Mara Boyd, a University of Colorado alumna who was discharged from the Air Force ROTC program at the school after revealing she was a lesbian, was one of the protesters arrested outside the White House earlier this month.
The protest of the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy was Boyd’s first experience with civil disobedience and the first time she has been arrested, but she doesn’t think it will be her last.
“Don’t ask, don’t tell,” allows gay men and women to serve in the military if they do not reveal sexual orientation or engage in homosexual conduct.
“We’ve been talking about ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ for the last 17 years,” Boyd said. “It’s time for some direct action, for some pressure.”
President Barack Obama has promised to overturn the policy, but the law remains in place, and some activists have become frustrated at the slow pace of change.
“He has the opportunity,” Boyd said. “The time is now.”
Boyd said her own story shows why “don’t ask, don’t tell” represents an injustice for gay military personnel.
Boyd came to the University of Colorado in 1999 on a three-year scholarship from the Air Force ROTC.
The summer after her sophomore year, after graduating with distinction from ROTC’s version of basic training, she realized she was a lesbian.
After a year of referring to her girlfriend, Nicole, as “Nick” and dodging the matchmaking efforts of fellow cadets, she came out to her commander and was discharged in fall 2002.
She lost an appeal against the discharge in the summer of 2003 and was told she would have to pay back $30,990 to the ROTC, though her debt later was paid by various supporters.
“Serving without telling seems simple, but really you have to actively deceive,” she said. “You have to lie to answer a simple question like ‘What did you do this weekend?’ For soldiers, maintaining that deception can be really distracting from the mission.”
She was arrested for “failure to obey a lawful command” to leave the area in front of the White House and spent 30 hours in jail.
