QUEERTY YEAR IN REVIEW — Months after admitting to superiors that he was gay and showing them videotape of him making out with his boyfriend, Sergeant Darren Manzella found himself still in the Army.
Although ultimately Manzella, like so many others, ended up booted from the military branch, that it took the brass so long to can him shows that enthusiasm for the Pentagon’s long-standing “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy is waning.
Looking to raise awareness, Manzella went on 60 Minutes last year.
Queerty wrote about the surprising quiet from the Pentagon following the interview.
“Soldier Darren Manzella broke new ground by coming out on 60 Minutes. While one would expect some repercussions for such a public rejection of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Manzella says he’s been greeted by official – and welcome – silence. What’s more: he’s learned he’s not alone:
“I thought I would at least be asked about the segment or approached and told I shouldn’t speak to the media again,” says Manzella, 30, a medic who recently returned from Kuwait and plans to hold a news conference today in Washington to discuss the military’s silence. He says he is among a growing number of servicemembers who have told other troops and even commanders they are gay and have not been discharged.”
But by June, Manzella found himself discharged:
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“Despite the hubbub, Manzella returned to active duty and, at the time, it seemed that the government had no plans of ousting him. Unfortunately that was not the case and Manzella received his walking papers last week.
While the military brass didn’t approve of Manzella’s man-loving, he says his peers didn’t seem to mind. On the contrary – they were “proud!”
“After my appearance on 60 Minutes I received a lot of support from most of my colleagues. Some were surprised that I made such a public statement but told me that they were proud of me for standing up for people who could not speak out. To them, I was still SERGEANT Manzella though. I really didn’t notice a change in how I was treated or viewed.”
Nowadays, Manzella works to educate about the costs DADT has on today’s military. Recently he spoke to a crowd of military officials in Mission Hills, California, saying:
“It’s very costly. I was in the military for six and a half years, and I was trained and trained and trained and trained and then I was pulled out. So now my training, all the money that went toward that, is lost. What do they have to do? They have to train somebody else to take my place. And that’s not just me; that’s the 12,500 men and women who have been discharged.”
TikiHead
Well, as for the cost of training, the military used to bill discharged soldiers for the cost of that training, or at least that’s what Randy Shilts reported in ‘Conduct Unbecoming.’
Wayne
TikiHead, some of those old rules were phased out with the introduction of DADT.
Tallskin
LOL the reason the US military is losing interest in expelling gay soldiers is because there’s a war on, and all able bodied men are needed.
If there was NOT a war on you can be sure that they would be expelling gay soldiers with a rapidity that would make your head spin.
Jaroslaw
It’s been documented long ago (I read it in a Newsweek that I picked up at a rummage sale from the era) that when the Vietnam War was at its peak, they didn’t bother refusing to hire or expel existing Gay soldiers.
I admire Darren Manzella’s courage. That is no easy thing he did, plus going on 60 Minutes – he must get a lot of good and bad mail…..
oneway
I’m now waiting for him to come out as having the unbearable hots for ME!
Lostintellct
I served in the Coast Guard and was “outed” half way through my deployment to South America. But because my job was so “critical” to the mission, they held off the discharge proceedings until we returned to the US (funny enough, my “openly gay” presence did not harm my units preformance or readiness) where I was promptly kicked out. This just goes to show, that DADT is a flawed policy. After I was kicked out, my unit had to wait over a year to get my replacement, we are actually causing damage to readiness by kick gay service members out.
Jaroslaw
Sorry to say, even if #6’s story isn’t true (and I don’t doubt him at all) it sounds so much like government in action. I am a state employee myself and while much we do is good, this kind of pennywise/pound foolish stuff goes on all the time.
But of course, it goes on in private industry too, you just don’t hear about it, because after all, it is private.
The Gay Numbers
Hopefully, all of this discrimination in the military will end soon, and, if he wants it considering the damage done to his life, he can rejoin. If he does not want that, I am hoping he has found happiness elsewhere. It still really bad that he can’t do what he wants with his life os idiotic discrimination.
PS: He’s really hot. Just saying.
John from England(used to be just John but there are other John's)
He is very, very handsome.
But good for him!
Charles J. Mueller
I think we could all safely agree that he is very, very handsome. 😉
Dave
I nominate him for being Out & Proud – not to mention being hot stuff to boot.
Bright Lights
Oh my gosh isn’t this young man’s 15 minutes up yet? I met him at a soiree when I visited Washington this past year with a friend and he was exceedingly drunk off the free liquor and rambling about his trips and who he got to meet and his crazy ex-boyfriends. Sadly, he was also exceedingly drunk off himself and the attention he was getting (when talking points are over, what else do you have to talk about I guess). I was alarmed as he reminded of a younger Reichen Lehmkuh. It sounds like he has a fantastic and heroic story but is it me or does he seem like he did most of this get out of military service? There just seems to be some blanks/holes in his story. Why did he really come out…and why 60 Minutes? I laugh when I read statements such as, “I was trained, and trained, and trained, and trained, and then I was pulled out.” Excuse me son? Do you not mean you were trained trained trained then violated a military (not civilian) policy twice, the final time on national television, and then you were pulled out? I don’t agree with DADT (I have donated to the cause in my home of Boston), but I do question motives of this particular case. Would he readily go back into the military if DADT was ended? If he wasn’t “handsome” as a few people superficially noted here, would anyone care? That is, what if he wasn’t a white, “handsome” young male wearing a polo shirt one size too small? If someone truly investigated his story and not reported everything through SLDN talking points, what would be found? And by investigated, I mean more than the lip service Lesley Stahl gave him as she gawked and ooohd the video of him and his boyfriend. It just seems that in the past few years, on the right AND left, when someone is held high for cause, their story, and persona, comes tumbling down. Perhaps I am just shocked that he treated as nobility when there are those with more powerful stories out there currently on the front lines in the war. But I suppose we they can’t all get to chit chat with Lesley Stahl. Perhaps Andy Rooney is available?
seitan-on-a-stick
They’re so desperate in the Armed Forces, they are soliciting felons and the mentally ill and ignoring gays who throw a “Corporal Klinger” from M*A*S*H. Sounds like a great workplace environment if you liked OZ when on HBO or the first 15 minutes of Saving Private Ryan. Can I buy a Section 8, Alex?
Jaroslaw
Bright Lights – you make some good points, but to start with just one – none of us hold up to close examination. He did a great service to the community by having the guts to go on 60 minutes. Yes, he got some glory, but he is going to be taking a lot of sh*t about it for a very very long time as well.
As a far less than attractive individual, yes, handsome people seem to get most of the breaks. But again, what is new about that? Life is unfair. And?
Sorry, he is only human – I’d be pretty excited too, if I got on 60 Minutes!
Pipe
How does going on 60 Minutes require guts??? How did that do a service to the community? He was totally pulling a Corporal Klinger. Good reference Seitan! Hah hah!
Jaroslaw
Pipe: I guess you’ve never had your name in the paper or been on TV. I know this will be hard for you to grasp, but try to: Everyone thinks they know all about you and has the right to make comments, send all kinds of nasty mail, accost you in the street etc. – people have actually spray painted people’s houses or worse.
There was an accused child molester on TV here a few years ago(and turned out it was absolutely impossible for him to do what the child said), someone through a brick through his window, called his house hundreds of times day and night and blew up his mailbox. Totally innocent and look what happened.
I’m not saying this happened to DM, but it could.
The service he did? He continues to put a human face on the horrible DADT policy.
Jaroslaw
PS – Linda Lovelace married, changed her last name, and was fired from at least 2 jobs when they found out who she was.
Now before we go down the garden path, maybe her work wasn’t perfect I don’t know. but I do know without a Union you can be fired for almost anything other than Race, Age, Sex, Religion or Marital status. Legally.
Justin
Jaroslaw: Uh, did you just compare DM situation that that of an accused child molester and porn star? ROFLMAO I think you’re missing Pipes point. It is as though he didn’t get kicked out when he first came out. So he decided to pull a major Corporal Klinger on national television. Then he seem surprised that he was kicked out.
Also, there are dozens of other people that are the face to DADT. This one keeps being played up because some people consider him attractive.
Jaroslaw
Justin – maybe I missed the Klinger reference – I didn’t particularly care for MASH so I watched very little of it. I think upon further reflection you’re saying he didn’t get kicked out the first time and decided to be a prima donna and force attention on himself?
If this is the case, whatever, he got on 60 minutes when others didn’t (you say there are dozens of others) and I think he is helping the cause, whatever his motives. As to why he didn’t get kicked out the first time and he did the second time, I guess we would have to ask the military why that ocurred.
As to “comparing a child molester/porn star” – exactly what didn’t you understand? I can’t write any more clearly – I was saying there are often HUGE hidden costs.
nomore
@Bright Lights: Bright Lights, please remove the Boston-branded stick from your derriere.
NoMoreDarren
Bright Lights…you couldn’t have said it anymore better. Kudos!
Jaroslaw
Well, #21, I assume you have never gloated, never been drunk, never been exceedingly proud of an accomplishment. Thank you for being a perfect, model citizen and I wish we had more perfect, flawless people in the world such as yourself.
NoMoreDarren
What I’m referring to Jaroslaw is the fact that Darren has become so fixated on the attention that not only the media has given him, but the general public as well. Don’t get me wrong, I completely reprimand him for his courage and I strongly disagree with DADT, but when you begin to become so self centered and egotistical that you forget who you once were prior to all of this, people are going to get fed up hearing about his redundant story. It’s time for someone new to take the limelight from Darren. Someone who won’t take advantage of their position!
Jaroslaw
Well #21, if everything Bright Lights says is true, it is still only one party. The rest of the story may have good points or not, but a lot of it is speculation and conclusions based on his personal opinions and philosophy.
I don’t pretend to follow this situation in great detail, but there would have to be an awful lot of evidence before I could say someone is fixated. And Darren may well be. But I didn’t get it out of the posting above.
Either way, none of that takes away what I said that going public on 60 Minutes has a price tag too etc.
gypsys
After his appearance on 60 Minutes he said he received a lot of support from most of his “colleagues” and some were surprised that he made such a public statement but then told him that they were proud of him for standing up for people who could not speak out. To them, he was still SERGEANT Manzella and he didn’t notice a change in how he was treated or viewed. Maybe he was dealing with people in and around his own age . I hate to say it but things will definitly get better after a generation passes…sad…
BlackLights
Bright Lights, you, bitter queen. He may be a cute alcoholic loser who just wanted to get out of the army through a loophole but it still helps gay people and himself at the same time, via a catch 22. Basically you’re upset because he’s hotter than you, possibly ambivalent about service, and was stupid when drunk when you met him. That basically describes the majority of service men anyway, so what is your point? Maybe you’re insincere about what you support.