The Prime Time Closet: A History of Gays and Lesbians on TV (17 page)

In 1993, the Clinton administration issued a new policy regarding gays, lesbians, and bisexuals serving in the United States military. The current version of the policy, now known as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Don’t Pursue, Don’t Harass,” prohibits military commanders from 1) questioning service members about their sexual orientation; 2) pursuing an inquiry into someone’s sexual orientation, except if they already have credible information; and 3) harassing or tolerating the harassment or violence against any service member for any reason. Harassment includes verbal and physical assault, anti-gay graffiti, comments, and slurs.

The “Don’t Tell” portion of the policy prohibits gay, lesbian, and bisexual service members from engaging in “homosexual conduct,” a broad term which includes 1) stating “I am gay;” 2) engaging in a “homosexual act,” which, in addition to sexual relations, includes touching for the purpose of sexual gratification, kissing, hugging, and holding hands with someone of the same gender; and 3) marrying, whether it is legal or not, a member of the same sex.
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While the policy was supposedly designed to
protect
the rights of homosexuals in the military, it has had adverse effects. After its implementation, the number of homosexuals discharged rose at the alarming rate of 92 percent over a five-year period. In 1998, a record 1,145 people were dismissed, 414 from the Air Force alone (271 of whom were stationed at the Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas). C. Dixon Osburn, co-director of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, characterizes the Pentagon’s assertion that the rise in discharges is due to the increase in the number of homosexuals voluntarily coming out as “disingenuous.”
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What the Pentagon considers so-called “voluntary statements” have included conversations with psychotherapists, personal diary entries, answers to illegally asked questions, and admissions made through intimidation, coercion, and violence.
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Clinton’s policy, which he himself admitted in 1999 is “out of whack,” failed to protect homosexuals and men and women perceived as homosexual from being the targets of verbal harassment and physical assault. Consequently, in December of 1999, Secretary of Defense William Cohen ordered an investigation into how much “harassment of Service members based on perceived or alleged homosexuality” and “disparaging speech or expression with respect to sexual orientation” occurs and is tolerated.
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The renewed interested in Clinton’s flawed policy was sparked by the brutal murder of Private First Class Barry Winchell at Fort Campbell, Kentucky in July of 1999. While Winchell was asleep in his barracks, his head was bashed in with a baseball bat by a fellow soldier, Private Calvin Glover. Trial testimony revealed Winchell had been harassed prior to the incident because he was labeled gay, but no action was taken to protect him. Glover was sentenced to life in prison and a second soldier, Spec. Justin R. Fisher, was sentenced to twelve and a half years as an accessory.

In conducting their investigation, the Defense Department distributed 70,000 surveys to servicemen. The results indicate a high percentage of respondents have heard offensive speech (80 percent); believed such comments were tolerated (85 percent); and witnessed or experienced such behavior they would consider harassment based on perceived homosexuality (78 percent).
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As long as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is in effect, the military will no doubt continue to be, as it has been for centuries, a breeding ground for homophobia. Even if homosexuals were allowed to openly serve, a patriarchal institution such as the military, which subscribes to and promotes certain ideals of masculinity regarded as antithetical to homosexuality, would certainly not change overnight.

Consequently, the military is the ideal setting for addressing the subject of homophobia and exposing the contradictions of the “Don’t Ask” policy. Ironically, law and order dramas continually sidestep the issue of anti-gay violence by suggesting gay bashing occurs in the civilian world, but not on military compounds. While the assailants are typically servicemen, their victims are usually civilians. Another strategy is to set the story in a military school or college. The military’s policies are thereby indirectly critiqued by exposing the homophobia that underlies the school’s teachings about honor and manhood.

A prime example is an episode of
21 Jump Street
, in which Officers Tom Hanson (Johnny Depp) and Doug Penhall (Peter DeLuise) are forced to go undercover as cadets (“Honor Bound”). Hanson befriends three cadets who enjoy taking a ride into town for a little queer bashing. The cadets justify their late night “search and destroy” missions as part of their military training.

The meaning of the word “honor” is called into question when the cadets’ company commander, Sgt. Major Jackson (Manfred Melcher), covers for his fellow cadets when they sneak out. Even when Penhall reveals he’s a cop, Jackson still refuses to cooperate with the investigation because turning in a fellow cadet is a violation of the “unwritten” code of honor.

One of the cadets, Richard (Dean Hamilton), participates in the “search and destroy” missions for personal reasons. He’s ashamed of his gay older brother and worries he’ll turn out to be gay too. But when Richard realizes one of their victims was his brother’s friend (and could easily have been his brother), he finally understands the consequences of his actions. In the end, he and the other cadets do the right thing and turn themselves in.

A military school is also the setting for a controversial episode of
Quantum Leap.
In “Running for Honor — June 11, 1964,” Sam (Scott Bakula) leaps into the body of Tommy York, a cadet commander in a naval prep school. Tommy is class valedictorian and star of the school’s track team, which is preparing for an upcoming meet with a rival school. Sam (as Tommy) also discovers his former roommate, Phillip Ashcroft (Sean O’Bryan), was recently thrown out of school for being gay. Phillip wants Sam/Tommy to help him expose The C.H.A.I.N (Cadets Honoring an Ideal Navy), a gang of five anti-gay cadets who, as Sam and his “observer,” Al Calavicci (Dean Stockwell), know, will be responsible for Phillip’s death by hanging in two days’ time. But what Sam and Al don’t know is that Phillip is actually planning to commit suicide and blame his death on The C.H.A.I.N. Meanwhile, Sam is also confused about Tommy’s sexual orientation. The issue becomes irrelevant because as soon as Tommy comes to Phillip’s defense, he is labeled gay by The C.H.A.I.N.’s leader, Ronnie Chambers (Anthony Palermo).

The controversy surrounding this episode began when
Variety
reported that NBC wanted Universal Studios, the series’s producer, to bear financial responsibility if advertisers pulled out. NBC spokeswoman Sue Binford said that although there had been discussion about “potential advertiser concerns,” the network never asked Universal to pay for advertiser fallout.
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Richard Jennings, executive director of GLAAD, then erroneously revealed alleged changes made to the script, including the addition of a positive gay character and the implication that the character Sam leaps into is gay. The series’s executive producer, Donald P. Bellisario, responding in a
Los Angeles Times
editorial, claimed
Variety
and GLAAD’s allegations were false. According to Bellisario, the controversy broke out during the third day of shooting and the only changes made in the final shooting script involved raising the characters’ ages because the network didn’t want to depict a teenager contemplating suicide.
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In October 1991 (four months before the episode aired), a GLAAD press release reported Jennings’s reaction to the script:

What the media release does not mention is the episode is set in the year
1964,
not 1991. This is central to understanding the episode’s message that the same homophobic reasoning used for decades to keep homosexuals out of the military still exists. Both Al, a former military man himself, and Admiral Spencer (John Finn), the head of the academy, think homosexuals are a security risk who lack the military’s required leadership qualities. Sam disagrees and tries to convince both Al and the Admiral that an individual’s sexual preference has nothing to do with his/her ability to lead.

According to GLAAD, “offensive, stereotype-based ‘jokes’” between Sam and Al are “never responded to or balanced by accurate information.” Actually, they’re being made for the very purpose of demonstrating they’re offensive. Sam isn’t sure whether the cadet he has leapt into is gay (he’s a virgin, shy with his girlfriend, etc.), yet Al starts to make homophobic comments about how Sam crosses his legs when he sits, stands with his hands on his hips, and drinks tea instead of coffee. Each time Al makes an offensive remark and begins explaining why homosexuals should not be allowed in the military, Sam vehemently challenges his opinions. And while the school, of course, doesn’t change its policy, Al does change his views after witnessing Phillip’s suicide attempt.

Luckily, Sam rides to the rescue with the school’s track coach, Coach Martz (John Roselius), who talks Phillip out of hanging himself by admitting he’s gay and knows all about “the guilt, the shame, and fear.” He assures Phillip he “has nothing to be ashamed of.” The scene, in which a closeted gay military man reaches out to a desperate young gay man, is highly emotional and very effective. Jennings suggests the “graphic portrayal of a suicide” (perhaps Phillip does kill himself in another version?) could spark copycat suicides. But Phillip doesn’t commit suicide because he has received support from another gay man, who delivers the most important message of all —
you
’
re not alone.

Homophobia is also central to an episode of the legal drama, J.A.G. (an acronym for the Judge Advocate General Corps of the United States Navy). In “The People vs. Gunny,” Gunnery Sgt. Victor “Gunny” Galindez (Randy Vasquez), who serves in the J.A.G. Corps, is charged with assault when he becomes involved in an altercation outside a gay bar. Galindez’s friend, Master Sgt. Manny O’Bregon (Jesse Corti), starts making disparaging remarks to a gay man, Edward Proxy (Jamison Jones), when the civilian accidentally bumps into him. The three men exchange words and begin to brawl. Petty Officer Tiner (Chuck Carrington), who also works for J.A.G., walks out of a nearby gay bar and starts defending Proxy. As Tiner is about to throw a second punch, he realizes he’s about to hit Gunny, his work supervisor.

Gunny is tried for assaulting a civilian, yet refuses to give up Manny’s name because his friend is close to being released from the military. According to Gunny’s testimony, he wasn’t gay-bashing Proxy, but coming to his friend’s defense. Tiner only saw the very end of the scuffle, so in his mind Gunny and Manny were beating up Proxy. The incident makes for a complicated case because it all comes down to what actually happened (which the viewer sees in its entirety) versus what each individual believed happened. Furthermore, as Tiner admits on the stand, he knows Gunny isn’t the type who’d bash gays.