Sailor at Odds With Navy’s Anti-Gay Policy : Military: Gulf War veteran is taking a stand against Pentagon’s ban on gay personnel.

Knowing that Department of Defense policy bars homosexuals from serving on active duty, Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Gregg Monsma said he nevertheless decided to lead a local veterans’ group whose membership is mostly gay and lesbian.

Monsma, 23, a crewman on the guided missile destroyer Berkeley, is the first active duty serviceman to be president of the San Diego Veterans Assn., which has about 80 paid members.

Its ranks also include non-gay veterans and service members of both sexes serving on active duty in the Navy and Marines. The association was founded in 1987.

Although the group is involved in a number of veterans issues, its members make no secret that their first priority is to act as a support group for gay veterans and gays now in the military.

As such, the association is at odds with the generals and admirals of the American military who are sworn to uphold the Defense Department’s ban on gay servicemen and women. The group’s defiance of the military policy is mirrored in Monsma, a Persian Gulf War veteran.

“This organization has taken a stand against the military’s policy on homosexual and bisexual servicemen and women. As a member and president of the SDVA, that means I’m also opposing the military’s policy,” Monsma said.

One reason he agreed to become president of the veteran’s group in January, even though he is on active duty, was to take a public stand against the policy on gays, Monsma said in a recent interview.

He wants to know how the Navy will react when it learns that one of its own is leading a veterans’ organization that is butting heads with the military.

“The Navy really doesn’t have a lot of options. If they remain silent, they will be saying that it’s OK to join a group like SDVA. Or, they can order me to give up my membership and position in the group, which I’m not prepared to do,” Monsma said.

Of course, the Navy can also try to force the young machinist’s mate out of the service.

“That’s the easiest thing they could do. But I don’t want the military to kick me out because I’m supposed to be gay. I want the military to decide whether an active duty person can join an organization that opposes its policy on gays. I want them to make a decision whether they can kick me out simply because they disagree with what I and the SDVA are doing and saying,” he said.

Monsma, a five-year Navy veteran, declined to say whether he is gay. He said he is married but separated from his wife of almost two years and is now living with a roommate, Andy G. Webb, in a Hillcrest apartment.

Webb, a lawyer and former Coast Guard officer, is also active in the association.

According to Monsma, his pro-active stand on gay rights has led to questions about his sexual preference among other shipmates. Before transferring to the Berkeley last year, Monsma was assigned to the Long Beach, a guided missile cruiser that served in the Persian Gulf War.

“While I was on the Long Beach, there were questions about my sexual preference. I never denied nor said that I was gay, because I didn’t think it was anybody’s business,” said Monsma, a native of Flagstaff, Ariz.

He said he was beaten by six shipmates from the Long Beach while the ship was docked at Bahrain.

“They beat me and called me a fag. Nobody came to my assistance, and I was scared for my life,” he said.

Navy officials in San Diego said Tuesday they were aware of neither Monsma nor the association. They referred questions about Monsma to Navy spokesmen in Washington, but officials were not available for comment.

When he was assigned to the Long Beach, Monsma said he was a nuclear technician, working on the ship’s nuclear reactor. He said he was falsely accused of forging signatures on a nuclear qualification standard, which certifies sailors for work on a ship’s reactor, and was subsequently disciplined.

According to Monsma, he was demoted one grade in rank to petty officer 3rd class and forbidden from re-enlisting when his current enlistment is up in August, 1993.

“My last command (on the Long Beach) knew I was involved in gay-related issues. My present command doesn’t know anything about this yet,” he said.

Although Navy officials in San Diego may not know about Monsma’s involvement in gay issues, it is not because he has tried to keep these activities a secret. Association vice president Jim Woodward, a former Navy officer, said Monsma has marched in the city’s last two Gay Pride parades and marched with gay veterans in last year’s Welcome Home parades for Persian Gulf veterans in San Diego and Oceanside.

Monsma said he is committed to gay rights issues.

“Just doing nothing is wrong. The only effective way to change the Department of Defense policy is to keep the public aware of it. . . . I oppose the policy of discrimination against homosexuals and bisexuals in the military. I’ve felt the effect of this anti-gay policy,” Monsma said.

He claimed the policy on homosexuals is not evenly applied throughout the Navy and that some commands have a more tolerant attitude toward homosexual and lesbian sailors.

“It’s not an even policy. We had a mess attendant on the Long Beach who was openly gay. He worked in the wardroom (officer’s mess), but the officers didn’t care about his sexual preference because he did his job and was well liked,” Monsma said.

“The fact is that these people are already a part of the military. The military needs to face up to this. And as long as they (homosexuals) can do their jobs according to the standards asked for by the military, what difference does it make whether you’re gay or a lesbian? I mean, what’s so wrong about being gay and wanting to serve your country?” he added.