21 ton, the Army had told me they were going to revoke my security clearance because I was gay. This is the fourth time the Army is telling me this. Well, when we filed in court to have my security clearance reinstated, the Army immediately jumped up and said, “Well, he can’t be in the Army anyway, because he’s gay.” Suddenly, we’re gonna change the rules of the game. They never even mentioned discharge until I took them to court to get my clearance back. And then it was,“Now we’ve got to discharge you.” Eric: If you win, will you continue to speak out on the issue...? Perry: You’re damn right I will! Certainly! Things are gonna have to change drastically in this country. People are gonna have to wake up and realize, wait a minute, I am an average American citizen. Whether I’m gay or lesbian or anything else, given that simple fact alone, there is no way in hell I should have gone through what I went through in the military. Eric: Perry Watkins said the reason the Army took him in the first place was they expected him to come home from Vietnam in a body bag. In the early years of the Vietnam War, a dispropor- tionate number of black men were assigned to combat units and didn’t make it home alive. Perry wasn’t sent to Vietnam. Instead, he wound up serving on the front lines of an eight-year legal battle with his employer, the U.S. military. In 1989 a federal appeals court ordered Perry’s reinstatement to the Army. It was the first ruling by a full appellate panel that struck at the military’s ban on gay and lesbian service members. President George H.W. Bush’s adminis- tration appealed that ruling, but in November 1990, the Supreme Court, without comment, let it stand. He had the option to reenlist, but he took a settlement instead and retired with a promotion and full benefits. In 1993, he celebrated his victory as the grand marshal of New York City’s annual Pride march. Perry Watkins died of complications from AIDS just three years later. He was 48. So long. Until next time. 165 170 175 180 185 190 195 200 205 210 215 220