For haruka3_2000, who is appearing in court tomorrow [View All]

[swag]

following her April 25 arrest for protesting "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" at West Point.

Many thanks to haruka for standing up to this retrograde and bigoted policy which damages our national security at every turn.

Here's a Portland wave to you from Pride Parade Grand Marshal, Colonel Grethe Cammermeyer:



Col. Cammermeyer, a bronze star winner, made history in 1991 when she challenged the US military due to her expulsion because she was a lesbian. Her story, Serving in Silence, was one of the first television movies to center around a gay character.

As a military nurse and immigrant from Norway, Grethe has faced many challenges in her life. She joined the United States Army to serve the country that she loved so dearly, the country that turned her away once it found out that she was a dyke.

During a routine interview for a top-secret military clearance on April 28, 1989, Cammermeyer was asked a question about homosexuality. As a Vietnam veteran, recipient of the Bronze Star and V.A. Nurse of the Year, Cammermeyer believed that her unblemished career could save her.

Describing the experience in her book, "Serving In Silence," she stated, "Curiously, I don't remember the exact wording, though the question would change my life. I really had no idea that day in 1989 what the consequences of my honesty could possibly be." Feeling as if she had no control over the situation, she did the only thing she thought she could. She told the truth.

According to Cammermeyer, she believed that the Constitution that she had sworn to defend as a soldier and a nurse would protect her in return, because she had served it for 23 years with all the heart and dedication she had in her.