Last week, I visited our Nation’s Capitol. I’d always imagined seeing DC for the first time with my partner. But she couldn’t go and I felt I couldn’t miss SLDN’s Freedom to Serve Rally or the opportunity to visit my home state Senators-- not now,because NOW is the time to get involved if we really want to end “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
So I flew to DC from Kansas City alone. Looking back on it, there was one event that summed up my whole experience – the Freedom to Serve Rally. Grethe Cammermeyer said, “If I am uncomfortable, it is where I need to be.” Her words rang true with me: I need to be talking to those who may not agree with me or who may not understand why DADT needs to be repealed – these are the people we need to focus on, not just those who already agree. I realized how true that is the day before when I met with Senator Claire McCaskill and a legislative aide for Senator Kit Bond.
Although the meeting with Senator McCaskill was needed – her support for legislation to repeal DADT seems tentative, though I think she truly believes it’s the right thing to do – the meeting with Senator Bond’s staffer was unexpectedly encouraging. He was in the Army (as I was) and served two tours in Iraq in the infantry. He said that when you’re under fire, you don’t care about whether the person next to you is gay. All you care about is whether that person is doing his or her job. I hope he shares that with Senator Bond and I hope next time, I can tell the Senator himself about my own experience in Desert Storm. Even though it might be a little uncomfortable talking to people who you assume will not agree with you or who you think already know about the detriments of DADT, as Col. Cammermeyer said, that's exactly where we need to be.
