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Secret Service: Untold Stories of Lesbians in the Military
Although 79 percent of Americans support allowing gay and lesbian troops to serve openly, the military continues to hunt down and discharge qualified service members. This series of profiles of lesbian service members shows the flaws in the assertion that allowing gay and lesbian service members to serve openly and with honor will cause a breakdown of morale and unit cohesion. Zsa Zsa Gershick served as a reservist in the US Army from 1978 to 1982. She is the author of Gay Old Girls , as well as a series of articles for The Texas Observer and The Texas Triangle profiling high-achieving service members discharged for being gay. She lives in Los Angeles.
- GenresLGBTMilitary Fiction
272 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
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December 12, 2024
Reading this book, published in 2005, immediately after reading Lesbians Speak Out (1993), was an interesting juxtaposition.
In Lesbians, written at the cusp of the implementation of DADT but before the contents of the policy were really known, there was a hopefulness that Clinton would make good on his promise and remove the ban excluding gays and lesbians from military service (Lesbians, and this book, are tragically biphobic...and don't even get me started on the exclusion of trans women). In Secret Service, however, the women profiled have the knowledge of 2005 and the bleak acceptance that while DADT needs to be repealed, it's not going anywhere anytime soon.
Anyhow, the women profiled cover a time period from Korea to 2005. There are a range of experiences, and the ones I found most interesting were the people who served during DADT.
The general consensus is that it's the men who are the issue, not the women serving. The sexual harassment endured by each woman is nothing short of jaw-dropping. It has gotten better, by the way. Not rainbows and sunshine better, but it is better.
What's talked about too, is the way DADT allowed for an openly hostile environment against gay people. Homophobic asshats were emboldened to act like dicks and be aggressively homophobic, and many gay people (and straights who thought it was wrong) were scared to speak up because of what they had to lose (for for the straights, to be perceived as gay and kicked out/discriminated against).
While the military didn't allow for the outright questioning of gay people, there were workarounds, brought out by the open hostility and sanctioned hazing implicitly permitted by commanders who wanted troublemakers and those they didn't think fit with the military image gone from the command. And women...women didn't fit a military image.
Anywho, it's a good read, with a nice set of profiles on a variety of women, mainly Army.
I liked that Gershick kept the complete transcript, with a little summary of each woman's service beforehand, and that her own questions were included. It added depth and some bleak humor to many of the interviews.
In Lesbians, written at the cusp of the implementation of DADT but before the contents of the policy were really known, there was a hopefulness that Clinton would make good on his promise and remove the ban excluding gays and lesbians from military service (Lesbians, and this book, are tragically biphobic...and don't even get me started on the exclusion of trans women). In Secret Service, however, the women profiled have the knowledge of 2005 and the bleak acceptance that while DADT needs to be repealed, it's not going anywhere anytime soon.
Anyhow, the women profiled cover a time period from Korea to 2005. There are a range of experiences, and the ones I found most interesting were the people who served during DADT.
The general consensus is that it's the men who are the issue, not the women serving. The sexual harassment endured by each woman is nothing short of jaw-dropping. It has gotten better, by the way. Not rainbows and sunshine better, but it is better.
What's talked about too, is the way DADT allowed for an openly hostile environment against gay people. Homophobic asshats were emboldened to act like dicks and be aggressively homophobic, and many gay people (and straights who thought it was wrong) were scared to speak up because of what they had to lose (for for the straights, to be perceived as gay and kicked out/discriminated against).
While the military didn't allow for the outright questioning of gay people, there were workarounds, brought out by the open hostility and sanctioned hazing implicitly permitted by commanders who wanted troublemakers and those they didn't think fit with the military image gone from the command. And women...women didn't fit a military image.
Anywho, it's a good read, with a nice set of profiles on a variety of women, mainly Army.
I liked that Gershick kept the complete transcript, with a little summary of each woman's service beforehand, and that her own questions were included. It added depth and some bleak humor to many of the interviews.
April 4, 2014
Imagine a life where you have to lie about who you are just to do something you believe in. That is the situation for thousands of gay men and women currently serving in the US military.
This book consists of interviews with women interspersed with short anecdotes in the words of the women themselves. It covers a timespan from the 1950's through women on active duty. It explores the bias and discrimination these women faced and how honesty cost some of them their military career. At the same time, some women managed to fly below the homophobic radar and serve.
The book, written by a woman who served in the military, aims to show how damaging the ban against gays serving openly is and how much that ban is based in fear, inertia and a general bias in the military against women in general and lesbians in particular.
The book is easy, quick reading and I think it should be required reading for any woman, gay or straight, that is considering the military.
Pick up a copy or borrow mine, read it, and let your congress critters know that "don't ask, don't tell" is long overdue to be repealed.
This book consists of interviews with women interspersed with short anecdotes in the words of the women themselves. It covers a timespan from the 1950's through women on active duty. It explores the bias and discrimination these women faced and how honesty cost some of them their military career. At the same time, some women managed to fly below the homophobic radar and serve.
The book, written by a woman who served in the military, aims to show how damaging the ban against gays serving openly is and how much that ban is based in fear, inertia and a general bias in the military against women in general and lesbians in particular.
The book is easy, quick reading and I think it should be required reading for any woman, gay or straight, that is considering the military.
Pick up a copy or borrow mine, read it, and let your congress critters know that "don't ask, don't tell" is long overdue to be repealed.
June 8, 2016
This book accomplishes its purpose. Through interviews it tells the stories of a number of lesbians who have served in the US military up through 2005. There's a lot of common themes to be found in their stories - double discrimination faced by lesbian women, the emphasis on masculinity, discretion of COs, etc.
Another trend was bierasure. Sigh.
Another trend was bierasure. Sigh.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews