. . .Anon
12/17/09 – USNA Out’s Jeff Petrie to Chair Joint Service Academy Association
Jeff Petrie, USNA ’89
Jeff Petrie, Founder of USNA Out, has taken the helm as Chair of the Board of Directors of the joint Service Academy Gay & Lesbian Alumni Association (sagala.NET). The SAGALA mission is to provide a professional and social network for gay, lesbian, transgender and bisexual cadets, midshipmen and alumni who attended one of the five federal service academies. SAGALA was founded in 1993 and has grown to over 400 members from all five academies. Membership is restricted to those alumni.
Jeff was one of 35 founding members of USNA Out in 2003. In 2007, the “Blue Alliance” was formed as a support and education network that promotes dignity and respect for LGBT alumni of the United States Air Force Academy and their allies. A similar group of West Point alumni, “Knights Out,” became active in March, 2009.
Chairman Petrie’s term begins 1 January, 2010, and runs for one calendar year.
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12/13/09 – Army/Navy 2009 Weekend
USNA Out’ers join Out Knights
and other SAGALA members
at the Army-Navy 2009 Tailgate
©2009 Jo Ann Santangelo photographer
Many of the usual suspects returned for Army-Navy 2009.
The weekend began at a “Welcome to Philly” reception at the home of USNA Out member Joe Soto. More than a dozen alumni from West Point, Annapolis and New London made it to town in time for the Friday night affair. Thank goodness for the late afternoon 14:30 kick-off time for the game.
USNA Out members chat with
PA Congressman Patrick Murphy
who stopped in at the tailgate.
©2009 Jo Ann Santangelo
photographer
This year, we thank the Knights Out of West Point for taking charge of orchestrating a great Tailgate brunch before the game. For the first time, the Army and Navy were represented in equal numbers.
A few USNA Out members made the trek to Philadelphia to join us for the first time. Braxton Sisco ’95 flew in from Dallas, Texas, bringing along his mother-in-law while his partner Robert finishes studying in the UK. An alumni from ’00, who first learned about USNA Out by googling “army navy gay tailgate” (it works, as usual) came down from New York with a friend.
An additional SF Bay Area Chapter/USNA Out game watching event was held at the North Star cafe in San Francisco. More coming when we have photos/reports.
12/11-12/13 2009 – Army/Navy Events
Here’s what we know of so far. If you have more events that need to be added to this story, please contact our webmaster:
Philadelphia: USNA Out will be joining Knights Out at the Knights Out tailgate in the parking lot. Look for the Knights Out guidon & banner. There are other events on Friday and
11/13/09 – USNA Out Member Featured in USNA Foundation Campaign
USNA Out member (and director of our “Out of Annapolis” project) Steve Clark Hall ’75 is one of four USNA Alumni currently being featured in a media campaign as a part of the USNA Foundation’s End of Year Annual Giving Campaign.
Continue reading “11/13/09 – USNA Out Member Featured in USNA Foundation Campaign”
11/11/2009 – Meet Brian Bender USNA ’93, 2010 Chairman of USNA Out
USNA Out Members,
Yesterday you received news from Jeff Petrie via email that USNA Out is in transition – making positive strides forward and organizing to even more effectively meet our shared objectives and mission.
Continue reading “11/11/2009 – Meet Brian Bender USNA ’93, 2010 Chairman of USNA Out”
11/9/2009 – I CONFESS!!
OK folks,
I confess!
Almost five years ago at the the “Meeting of Friends” in San Francisco, the members of the newly formed USNA Out set a goal for ourselves to establish a 501(c)(3) status. This would allow USNA Out to accept gifts from individuals that could be tax deducible. At the “General Membership Meeting” held March 14, 2009, in Washington DC (with teleconferenced call-ins), there was a unanimous renewed interest to follow through on our four year long dream.
11/03/2009 – USNA Out Website Reorganization
New Interactive Roster
Just as USNA Out was grown over the past six years, so has the content on our website. Thanks to the critical eye of USNA Out Board Secretary Eric Shangle ’97, content has just been reorganized to make material easier to find.
The best new feature is the new “Member Roster” — Viewable in Alfa Order! Searchable! Sortable! And complete with little thumbnail pics of our members. For registered USNA Out members only. The “Members Roster” will appear as the top “Inside USNA Out” menu item when you log into our website. Members are allow to share as much info about them as they desire, or can even “opt-out” of appearing on the roster all together.
Continue reading “11/03/2009 – USNA Out Website Reorganization”
11/11/09 Petaluma Veteran’s Day Parade viewing
Petaluma art gallery owners Donna(L)
and USNA Out’s Linda receiving the
Small Business of the Year award from
State Senator Mark Leno.
Last year, 2008 a few USNA Out members collected at the Pelican Art Gallery on a beautiful day in Petaluma to enjoy the annual Veteran’s Day Parade. It is a very sweet event in the San Francisco North Bay that draws veterans and their families from around the Bay Area. USNA Out member Linda Postenrieder and
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Class Reunion Increases Out Membership
The Class of ‘74 held their 35th (OMG!!) Reunion the weekend of October 2-4, 2009 in Annapolis. I was able to meet fellow USNA Outer, Larry Olson and spend some time getting to know more about each other. During the course of the conversation we were able to identify three additional classmates who should be members of our organization. Unfortunately one is posthumous as not everyone survived the worst part of the ongoing AIDS epidemic. The other two are going unnamed until they have a chance to decide whether they would like to join our group or not. One was in attendance and I had the opportunity to talk for a few minutes and we’ve followed up by email since then. It turns out that he dated for a number of years, a man in my condo complex. Even though he often visited the building next to mine, we never knew about each other. I’m reminded regularly that we live in a small world. With the three newly identified gay classmates, ‘74 is behind only the very swishy class of ‘75 as the class of the 70s with the most gay members.
In other respects it was a typical reunion. Cocktail hours where you need name tags to identify who these old strangers are, lots of recounting of old sea stories and laughs, a successful football game against Air Force and a required trip to the Mid Store. For those of you who really miss Bancroft, you could set up your own memorial room complete with an issue bedspread, b-robe, laundry bags, and even that huge safety pin you were issued. I didn’t go that far, but I do now have plebe issue PT gear that I will enjoy wearing to the gym here at home as opposed to when I wore it to PEP with Heinz Lentz at 0630 every morning.
I was somewhat apprehensive about going to the reunion. I am comfortably out and honest if I get asked about my orientation, but I haven’t interacted with classmates very much and had only told one companymate that I stay in contact with. That pleasantly turned out to be a non-event for me. He is now a History Professor at USNA and I was able to sit in on one of his classes which I really enjoyed. I can’t say how it will turn out for you because my experience is limited. I didn’t get asked directly about my situation but I did get the impression it would not be an issue for most of the people I talked to. Another classmate is testing the waters coming out to his companymates and so far they have been very supportive. I think you can expect the same.
10/4/2009 – Fraudulent “Gay Annapolis Grad” update
Today the Denver Post reported that Rick Glen Strandlof, a former mental patient who posed as a wounded Marine captain and graduate of the US Naval Academy, is being prosecuted under the Stolen Valor Act for making claims he received a Purple Heart.
http://www.denverpost.com/ci_13475253
On June 8th, an article appeared on page 10 of The New York Times about Richard G. Strandlof, who had for months taken on the identity of Rick Duncan, a gay Iraq war veteran who claimed to be a graduate of the U. S. Naval Academy. Has has made other appearances such as on CNN’s “AC360”
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/08/us/08phony.html?ref=us
http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/06/11/veteran.imposter/index.html?eref=rss_topstories
Some more basic facts as we knew them:
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10/8 – 10/11/2009 Many USNA Out Members Will Be in DC
Many USNA Out members are coming to the nation’s capital on Columbus Day Weekend — coinciding with the National Equality march and National Coming Day. I have tried to assimilate the plans of events which could be of interest into one schedule (read on below). More information can be found at http://equalityacrossamerica.org/blog/?page_id=19.
Please note that there are three events with “(Rec)” after them. That means Jeff “Recommended.” Those are either events that have proven to be great fun in the past, or are of paramount importance and especially worthy of making a priority in your schedule. It is going to be an extremely busy weekend, and I anticipate that some of the social venues like bars and dance clubs will not be able to accommodate all who wish to enter. Recommend arrival at events on military time — not fashionable (late) time.
I hope that many of you can join us! Go Navy!
Jeff Petrie
USNA ’89
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS . . . .
Continue reading “10/8 – 10/11/2009 Many USNA Out Members Will Be in DC”
9/10-9/12 2009 “President’s Circle” Weekend
USNA Out members Brian Bender ’93,
Steve Clark Hall ’75 and Joe Soto ’83
chat with the Brigade Staff
Three members of USNA Out — Steve Clark Hall ’75, Joe Soto ’83 and Brian Bender ’93 (all part of the Out of Annapolis gang) attended the USNA Foundation’s 2009 “President’s Circle” Weekend in Annapolis. This was the fourth straight year that USNA Out members have attended this special weekend hosted by the USNA Alumni Association and Foundation to recognize the generosity and support from alumni. USNA Out members who are logged onto this website can read a special USNA Out members only report of the weekend. We could not have felt more welcome by the Alumni Association Staff and
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8/30/2009 Annapolis 10 Miler
Joe Soto ’83 with Barb
still dry before running the
Annapolis 10 Miler 8/30/2009
USNA Out was running around Annapolis this weekend. At the race itself we got VIP parking right in front of the stadium for the tailgater. Smokin’ Joe ran a 76 and I had a PR of 1:46 despite the heat and humidity. Duh, it is August in Annapolis.
The day began with a power outage as I was putting in my contact lenses. (My fellow myopes-try putting them in by moonlight next time–it ain’t easy.) The weather at the start was 75 degrees and overcast–just a tease. At mile 3 (for me) the sunglasses went on as the sun beat down and cranked up the temps on King George St. The eventual winner blew past everybody (even the pace car at one point) and won by a 5 minute margin in 49 minutes. I saw him go by as we were on the bridge. Me at mile 4 and he at mile 8. Young whipper-snappers. The ice cold towels and the finisher’s shirts at the end are the best. Thanks to Jeff, MC and Kap who woke up early and rooted us on.
6/28/2009 – USNA Out members join Knights Out in SF Pride Parade
USNA Out leading the contingent
6/28/2009
On Sunday June 28th 2009, the 40th anniversary of the historic Stonewall Riots, history was made once again as, for the first time, a service academy GLBT alumni group marched proudly and openly as an official contingent in a gay pride parade. Three members of USNA Out (Jim Maguire ’88, Eric Shangle ’97 and Greer Puckett ’75) were among the 35 total members, family and allies of Knights Out, West Point’s GLBT alumni organization, who marched up Market Street during Sunday morning’s San Francisco Gay Pride Parade.
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