Criminology

Gay police officers and soldiers face isolation

Pierre, who has been in the Canadian Armed Forces for 15 years, has had to deal with marginalization ever since the soldiers in his battalion learned of his homosexuality. “There’s a vacuum around me and I’m isolated,” the 47-year-old explained to criminologist Michèle Fournier who recently submitted her doctoral thesis at the Université de Montréal. 

When Pierre is on a mission, rolling out his sleeping bag is always a telling moment. “If I set myself up at one end of the tent, I notice that the guys all move to the other end.” In the showers, the reaction is even more pronounced: no one wants to end up showering beside a ‘faggot,’ or a ‘queer.’ Carl, who is from Quebec City and has been in the army for three years, is determined to keep his sexual orientation secret. “Some pretty nasty jokes about homosexuals are bandied about in the army. If people knew I was gay, I’d hear a lot more of them. The guys would try to taunt me, that’s for sure,” he says.

In the first thesis written in Quebec on homosexuality in the army and the police, Ms Fournier interviewed 10 gay soldiers and 11 gay police officers, as well as two heterosexual officers from both institutions. The 433-page thesis explores a number of problems related to sexual identity but ends on a positive note. “Today it’s possible for homosexuals to pursue a career in the army or the police, something that would have been unthinkable a few years ago. While it’s not always easy, particularly for soldiers, and there is still room for improvement, both in terms of the institutions and their members, the army and police have made significant strides in terms of tolerance and acceptance of difference.”

For instance, Pierre states that he is able to live as a gay man in the army without being ostracized. Like Pierre, a growing number of soldiers are coming out of the closet despite the risks they face. “It doesn’t make any difference to me as long as the guy or gal can do the job, regardless of whether they’re gay or lesbian. We’re no longer in the ‘50s, and the army has to change with the times,” states a (heterosexual) career soldier who sees a shift in morals as noted by the criminologist. 

Until 1988, homosexuality was grounds for discharge from the Canadian army. That year, homosexuals in the ranks were officially “tolerated” but were denied promotion. In 1992, this practice was declared incompatible with Quebec’s human rights charter and prohibited.

However, in several countries, including the United States, this situation still prevails. During his mandate, President Bill Clinton pursued a policy of “Don’t tell, don’t ask.” In other words: don’t tell us you’re gay and we won’t ask any questions. However, if a soldier is discovered to be gay, he is discharged. Gay organizations, that denounce the discrimination against homosexuals in the U.S. army, have a martyr in the person of Leonard P. Maklovitch who received military honours for his service in Vietnam but was then banned when, in 1975, his coming out was featured on the cover of Time magazine. While the appeal court ordered his reinstatement, the army offered him a substantial sum of money to stay away.  When Leonard Maklovitch died, his tombstone read: “When I was in the military, they gave me a medal for killing two men, and a discharge for loving one.”