One Foot In, One Foot Out: The Continued Struggle with Coming Out in a Hyper-Masculine U.S. Military

Description

One Foot In, One Foot Out is a testament to the ongoing struggles that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender U.S. military service members continue to face while serving in today's modern military. Many service members who identify as LGBT are still discriminated against and or harassed because they are out of the closet, are suspected of being gay or are involved with someone of the same sex. Dr. Nikolov shares his experience with the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy and the implications it had on the more than the 16,000 service members who were removed from the service solely because they were gay and makes recommendations to those contemplating coming out or who have one foot in and one foot out of the closet. He also provides advice to military leaders who seek to improve their command climate to be more inclusive and diverse and welcomes those without regard to their sexual orientation.

Dr. Marin Nikolov, a veteran of the U.S. Army, deployed to Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom and Kuwait during Operation Inherent Resolve. While he was a junior enlisted soldier, then as a drill sergeant leader, and after he was commissioned to the officer corps, he witnessed harassment and assault of some of his peers who were either in the closet, were outed, or known to be lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender. In One Foot In, One Foot Out he recounts his and others' experiences with this important and often-overlooked issue and the detrimental impact that the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy had on the service members who were removed from the military solely because of their discovered status or involvement with someone of the same sex. He also makes recommendations to safely coming out in the hyper-masculine U.S. military while improving relationships with those who served during or supported the anti-gay policies.