DADT is Gone but Homophobic Personnel Still There Making a Veteran Pilot LeaveThe Service

Navy Lt. Adam Adamski is pictured in the cockpit of a U.S. Navy aircraft in this undated photo.

 

Don’t-Ask-Don’t-Tell ended 10 years ago. And yet, one of Naval Aviation’s few openly gay pilots is on his way out. The Marines substantiated his claims of harassment, after an incident following a west coast Marine Corp Ball.

KPBS Military Reporter Steve Walsh tells us why it wasn’t enough to save his career.

For most of his six years in the Navy, Lt. Adam Adamski says he felt supported as an openly gay pilot. He can tell you when that changed. 

“November of 2019.”

Adamski is a helicopter pilot for a Navy search and rescue squadron. The group works closely with the Marines. Adamski was invited to a west coast Marine Corps Birthday Ball at a local casino. He came back to the hotel room where Marines had been holding an after party.

“So when I walked in the room. I knew something wasn’t right. The TV had been moved, like on a pivot to face the doorway. And I saw my dress whites draped over and around the TV and there was hard core gay porn playing.”

His uniform wrapped around a TV, playing pornography. It didn’t feel like a harmless prank -- it felt like something else. Some of the other Marines in the squadron wanted to find those responsible. But Adamski says he was getting ready for his first deployment as a pilot -- he wanted to shrug it off, and let the matter go. But word had spread.

“I received numerous calls from people who were in the closet, in that squadron, 

both men and women and openly gay service members. Telling me that they are upset. That the climate, especially for pilots, is not a good climate and they think that I should report it.”

The Don’t ask Don’t Tell policy, allowing LGBT service members to serve openly, ended a decade ago. But a study in the journal Sexuality Research and Social Policy found 59 percent of service members still don’t feel comfortable coming out to their peers. Sasha Buchert is a former Marine and attorney with the civil right organization Lambda Legal. She says changing the law didn’t change the culture.

“It’s one thing to have don’t ask, don't tell removed. It’s another thing to have a culture where people feel safe being who they are and not have to worry about being discriminated against. ...And a lot of this comes from the top down.”

Eighteen months after Adamski reported the incident, he still hasn’t received final word on his case. His version of events has been substantiated by the squadron commander in charge of the three Marines found culpable and later by an inspector general's report. Initially, the squadron commander even offered to pull their pilots wings for the incident. Adamski thought that was too severe. 

“I want an in person apology from all three of them. I want a meeting, in which they are there and I can talk to them.”

He also wanted something in their permanent record. The incident continued to eat at Adamski. 

He was in a serious relationship with an Air Force pilot who was talking about coming out of the closet. They broke up after he saw Adamski’s experience. 

“I lost a lot. I’m not happy. I no longer feel I’m an effective leader, an officer, a pilot. I don’t feel part of the military anymore. I feel segregated.” 

Adamski has been called into the headquarters for Naval Air Command more than once to address his decision to speak publicly about his case. The Navy says it is up to the Marines to comment. Major Alex Lim, spokesman for 3d Marine Aircraft Wing, says the Marines initially acted quickly on the complaint.

“Marines, sailors, in our units are treated in a culture of dignity and respect. We want to prohibit any activity where these individuals would be harassed.” 

Adamski stopped logging flight hours as the case dragged on. Last spring, he had a road accident that made it even tougher to qualify to fly. He was given the option -- as a Navy officer - to retire. Adamski took it -- in the next couple of months his six-year career as a Navy pilot will end. But not his quest for some kind of recognition that what happened to him wasn’t right . 

“Most people back down because of all this hassle and I won’t. I’m not someone who will back down easily or ever. I’m not going to do it.”

At this point, he says, he has nothing left to lose.

And that was KPBS Military Reporter Steve Walsh. This story was produced by the American Homefront Project, a public media collaboration that reports on American military life and veterans. Funding comes from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

{{KPS, San Diego Radio}}