AmosL
10-10-2006, 11:01 PM
"DON'T ASK, DON'T TELL"--Hide Instead
Lehmkuhl, Reichen, “Here’s What We’ll say: Growing Up, Coming Out, and the U.S. Air Force. Carroll & Graf, 2006.
Amos Lassen and Literary Pride
Of late everyone knows who Reichen Lehmkuhl is. Winner of the grand prize on the CBS reality show, “The Amazing Race”, his intelligence and athletic ability seem to make him a shoo in to win. (His good looks also helped the viewers root him on). After that win he became a household name e3specially when his boyfriend Lance Bass came out. But Reichen, on his own, has had great success as an actor on both television and on the silver screen. We saw his genius on “The Amazing Race, now we can read about him in his—dare I say autobiography? (He is so young—new book, “Here’s What We’ll Say”. The story of his life in the American Air Force, when he had to hide the fact that he was gay, is
perhaps the greatest role he will ever play. The fact that he had to subscribe to the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy is the meat of his book.
Reichen goes back into his youth to relate the hard times he had fitting in as a child and to explain his feelings when he first realized that he was attracted to other boys. He tells how he managed to deal with the bullies who made fun of him because he was not one of them. He finally takes us to his college life at the Air Force Academy. The main thrust of the book deals with the issue of what happens to cadets who have committed themselves to serving their country come to the realization that they are gay. This is a dead end street for most and what happens becomes a question of being able to survive. In America, a new Code of Conduct came into being and new gay leaders were to make sure it worked.
Reichen’s experiences in the Air Force Academy centered around his position as one of the leaders whose job it was to protect a group of men and women from what could happen if they did not follow the policy of the U.S. government—the horrible “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. Fear ruled the cadets he protected and they were forced to lie and to live a lie, Instead of living proudly they had to live deceitful lives which were tinged with jealousy because they could not be who they really were. Within the elite Academy, there exited an underground based upon non truths. Reichen’s story is one of difficult, seemingly impossible decisions as well as secret promises. In fast the promise they made was so “sacred, that the group had it inscribed on the inside of their class rings”. All of us have had to act secretly at times in our lives but it does seem unreasonable to have to do so because our government demands us to do so. This wonderful book is a scathing attack on an inhuman policy fostered by a government which we profess to love.
This book is quite simply wonderful. It answered a lot of questions I have had and made clear for me the inhumanity that exists that demands that we lie and that we cannot be who we are. With all of the progress that has been made in the fie3ld of gay rights, this policy should be an embarrassment to our government and it IS NOT. Reichen has given us a picture of a world that many of us had no idea that it existed and he does so in clear concise language which is a pleasure to read. What is not a pleasure, however, is the pain we should feel upon reading about it. There were times that I had to stop and say “This is not America”. But it is—a terrible scar on what has been called the greatest democracy in the world.
With this book, I would venture to say that Reichen will become the new spokesman for gay rights. At least he is clear, he is brilliant and he is proud. He does not hold back and he tells it as he sees it. He is not one to shy from the truth and this book is a credit to his intelligence, his bravura and his fortitude. He can speak for me anytime and I hope he will speak for all of us. I, personally, thank him for having written such an erudite study of a system that I find unbearable. Let us hope that he will be able to make others see what he has seen.
Lehmkuhl, Reichen, “Here’s What We’ll say: Growing Up, Coming Out, and the U.S. Air Force. Carroll & Graf, 2006.
Amos Lassen and Literary Pride
Of late everyone knows who Reichen Lehmkuhl is. Winner of the grand prize on the CBS reality show, “The Amazing Race”, his intelligence and athletic ability seem to make him a shoo in to win. (His good looks also helped the viewers root him on). After that win he became a household name e3specially when his boyfriend Lance Bass came out. But Reichen, on his own, has had great success as an actor on both television and on the silver screen. We saw his genius on “The Amazing Race, now we can read about him in his—dare I say autobiography? (He is so young—new book, “Here’s What We’ll Say”. The story of his life in the American Air Force, when he had to hide the fact that he was gay, is
perhaps the greatest role he will ever play. The fact that he had to subscribe to the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy is the meat of his book.
Reichen goes back into his youth to relate the hard times he had fitting in as a child and to explain his feelings when he first realized that he was attracted to other boys. He tells how he managed to deal with the bullies who made fun of him because he was not one of them. He finally takes us to his college life at the Air Force Academy. The main thrust of the book deals with the issue of what happens to cadets who have committed themselves to serving their country come to the realization that they are gay. This is a dead end street for most and what happens becomes a question of being able to survive. In America, a new Code of Conduct came into being and new gay leaders were to make sure it worked.
Reichen’s experiences in the Air Force Academy centered around his position as one of the leaders whose job it was to protect a group of men and women from what could happen if they did not follow the policy of the U.S. government—the horrible “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. Fear ruled the cadets he protected and they were forced to lie and to live a lie, Instead of living proudly they had to live deceitful lives which were tinged with jealousy because they could not be who they really were. Within the elite Academy, there exited an underground based upon non truths. Reichen’s story is one of difficult, seemingly impossible decisions as well as secret promises. In fast the promise they made was so “sacred, that the group had it inscribed on the inside of their class rings”. All of us have had to act secretly at times in our lives but it does seem unreasonable to have to do so because our government demands us to do so. This wonderful book is a scathing attack on an inhuman policy fostered by a government which we profess to love.
This book is quite simply wonderful. It answered a lot of questions I have had and made clear for me the inhumanity that exists that demands that we lie and that we cannot be who we are. With all of the progress that has been made in the fie3ld of gay rights, this policy should be an embarrassment to our government and it IS NOT. Reichen has given us a picture of a world that many of us had no idea that it existed and he does so in clear concise language which is a pleasure to read. What is not a pleasure, however, is the pain we should feel upon reading about it. There were times that I had to stop and say “This is not America”. But it is—a terrible scar on what has been called the greatest democracy in the world.
With this book, I would venture to say that Reichen will become the new spokesman for gay rights. At least he is clear, he is brilliant and he is proud. He does not hold back and he tells it as he sees it. He is not one to shy from the truth and this book is a credit to his intelligence, his bravura and his fortitude. He can speak for me anytime and I hope he will speak for all of us. I, personally, thank him for having written such an erudite study of a system that I find unbearable. Let us hope that he will be able to make others see what he has seen.