Smithsonian Shows Gay Sailor’s Poem

Smithsonian Shows Gay Sailor’s Poem

WASHINGTON (AP) – A Smithsonian Institution exhibit on submarines includes a poem by a sailor who was kicked out of the Navy for being gay.

« It’s kind of like a validation of my service, » said Tim Beauchamp, a native of Tulsa, Okla., who lives in Washington. « I was considering the Navy as a career. »

Beauchamp, a yeoman who served in the Navy for over four years, wrote « Sub Sailor’s Views on ‘Glasnost »’ in December 1987 on board the USS Henry Clay, a nuclear submarine patrolling the North Atlantic.

The poem is part of the exhibit « Fast Attacks & Boomers: Submarines in the Cold War » at the National Museum of American History. A copy of it is displayed on a sailor’s bunk in a part of the exhibit dealing with daily life on a submarine.

Harkening back to the days of the Cold War, the poem includes lines like, « Reagan and Gorbachev back and forth volley while Nancy and Raisa put on their best. Capitalist/Communist – Political folly! What does it matter? It’s East against West. »

Eight months after writing the poem, Beauchamp, now 36, received an honorable discharge from the Navy after his superiors discovered he was gay.

« The fact that such a committed and rule-bound serviceman was kicked out of the Navy for no other reason than being gay illustrates the stupidity and wastefulness of our current policy toward gays in the military, » said Rep. Barney Frank , D-Mass., an openly gay member of Congress.

Before his discharge, Beauchamp had been awarded a Good Conduct Medal, a Sea Service Ribbon and a letter of commendation.

When Beauchamp was in the military, homosexuals were prohibited from serving. Under the current « don’t ask, don’t tell » policy, homosexuals can serve so long as they do not engage in homosexual conduct or state their sexual preference.

Beauchamp, who has worked since his discharge as a computer systems analyst and a writer, said he’d forgotten about the poem until he came across it in an old notebook from his days as a submariner. It was included in the exhibit after Beauchamp’s partner brought it to the attention of the curator.