“If anything my transition has enhanced [my ability to serve]. I can do more push-ups and run faster,” he adds.
RECOGNITION
In the muddy rain-soaked patch of grass between Lamont and Loeb House, Jack stood with his black Labrador and 30 or so other trans rights activists to protest the ceremony honoring the University’s recognition of NROTC.
With each opening of the exterior door in a gilded room in Loeb House, their cries of “Put down your pen!” and “Drew Faust, it’s not too late! Harvard can’t discriminate” trickled in.
The room was filled with military brass who had assembled to watch University President Drew G. Faust sign an agreement that officially recognized the Naval Reserve Officers’ Training Corps, a historic break from the University’s previously tense relationship with the military.
The University’s unwillingness to recognize the program had been based on the objection that “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” had violated the University’s non-discrimination policy. Faust had pledged earlier that Harvard would recognize the program following the policy’s repeal, so when Congress moved to allow gays and lesbians to openly serve, Faust followed through on that promise and signed the agreement with the Navy.
“I feel this is an extremely important moment to recognize that “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” has been the hook for our distance from ROTC for two decades now and that the very important repeal of that law puts us in a situation where we want to respond with the appropriate enactment of what we’d said we’d do,” Faust said after signing the agreement.
But for the trans rights activists protesting outside Loeb House, because the military continues to exclude trans-identified men and women it still violates the University’s non-discrimination policy despite the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
“It was such an exciting moment for Harvard,” Jack says. “But it was just so marginalizing to stand outside Loeb House. It was incredibly difficult as a vet to stand by the sidelines and watch service members in uniform and ROTC cadets take pride in that moment.”
“Being there on the sidelines, you realize that not only does this institution [the military] exclude you, but that this school that has a non-discrimination policy that’s supposed to protect you is too.”
University officials have said that the decision to recognize ROTC stemmed from the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and have put concerned activists in touch with the military to discuss the military’s medical policy.
“I know there are many students who feel that ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’s repeal doesn’t go far enough. My senior staff has met with them and I am listening to their concerns and I hope I can continue dialogue with them and enhance dialogue between them and people in the armed services,” Faust said to a group of reporters after the ceremony. “In fact, we have arranged for an individual in the Navy to receive comments from them and to interact with them and to talk to some of the members of the trans community in hopes of furthering that dialogue by continuing to address this issue.”
Jack, Queer Students and Allies Co-Chair Marco Chan ‘11, and Jia Hui Lee ’12, a student leader on the Trans Task Force, met with administrators from Faust’s office a few days prior to the ceremony. They say they felt brushed aside by the University and were alarmed by how quickly the University recognized ROTC after meeting with campus trans activists.
But several faculty members at the ceremony recognized the protesters’ concerns and said that they intend to work toward reconciling this issue.
“I view them sympathetically. This is a work in progress, but recognizing ROTC is a very important step nonetheless,” said Harvard Divinity School Professor Diana L. Eck, a Lowell House Master who has served on the BLGTQ Task Force, at the signing ceremony.
The recognition of ROTC represents a significant rapprochement between Harvard and the military and comes against the background of one of the most significant advances in civil rights in recent years. But like improvements in civil rights in the past, allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military has been called only a partial victory as trans-identified individuals continue to be excluded from the armed forces.
With a degree on the horizon from the Law School, Jack says that he would like to join the military’s legal division. Instead, he will be taking a corporate law job in San Francisco.
“On the ROTC issue, I want to express how difficult it is to want to serve, be denied the opportunity, and have the institution you attend sanction that discrimination,” Jack writes in an email. “It is an incredibly marginalizing experience.”
—Staff writer Tara W. Merrigan can be reached at tmerrigan@college.harvard.edu.