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Time's "Officer X" Gay Soldier/Contributor Comes Out |
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Written by Instinct Staff |
Friday, 23 September 2011
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| Tags: time magazine, officer x, don't ask don't tell, dadt, repeal, gay soldiers, lgbt, comes out, karl johnson |
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Don't let anyone who sat in the audience at Thursday night's Fox News GOP candidate debate know, but, thanks to "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" repeal, Time Magazine's "Officer X" has been able to reveal his identity. So, what does 1st Lieutenant Karl Johnson of the Air Force have to say about using his real name in his byline for the first time?
Writes 1st Lt. Johnson:
As of today, Officer X is no more. With a Velcro riiiip I can now remove that name tape from the chest of my proverbial blogger flight suit and replace it with one that says “Karl Johnson”.
A 25 year old -- who flies U.S. Air Force C-17 cargo jets and has a degree in mechanical engineering from Syracuse University -- may seem like an unlikely candidate to blog for TIME, or wear the hat of an activist. At first the idea of writing for Battleland was nothing short of intimidating, but the decision of whether or not to accept was easy: the opportunity to give a voice to those of us who have been voiceless for years, as a matter of federal law, was too good to pass up.
At the moment this blog goes live I will be walking out my front door to start my first day at the squadron out of the closet. Around that same time the article I wrote in this week's print edition of TIME magazine will hit the stands. I don't know how long it will take for this tale to get back to me, or how I will react when finally confronted. That uncertainty doesn't scare me any more. It's time to man up and do as I had promised myself in May when I started blogging: lead from the front. Yup, it's still a fascinating time to be a gay man in the U.S. military.
(Source and image source: Time)
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