SEQUIM — All during their long careers in the Coast Guard, retired Lt. Cmdrs. Judy “JP” Persall and Diana Wickman lived in fear of dishonorable discharge for being gay under the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.
On Saturday, that changed when the U.S. Senate sent a bill repealing the 17-year policy to President Barack Obama, who is expected to sign it this week.
Before watching the vote on C-SPAN, the Happy Valley couple hung up the U.S. flag, the Coast Guard flag and placed their unit ball caps from the Coast Guard close at hand.
As the 65-31 vote was reported, the two decorated veterans responded in military fashion.
“We stood up and put our hats on and saluted the flag, and we just felt proud to be an American today,” Persall said about an hour after the vote.
The House had repealed the policy Wednesday, sending the Senate legislation that would end the 1993 law that forbid recruiters from asking about sexual orientation and troops from acknowledging that they were gay.
“It’s a very proud day for us. Our country is standing up for us,” Wickman said, after telling a reporter who phoned the couple Saturday that “we just got through crying.”
Said Persall: “We are able to breathe free air.
“We don’t have to live in fear.”
Persall, 57 and a veteran of 21 years, and Wickman, 45 and a 22-year veteran, helped make it happen.
They wrote letters explaining the detrimental effects of former President Bill Clinton’s 1993 “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy as part of a letter-writing campaign to the Comprehensive Review Working Group that Defense Secretary Robert Gates appointed to conduct a comprehensive review of the impacts of the policy.
Retired Navy Cmdr. Beth Coye, author of My Navy Too, spearheaded the letter-writing campaign. Persall and Wickman met with Coye in her Ashland, Ore., living room and agreed to help in the campaign to “tell some of our issues,” Wickman said.
The two, who have been together for eight years, believe they were the only contributors to that effort from the North Olympic Peninsula.
Forty-one letters went to the president’s desk, said the couple.
“Those letters told our side of the story,” Wickman said.
Said Persall: “What people don’t realize . . . is that ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ was a compromise by Clinton.
“He compromised by saying, ‘We’ll let them serve.’
“The problem with that was it was still illegal.”
Persall said that both of them were always valued for their abilities in the Coast Guard.
“I give the Coast Guard credit. We were able to serve. It really came down to ‘Can you do your job?’ We were allowed to serve with no questions.”
Nevertheless, legally, “don’t ask, don’t tell” offered no protection to the estimated 65,000 gays in the military — a number based on government belief that 10 percent of the population is gay, she said.
“People are serving who know that at any moment, they could be discharged in disgrace,” said Persall earlier last week.
Persall said that 13,500 people were “kicked out of services for being gay” after “don’t ask, don’t tell” came into effect.
“It didn’t give you any more right to be there” if anyone found out, she said.
“Now that this is lifted, the fear is gone,” Persall said.
“They won’t be able to kick you out for being who you are.”
Wickman told of the time the implications of the policy really hit home.
She had been injured in a car wreck in Louisiana and had phoned both her commanding officer and her partner, Persall, who by then was retired but who had followed her to her duty station.
There, the two kept their relationship secret.
“It was really difficult to keep her from my conversation at all,” Wickman said.
But when she was hurt, she wanted her partner close.
However, her commanding officer arrived at the scene of the wreck before Persall.
“I could see [Persall] running up to hug me, and all I was thinking was, ‘Please don’t touch me,'” Wickman said.
“I didn’t know how to explain her to him.”
Persall said that both now wish they were still active duty to more fully savor the victory.
“We’re so glad for those who are on active duty who can serve without fear of losing their job, fear of losing it publicly.
“It’s a public humiliation when you are kicked out like that.”
Persall retired from the Coast Guard in 2004. Wickman retired in 2009.
Persall — recipient of a meritorious service medal, commendation medal, achievement medal, commandant’s letter of commendation ribbon and sea service ribbon, among others — was in the first group of enlisted woman to go to sea with the Coast Guard in 1979.
She became one of the first women “Throttlemen,” a watch position that controls engine room responses to emergencies and routine responses to bridge commands.
She served as a boat engineer, an engineering instructor and as a new officer was a plank owner and a damage control assistant aboard the Coast Guard cutter Legare in Portsmouth, Va.
Wickman’s assignments included stints with Coast Guard Group Port Angeles and management of the Coast Guard’s security zone around the east-half replacement work on the Hood Canal Bridge in 2009.
She is the recipient of a meritorious service medal, six commendation medals, an achievement medal and three enlisted good conduct medals.
Persall said in her letter that she retired because of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.
“The government that I served, I also feared. I feared the service would find out that I was gay,” her letter said.
“Homosexuality is not a crime in the United States and it shouldn’t be reflected as one in the [Uniform Code of Military Justice],” Persall’s letter said.
“The UCMJ should be updated to identify sexual based crimes that are similarly stated in state and federal laws.”
In a biography cover sheet accompanying her letter, Wickman said she retired one year short of attaining full retirement pay as a lieutenant commander because of “fear of losing my pension and fatigue from keeping up a false front.”
In her letter, Wickman said early retirement came after her “dream job” as chief waterways management for Sector Seattle, which put her in charge of the “largest and most diverse waterway in the nation,” Puget Sound, as the top safety office responsible for navigational safety, pollution and other threats to the waterways.
“I miss my Coast Guard family dearly — most of whom knew I was gay; however, I missed living a truthful and open life much more,” Wickman said.
Although the change won’t take effect for another 60 days at least, both said they were proud of their contribution to it.
“We’re proud to be part of the struggle and to see the struggle end,” Persall said.
“We were honored to be part of that movement.
“We were so honored to be part of the military.”
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.
Managing Editor/News Leah Leach can be reached at 360-417-3531 or leah.leach@peninsuladailynews.com.
