy “Hillary Uncensored”. You could probably pick up bits on YouTube. Doug Cogan (a fellow FReeper) helped with this documentary. It is imperative that the info get out.
He drew up a battle plan to invade Uranus.
Freepers.
Be sure to send emails to all your friends to alert them to the latest Hillary/CNN scandal.
I just copied Michelle Malkins latest posting to an email and sent it to 75 of my friends.
Please use the emails to get this news spread far and wide.
Rear Admiral, Brigadier General. They were all career and all passed over for promotion. They are sour grapes who probably were not fags in the service. Let them prove that.
Now they want to get back at those conservatives who passed them over for promotion.
yitbos
I honor his service even as his political activism for Gays in the military dishonors it.
No, it does not. It only requires one simple answer. Which do you love more: sex acts with a person of the same sex or your country?
Every single person who enters the military has to make tough choices and hard sacrifices. God Bless those who do.
jw
Q: How do Democrats separate the men from the boys?
A: With a crowbar!
LOL! I never heard that one! (just kidding)
That’s right, he’s happy, but I doubt he’s gay. These homosexuals have taken a berautiful word and turned it into a perverted way of life. Why don’t they call themselves HOMOSEXUALS???????? Is that a “dirty” word, for what they do to one another?
That clarifies things a bit; it would be a lot easier for a weekend warrior to hide his mental illness than an active duty officer.
I'm not sure what the "California National Reserves" is. In other reading, it says that he was a member of the "California State Military Reserve." That rank is meaningless. In addition, it would be very easy to hide his orientation in the CSMA, which drops a lot of normal Guard or Reserve requirements (PT, for example).
This reminds me of a guy I worked with in the USAF Reserves at March AFB. He was an Technical Sergeant (E-6) in the Reserves and a 1st Lt in the Civil Air Patrol. We have a Dinning Out (formal dinner) for the Reserve unit and he showed up in his Mess Dress with his CAP 1st Lt rank. Legal, but bad form. Nobody was saluting him or calling him "sir."
I hadn't heard of the CSMR until this store broke. I know that their uniforms have some distinctive indicators (like CAP uniforms)that separate them from the Active, Guard and Reserve soldiers.
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