During
his
43-year
career
in
the
United
States
Army,
Brig.
Gen.
Keith
H.
Kerr
said
he
worried
regularly
that
someone
would
discover
his
sexual
orientation.
He
was
aware
of
the
“brutal
interrogations”
suspected
gays
received
from
commanding
officers.
In
one
instance,
he
said
an
investigator
threatened
to
throw
a
soldier
down
a
flight
of
stairs
if
he
did
not
admit
to
being
gay.
“I
knew
I
just
had
to
be
very
cautious
about
my
lifestyle
and
who
I
share
my
social
life
with,”
said
Kerr,
now
70,
who
served
tours
of
duty
in
Japan
and
Germany
before
retiring
from
the
California
State
Military
Reserves
in
1995.
“I
was
never
harassed
or
accused
of
being
gay
but
officers
would
often
find
some
young,
vulnerable
soldier
and
force
them
to
hand
over
their
address
book
and
want
to
know
all
of
the
names
of
the
gay
people
they
knew.
And
that
practice
allowed
the
investigator
the
opportunity
to
implicate
a
number
of
people
in
the
command.”
Kerr,
who
lives
in
Santa
Rosa,
Calif.,
said
there
was
no
uniform
policy
to
expel
gays
from
the
Army.
He
said
that
during
his
time
in
Japan,
commanding
officers
installed
hidden
cameras
in
buildings
across
the
street
from
gay
bars
to
try
to
record
who
frequented
the
establishments.
Concealing
his
sexual
orientation
for
43
years
requited
an
overwhelming
effort
that
took
a
significant
psychological
toll,
said
Kerr.
“I
was
paranoid,
constantly
looking
to
see
if
anyone
was
following
me,”
Kerr
said.
“For
years
I
had
a
recurring
dream
about
an
investigator
who
was
always
on
my
trail.
We
would
each
exchange
threats.
I
would
taunt
him.
He
would
taunt
me.
A
nightmare.”
This
year
marks
the
10th
anniversary
of
“Don’t
Ask,
Don’t
Tell,”
the
compromise
policy
adopted
by
then-President
Bill
Clinton
and
Congress
to
allow
gays
to
serve
in
the
military
as
long
as
they
keep
their
sexual
orientation
hidden.
Since
the
policy’s
implementation,
nearly
10,000
men
and
women
have
been
discharged
from
the
military
under
DADT,
according
to
the
Servicemembers
Legal
Defense
Network,
an
advocacy
group
for
gays
and
lesbians
in
the
military.
In
an
effort
to
bring
greater
attention
to
the
impact
of
DADT,
Kerr
and
another
retired
general
as
well
as
a
retired
admiral,
came
out
in
a
New
York
Times
article
last
week.
Kerr,
along
with
Brig.
Gen.
Virgil
A.
Richard
and
Rear
Adm.
Alan
M.
Steinman
of
the
Coast
Guard
are
the
most
senior
uniformed
officers
to
openly
critique
DADT
and
call
for
its
repeal.
“Our
current
policy
hinders
young
men
from
entering
the
service,”
said
Richard,
who
served
32
years
in
the
Army
and
was
assigned
to
the
military
assistance
command
headquarters
in
Vietnam.
“We
must
convince
Congress
that
a
change
in
the
policy
is
in
the
nation’s
best
interest
for
national
defense.
Even
though
we
don’t
have
a
recruitment
problem,
we
will
have
one
in
the
future.”
Fifteen
senior
retired
military
leaders,
including
Kerr,
Richard
and
Steinman,
issued
a
joint
statement
calling
for
repeal
of
the
military’s
“Don’t
Ask,
Don’t
Tell”
ban
on
openly
gay
and
lesbian
service
members.
“There
is
one
inescapable
conclusion
—
“Don’t
Ask,
Don’t
Tell”
does
not
work
and
should
be
repealed,”
they
said
in
a
statement
to
SLDN.
“Today,
no
credible
evidence
exists
to
support
a
continued
ban.
Indeed,
all
studies,
including
those
commissioned
by
the
Pentagon,
have
come
to
that
conclusion.”
Department
of
Defense
officials
would
not
comment
on
the
senior
military
officers’
announcement
but
issued
a
statement
saying
that
the
policy
is
“based
in
law”
and
that
“Congress
has
stated
that
homosexual
conduct
poses
risks
to
unit
cohesion
and
readiness.”
The
statement
added,
“The
Department
continues
to
work
tirelessly
to
administer
that
law
in
a
manner
that
is
both
fair
and
consistent.”
 |
| ‘I
simply
stayed
in
the
closet
where
I
had
been
my
whole
life,’
retired
Adm.
Alan
M.
Steinman
said
of
his
25
years
in
the
U.S.
Coast
Guard.
|
Like
Kerr,
Richard
said
that
not
being
able
to
publicly
acknowledge
his
sexual
orientation
in
the
military
took
a
psychological
toll
on
him.
“I
had
so
much
at
stake
with
a
20-year
career
in
the
military
that
I
couldn’t
turn
my
back
on
it,”
said
Richard,
who
retired
immediately
after
the
first
Gulf
War
in
1991.
“I
wanted
to
get
my
retirement
and
health
care,
and
I
wasn’t
going
to
jeopardize
that.
So
I
suffered
mentally
because
I
couldn’t
be
who
I
was
and
I
couldn’t
satisfy
some
of
my
desires.
It
was
hard.
I
couldn’t
sleep
at
night
sometimes.
I
was
frustrated
and
worried
about
it.
It
all
took
its
toll,”
he
said.
Richard,
who
lives
in
Austin,
Texas,
said
he
came
out
to
some
friends
in
1998
but
never
to
his
military
friends,
until
now.
Richard
said
that
his
old
Army
colleagues
likely
heard
he
is
gay
after
the
New
York
Times
article.
“There
are
probably
people
who
would
be
very
upset
by
my
doing
this,
but
it
doesn’t
mean
I’m
any
different
than
before,”
...
