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This first title in a trilogy of hybrid autobiographical and narrative nonfiction books addresses the author's personal experiences and political stances toward LGBTQ conduct in the military and in civilian workplaces. The narrative begins with Boushka's personal experience as a gay virgin attending college in 1961, when students were expelled for being "latently" homosexual, despite a lack of sexual experience or misconduct. His 1968 enlistment into the US Army and subsequent observations about gays and lesbians in the military during the Vietnam conflict (and beyond) provide fertile points of dissent and discussion. There were many indignities and abuses toward LGBTQ members of the military and in civilian employment that Boushka discusses in depth. The author addresses the 1990s "don't ask, don't tell" policy devised for gays in the military, and explores his stance on individual rights and responsibilities at that point in history.
There are very few angles within a plethora of arguments and reflections on this topic that Boushka doesn't cover in length. Whether readers agree or disagree with the author's conservative and libertarian opinions pertaining to gays in the military (and in the workplace), this articulate narrative has validity both historically and in contemporary contexts. The academic level discourse is abundantly cited, and a robust bibliography is provided. Boushka writes in his introduction, "My central question on personal values is this: do we believe in the principle that every adult person is totally responsible for himself or herself?... I would become more radical as I began to realize that, at least in setting personal, moral, and even economic, priorities, government just doesn't work...." Ultimately, the author fully and effectively describes why equal rights for the LGBTQ community are important for everyone, and why personal responsibility outweighs the government's definition of moral values.
RECOMMENDED by the US Review