Boot From Military Began Her Battle Cammermeyer, Now Chief Nurse With Washington National Guard, Was Discharged For Being Lesbian

Her ride from the Spokane airport was threatened by a dragging muffler, a missing car and a traffic jam on Sunset Hill, but Margarethe Cammermeyer is used to tough challenges.

Cammermeyer, the highest-ranking officer to be discharged from the military for being gay, has turned her fight against the military’s anti-gay rules and other prejudice into a crusade.

She’s a nationally known speaker. She’s written a book, “Serving in Silence,” which was turned into an award-winning TV movie.

She spoke at Spokane Falls Community College Tuesday morning, to kick off the college’s gay pride week.

Cammermeyer’s fight started in 1989, after she applied for top-secret clearance to be a general in the Washington National Guard.

“One question had to do with homosexuality,” Cammermeyer said. “I said, ‘I am a lesbian.’ With that was essentially the beginning of the end of my military career.”

After 27 years in the military, she was discharged in 1992 after attaining the rank of colonel. After a long, public battle, Cammermeyer was reinstated almost two years ago as chief nurse of the Washington National Guard.

Cammermeyer’s speech was a historical look at prejudice and discrimination since World War II. She illustrated her points with a slide show featuring pictures of tennis player and lesbian Martina Navratilova, traditionally feminine Dolly Parton, civil-rights hero Rosa Parks and an African-American man chained against a tree, his arms tied behind him.

A WWII recruiting poster showed a woman in a low-cut sailor suit and come-hither eyes. The type said, “Gee!! I wish I were a man. I’d join the Navy.”

The 250 people in the audience treated Cammermeyer like a hero. She made them laugh and earned a standing ovation.

Student Renee Bunn served in the Army for four years, from 1977 to 1981. While in Virginia, she said, higher-ups cracked down on the female barracks, trying to ferret out lesbians. Three women with husbands and children said they were gay, just to try to end the witch hunt, Bunn said.

She never said she was a lesbian.

“I didn’t,” said Bunn, now president of the Lambda Rising Club, SFCC’s year-old gay student organization, which sponsored Cammermeyer’s visit. “That’s why I have so much respect for her, because she did.”

Cammermeyer said it was tough, though. “It’s not easy. I can vouch for that. I can also vouch for the freedom at the end of it.”

She looks like Glenn Close, who played her in the TV movie, except with smudged features and more pronounced cheekbones. She wore her blond hair short and a long pink dress.

Cammermeyer, a decorated Vietnam veteran who was married for 15 years and has four sons, was asked by the National Guard last summer if she wanted to apply again for a general’s position.

“I said, ‘No, I’m not interested,’ which was really nice,” Cammermeyer said. “It was like, take this job and shove it.”

About a month ago, she went on inactive status in the National Guard and is awaiting a court decision that could allow her to retire with full benefits.

Cammermeyer’s visit was frustrated by a series of logistical problems.

Student Tracy Preston, a member of Lambda Rising, lost a muffler on a speed bump on her way to pick up a college fleet car to get Cammermeyer from the airport. Then, no fleet car was reserved.

When Preston finally got the car, she got stuck in traffic on Sunset Hill.

“We made it there just in time,” Preston said. “I think her fight, her cause, is important. I don’t think people should be discriminated against for who they love and how they love.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo