An Interview with Mary Ann Humphrey-Keever
Gays in the Military Expert
by Kathy Belge
Mary Ann Humphrey-Keever was a soldier. She served in the United States Army Reserves for nine years with a perfect record. Then one day, she was called in by her commanders and told she was accused of homosexuality. Her whole life changed from that moment. After a two-year investigation, Mary Ann was discharged from the Army in 1987, seven years before the Military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Policy.”
And even though it has been 10 years since the military’s compromise of allowing gay and lesbians to serve in the military only if they do not act on it or tell anyone, thousands of people are discharged every year for homosexuality.
Since 1994, when Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell was instituted, 10,000 military personnel have been discharged for being gay. These include highly specialized soldiers including linguists and nuclear warfare experts.
I had the opportunity to sit down with Mary Ann Humphrey Keever, author of My Country, My Right to Serve about the situation for gays and lesbians in the military today and how the current police affects the strength of our nation.
Humphrey-Keever’s Military Background:
Mary Ann Humphrey-Keever entered the military right out of high school, but only lasted five months. She always regretted that she had to leave and after she completed her first masters degree, she joined the Army Reserves at age 26. “I started to pursue a direct commission in the Reserves as Captain. I went directly in as an officer. I was in the Adjunctant General Corps. They take care of the paperwork, the death benefits, all that stuff,” she says.
When she went in, she could have stayed until she retired. She would have gotten retirement benefits. She would get about a quarter of what a full time vet would get.
Discharged for being gay
KB: What happened with your discharge.
MHK: I was outed. A colleague turned me in. Something happened at school (where they both taught) and he blamed me for what happened. So for revenge he turned me in. He knew for seven years prior that I was gay. He did it specifically as revenge, in my opinion. He went six or seven times just to be sure. It took them two years after he turned me in and they came to me and said we need to talk to you. And at that point I would have had an Administrative Board, which is kind of like a trail. I was not allowed to say anything and they had all this evidence against me. So I was forced to resign. My position at the time of discharge was Equal Opportunity Affirmative Action Officer. I denied the charges and then it took them two years to get enough evidence against me. In the meantime I was promoted to Major. But I never got to pin the medal on myself, because they don’t allow any positive action while you’re being investigated.
