Army Sgt. Darren Manzella figured that stating he was gay on national television would surely get him booted from the military under the Pentagon's "don't ask, don't tell" policy. But Manzella has heard nothing in the three weeks since he told CBS' 60 Minutes that his fellow soldiers knew he was gay and the program aired a home video that showed him kissing a former boyfriend. 
Sergeant Darren Manzella is still an Army medic who has suffered no repercussions from his commanders for announcing that he is gay, a violation of military policy.
"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.
The Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, a gay advocacy group, says it knows of about 500 gay troops who are serving openly without consequences. "That's the highest number we've ever been aware of," says SLDN spokesman Steve Ralls. "Their experiences point to an undeniable shift in the armed forces."
FIND MORE STORIES IN: Army | Kuwait | Army Sgt Manzella says he was invited to join more than 600 members of an invitation-only MySpace group, Guys and Gals Like Us, for gays who don't hide their orientation from their units. The members use pseudonyms because some gay servicemembers have been discharged for acknowledging their sexual orientation elsewhere online.
Nearly 12,000 troops have been dismissed under the policy approved by President Clinton in 1993. Discharges peaked at 1,273 in 2001 and have fallen sharply since the war began.
"A lot of servicemembers are getting 'wink-wink' treatment from their commanders," says Aaron Belkin, director of the Palm Center at the University of California, Santa Barbara, which studies the policy.
Elaine Donnelly, whose Center for Military Readiness favors a ban on gays, says "skepticism is in order" about reports that they are serving openly without sanctions. She says she has been "bothering" commanders at Manzella's base, Fort Hood, Texas, to take action since the 60 Minutes piece aired. "We have yet to get an answer," she says. "His commanders should be disciplined appropriately for failing to do their duty."
Manzella, who earned a Combat Medical Badge for service in Baghdad, says he's been open about his sexuality for 18 months. He says he told his commander he was gay because he was getting anonymous e-mails threatening to expose him. The Army investigated in August 2006 and viewed the video that showed his boyfriend.
After all that, "They found 'no evidence of homosexuality,' " Manzella says. "They recommended that I just go back and keep doing my job." He soon headed to Kuwait for his second Iraq war deployment.
Col. Diane Battaglia, a Fort Hood spokeswoman, said Manzella's commanders were unavailable for comment because his unit was redeploying from the Middle East. But, she said, "There's always an investigation conducted" when a soldier declares he's gay.
Army spokesman Paul Boyce says the "policy is public law, and it is being enforced." It's not illegal to be gay in the military, he points out, as long as a servicemember keeps quiet.
Eugene Fidell of the National Institute of Military Justice, a group of military legal experts, wonders whether the dwindling number of discharges suggests broader implications for the policy. "Is it dying basically for lack of interest?" he asks. "Military managers may be turning a blind eye because it's a nuisance, and we need these people."
Poster Comment:
Sexual orientation is bad fodder for a wedge issue. It is no measure of how good or bad an individual is. It is a personal trait that no one controls, and this sort of thing never should of been an issue in the first place. I do not discriminate against homosexuals or support this discrimination in any way. I also support their right to serve their country.
