An Airman of the Cold War fights 60 years later

[James48]

In 1955 she was kicked out of the Air Force for being a lesbian. At 90, she's fighting back.

By KYLE SWENSON | The Washington Post | Published: January 11, 2018

The barracks were thick with anxious whispers and rumors, but she figured there was nothing incriminating about leaving the air base for a sandwich.

On a Friday night in 1955, Airman 2nd Class Helen Grace James and another female service member left the field after work for dinner in a nearby town. The place was too crowded to sit down, so after getting food the two drove to the wooded area south of where Hempstead Harbor stabs into Long Island. They found a quiet spot to eat. James cut the engine. She was reaching for her sandwich when flashlight beams ignited the car interior. Air Police. From the base. They had been followed.

"They asked us what we were doing," James recently told The Washington Post.

Within a few days, She was arrested and put through hours of humiliating interrogation. The questions were so harsh and disgusting James had to run to the latrine because she felt sick. Finally, after an interrogator threatened to go to her family, James relented. She said she would sign whatever they wanted.
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The experience was not isolated but part of a larger and ugly chapter in American history. She was subjected to a military investigation because she was a lesbian. If she was a lesbian, the U.S. military did not want her in uniform. Long before "don't ask, don't tell," in an era spiked with Cold War paranoia and McCarthyism, the government and military systematically rooted out service members like James.

Now, at 90, she's fighting to right the historical wrong with a federal lawsuit against the U.S. Air Force. The complaint asks the court to upgrade her discharge to "honorable," thus restoring the California woman's rights and honor as a veteran.




More:

https://www.stripes.com/news/veterans/in-1955-she-was-kicked-out-of-the-air-force-for-being-a-lesbian-at-90-she-s-fighting-back-1.506214

[Rhiannon12866]

1. K&R. This is an important case

Service members of both genders who were dishonorably discharged simply for being gay should have their veteran's rights restored.

[roscoeroscoe]

2. Thanks for posting

Following up