ROTC Student Must Repay $80,000 to Military for Coming Out as a Lesbian
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Now Sara Isaacson has both had to give up on her dream of a career in the military and will carry nearly $80,000 in debt.
Sara Isaacson was an ROTC student at University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill until she came out to her commander as a lesbian. Now 21-year-old Isaacson, who is originally from Wisconsin, owes nearly $80,000 to the U.S. Army for repayment of a scholarship for seven semesters as an out-of-state student. Isaacsonspoke with Campus Progress about her decision to come out to her commander, her options for repaying the debt, and whether what she did is a form of activism against the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy. Isaacson's story shows that for gay, lesbian, and bisexual people serving in the military today, the "don't ask, don't tell" policy comes at a real cost.
For those who don't know, could you tell us about what happened?
I had been on an ROTC scholarship at the UNC–Chapel Hill that I had received at the very beginning of my college career. I had initially received financial aid from the university and then was able to get my ROTC scholarship. At the point when I came in to ROTC I had identified as straight. I had not really come out to myself or to anyone else as lesbian yet.
Then in about November I started really coming out to myself as lesbian and in that process spent a lot of time considering what I wanted to do with ROTC just because of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy and law. What it came down to for me is that I felt I needed to come out to my commander because of integrity. Integrity is one of the seven Army values and is something that they train us to live by every day, every second, whether someone's watching or not. … Without realizing it, the policy really asks people to lie, to lie about who they are, to tell small lies about what they did or didn't do. It's something that I wasn't willing to do because if I don't have my values to fall back on, I have nothing.
In January, two days before the State of the Union address, I walked into my commander's office and handed him a memo saying that I had recently come to identify as lesbian. In that memo I also talked about what has drawn me to the Army and what I loved about it and how much it meant to me—how much pride I had in being part of that organization and how serving was something I had wanted to do for so many years. But then I went on to say that because of these values of honor and integrity that the Army teaches … that I was no longer comfortable lying about who I was.
How did your commander [Lt. Col. Monte Yoder] react?
In that conversation, he told me that "don't ask, don't tell" does not prohibit gay or lesbian people from serving; however it prohibits them from doing so openly. … I don't think that the policy is working because when we don't allow people to serve openly we're forcing them to lie and to break those values that are supposed to drive everything. He told me that because I had come in and handed him this letter that I would be dropped from the ROTC program and that he would make the recommendation that he had to repay all the scholarship money that I received.
Isaacson studies for her classes while in uniform before her military career ended. (Photo courtesy Sara Isaacson)Wow. So what are you going to do?
My paperwork is still in the process of being completely finalized, however the recommendation from my battalion is that I repay the Army the $79, 265.14 that I received in scholarship money over my seven semesters as an out-of-state student at UNC. I don't know yet what the terms of that repayment will be.
I really don’t know how I'm going to make it happen. I don't have $80,000 in my back pocket to just give to the Army. I had initially received financial aid from UNC when I came here but when the Army ROTC was able to go through because I did finally get medically qualified, I lost all of that financial aid that I'd had originally.
Do you think people like you who decide to come out in the military will help accelerate the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell"?
I think when we talk about arguments about unit cohesion I think that's the most harmful thing you can have to unit cohesion, your platoon in your unit is supposed to be your family, it's supposed to be your support system. If you're putting up walls with your soldiers because you're living in fear every single day that a pronoun's going to slip or that someone is going to somehow find out that you're gay or lesbian or bisexual. If you can't get close to your soldiers who you need to be able to trust with your live, that's really harmful to unit cohesion and to mission readiness because you need to be able to trust everyone implicitly.
What do you think about how Congress and the administration are handling "don't ask, don't tell" right now?
My hope is that Congress will be able to repeal "don't ask, don't tell" this year. I think that this is something that needs to happen now—not in December when the Pentagon working group study is done, when we have a new Congress in place. This is something that truly needs to be done now.
If Congress were to repeal "don't ask, don't tell" would you go back to the military?
It's something that I would certainly consider. It would depend on when it gets repealed and the exact way the legislation is worded, but the military is something that I have wanted to do for a long time. I decided when I was 13 years old that I wanted a career in the military and that's something that doesn't just go away overnight. I think if I were given the opportunity to serve again—and to serve openly—I would certainly look into that very, very seriously.
And what will you do if the Army and the military isn't an option for you?
I'm not exactly sure right now. … The social justice issues that I've been doing the most work on recently have to do with gender and personal violence and LGBTQ issues. However I am a chemistry major. I may end up doing something with my chemistry. I may end up going to med school. I may end up doing something completely different. All of the options are on the table right now.
Do you feel what you've done—coming out to your commander—do you view that as activism?
I think it's a form of activism. I think it's me saying that this is a policy and a law that's broken and needs to change. My intent with it was not to be an activist. My intent with it was just to be true to who I am and to not have to lie and compromise something that's so important to me, my integrity.
What would you say to others out there who are in the position you were in before you came out to your commander?
I think I would say that they need to consider what the best option for them is. I did a lot of research, spoke with a lot of people in various situations—people who had been discharged because of "don't ask, don't tell" and people who were lesbian and currently serving. I got so many resources and I decided that for me the best decision was to come out because I didn't think I would be OK living with myself while compromising my integrity. For me, I don't have a family to support. I'm just responsible for myself and everyone's situation is really unique. Everyone has to come to that decision for themselves.
Kay Steiger is the editor of CampusProgress.org.
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