Marine Still Backs Gay Ban but Says Son’s Case Changed Him

Marine Col. Frederick Peck, who revealed to a Senate committee earlier this month that his son is homosexual and then testified that gays should be banned from the military, said Tuesday that he has changed his stereotypical view of gay men.

“When you find out your son is gay and brings his lover to your home for a few days, it opens your eyes,” Peck said at a news conference at Camp Pendleton, where he heads the base’s public affairs office.

Despite acquiring a more open-minded view of homosexuals, Peck told reporters that he still opposes a proposal to allow gays to serve openly in the U.S. armed forces. He agreed with Pentagon officials who contend that homosexuality is incompatible with military service because it has a detrimental effect on morale and discipline.

Peck, 44, and his eldest son, Scott, 24, have received national attention since the elder Peck testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee on May 11. Peck said that his son, a student at the University of Maryland, informed him one week before his Senate testimony that he is homosexual. Peck has two other sons, ages 12 and 14.

Peck, described by acquaintances as a very private person, said that revealing his son’s sexual orientation and the ensuing media attention have been a painful process.

After his disclosure, Peck said, he received at least one telephoned death threat and a few pieces of hate mail.

“It’s been a very unusual couple of weeks for me and a rather uncomfortable time,” he said. He identified his son’s lover as a 29-year-old college graduate whose name is Bobby.

“I like Bobby, and am looking forward to having a continual relationship with him, because he’s important to my son,” Peck said.

According to Peck, his son wrestled with his homosexuality until a couple of years ago, when he began living openly as a gay man.

“He had girlfriends who came to the house. He said he was trying to be a heterosexual,” Peck said. “. . . My personal feeling is that Scott is the way he is because that’s the way he is. It’s not a choice.”

Perhaps his biggest regret for his son is the anticipation that he will be “rejected and scorned by a large number of the population” because of his homosexuality, Peck said.

Many of Peck’s colleagues, for example, have publicly stated that they do not approve of homosexuality.

In a Jan. 4 article in the Navy Times, Gen. Carl Mundy, Marine Corps commandant, is quoted as saying, “I don’t support homosexual conduct in the United States, period, or in the U.S. military, period.”

On Tuesday, Peck said he received a message from Mundy after his Senate testimony, but refused to reveal its contents. However, he said he has received “almost total support” from members of all branches in the military.

Still, Peck said he believes the Pentagon has a right to bar homosexuals from serving in the military.

“I think the military has a right to discriminate. No one has a right to serve. Serving is a privilege,” he said.

Peck also chafed at attempts by critics of the gay ban to compare it to the Pentagon’s decades-old opposition to integrating the armed forces after World War II.

“I reject that comparison, because your ethnicity doesn’t say anything about your (sexual) behavior,” Peck said. “. . . I would feel uncomfortable living with someone of a different sexual orientation. It’s not fair to expect the heterosexual community to accept that.”