Second Annual Pride Festival A Success!

Tulsa's pride was visible everywhere as approximately 3,500 souls braved overcast skies and a steady rainfall for the Millenium Pride parade held Saturday, June 10. Capping a week's worth of events, the parade was a great success that boasted special guest speaker Dr. Grethe Cammermeyer, focus of Serving In Silence, the bio-pic highlighting her discharge from and subsequent reinstatement to the military. Olympic medal winner, author and activist, Greg Louganis also participated in the parade, but left shortly after his Edsel broke down on the parade path.

"Diversity Celebration 2000," as the event was called, was a week-long celebration organized by Tulsa Oklahomans for Human Rights (TOHR) that began on June 2 with the Rev. Mel White speaking at the Tulsa Interfaith Service. Throughout the week art exhibits, film festivals, workshops and theatre performances highlighted the best and brightest that Tulsa has to offer, including three high school students, Will Allen, Matthew Holloway and Emily Sisemore, honored as "Community Heroes." The week ended with a black-tie dinner featuring Col. Cammermeyer and Louganis as guest speakers.

Col. Cammermeyer, best known as the highest-ranking military officer to ever be discharged for homosexuality, hails from Oslo, Norway. As Chief Nurse of the Washington State National Guard, she decided to upgrade her security clearance in order to apply for the War College in order to become competitive for a higher military position. During that interview, Cammermeyer was asked if she engaged in "deviant" behaviors, which after explanation from the interviewing officer, was told that included homosexuality. Cammermeyer, never one to back down from the truth, answered, "I am a lesbian." The ensuing fight with the military ended with her recommended discharge after 26 years of exemplary service, and in 1992, she was discharged.

However, Cammermeyer fought back.

She filed suit in Federal District Court, challenging the existing ban on homosexuals in the military and asked for reinstatement. In 1994, the Courts decided the ban was unconstitutional and Cammermeyer was reinstated, where she served as Chief Nurse of the 164th MASH until May 1996. She retired from the military in March 1997. Due to her tenaciousness and unwillingness to back down, Cammermeyer's ruling is case law.

During the TOHR dinner, Col. Cammermeyer spoke of complacency and how we, as individuals, must resist that urge to stay comfortable where we are. "I realized, that once I hung up my uniform," Cammermeyer said, "that I began to be silent again. I had served in silence once before, and yet, I was allowing that same silence to take over. We often forget about the issues until someone is murdered in the military or legislation like DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act passed and signed by President Clinton decreeing marriage to be between a man and a woman) is passed, or legislation such as NDA (Non-Discrimination Act) fails to be made law. We have not succeeded where it counts!"

Cammermeyer went on to say, "We lose people all the time because we are silent. Who's out on the frontlines fighting for our human and civil rights? It's our youth! And where are we? We have grown complacent. We are comfortable in our tidy little world while people are dying around us. Until we are free to work and love without fear of loss, we must not be silent."

She shared her fear of coming to Tulsa since Oklahoma is known as an anti-gay state due to ultra-conservative, anti-gay legislators such as Steve Largent, Jim Inhofe, and Don Nickles. She said, "I didn't want to come to Tulsa because I was afraid I would be uncomfortable. And that's when I realized that I must come to Tulsa for that reason alone. I had become complacent, insulated, comfortable, with the world I was in." She finished with the closing thoughts of, "If you are comfortable where you are, you don't belong there. Get out on the frontlines . . . stand up for what you believe, and you'll realize you will never be silent again."

(Originally published May 2000)

Brave Souls Parade participants braved the steady rainfall and overcast skies to enjoy an afternoon of fun and fellowship with family.