Entering the Coast Guard Academy in 2004, I knew major challenges lay ahead—demanding academics, intercollegiate sports, military requirements, and, most of all, a pesky attraction to the same gender. With a shaved head, fitted uniforms, and basic responses—Yes, Ma’am, and No, Sir— I embarked on my journey behind a cloak of invisibility. After watching a classmate be outed as gay and kicked out of the Academy, I became even more committed to hiding my sexual identity. But slowly that has changed.
I want to be counted.
Coast Guard personnel files contain demographic information such as race, ethnicity, gender, and age for every service member. It is time to include sexual orientation as an optional category.
After Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell was repealed in 2011, the armed services were directed to allow lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people to serve openly in their ranks. But the Coast Guard can do so much more to create an inclusive environment for LGBT service members.
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1. Jeffrey M. Jones, “LGBT Identification in U.S. Ticks Up to 7.1%,” Gallup.com, 17 February 2022.
2. Deborah L. DeHaas, Brent Bachus, and Eliza Horn, “Unleashing the Power of Inclusion: Attracting and Engaging the Evolving Workforce,” Deloitte, 2017.
3. “Mississippi’s Equality Profile,” Movement Advancement Project.
4. Human Rights Watch, “‘All We Want is Equality’: Religious Exemptions and Discrimination against LGBT People in the United States,” HRW.org, 19 February 2018.
