Editor's note: This weekend, seven local veterans - all touched by DADT - were selected to travel to Washington, to prep for the face-to-face opportunity to tell their stories to Congress on Veterans Lobby Day on DADT, Tuesday, May 11. SDGLN is profiling each of these veterans on a different day of the week leading up to and including Tuesday, May 11, so our readers can also hear their stories.

Jason Daniel Knight’s Baptist upbringing in a small, conservative southern-Pennsylvania town taught him that being gay was wrong. It was a sin. In fact, he had grown to have a deep-seated hatred for anything that resembled homosexuality.

When college and living out on his own weren’t working, he found himself in a recruiter’s office – somewhere he’d never imagined he’d be. Suddenly his future looked brighter and after signing a contract on Friday, he was off to bootcamp the following Monday.

That was April 2001, just five months before 9/11.

The Navy’s rules regarding homosexuality and DADT basically meant nothing to him because he had no idea at that time he was gay. Sure, he’d had some fleeting thoughts, but he chastised himself and moved on from them each time.

Bootcamp was a breeze. So much so that he was selected for the elite Ceremonial Guard.

Being a guardsman is not an easy task. After 6 weeks of intense training that makes bootcamp look like a picnic, these young sailors are representing the Navy – are the face of the Navy to the public – performing at official White House ceremonies, state and military funerals at Arlington or the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, ship commissionings and other official events.

Pride, discipline and the highest degree of military bearing are key to this position. Very few are selected, even fewer succeed and become a guardsman, like Knight.

Just a few months into his stint as a guardsman, AA Flight 77 struck the Pentagon. Knight’s duty station was just across the Potomac and members of the Guard were at the Pentagon that very day. It was a horrific day for everyone.

A confusing period
Knight began dating a female sailor he met in Washington and as it became time for him to transfer to Monterey to the Navy’s Defense Language Institute for CTI (Cryptologic Technician – Interpretive, a “linguist”) they decided to get married.

Because of his very religious upbringing, Knight was still a virgin at this point, but that would not change on his wedding night. When it came down to it, he just couldn’t do it.

“My wedding night it all came crashing down. I finally realized I was gay, but I couldn’t even say the word – even to myself.”

He sat his very confused new bride down and somehow found the words. They parted ways, filed for an annulment and haven’t spoken since the paperwork was filed.

Truth or consequences
Following Hebrew training in Monterey, he found himself in Fort Gordon, Ga. As a linguist, Knight worked in a SCIF – special compartmented information facility – a sensitive area which required one of the highest clearance levels of the Navy.

To have this level of access, you are highly scrutinized before being granted that access and it can be pulled at the drop of a hat. The CTI rating is another small, elite group; in fact, there were only 8 other CTIs who spoke Hebrew in the entire Navy.

Knight didn’t really give it much thought, but his wife had put “homosexual” as the reason on the paperwork they submitted for their annulment. A copy of which had also been given to the Navy.

Months later he was pulled out of the SCIF and sent to the Naval Investigative Service (NIS), all because of that annulment document.

His career thus far had been based upon pride and professionalism, so he felt if he just told the truth, everything would be okay. He explained that although he did indeed believe he was a homosexual, he had never acted upon his feelings. He just couldn’t bring himself to get married to a woman. He planned to put his career first.

That was all they needed to hear. Knight was yanked out of duty inside the SCIF as the investigation lingered. Knight realized being truthful was not “okay,” so whenever he was approached by his peers regarding what was going on, he began to lie, telling them he had performed a “security breach,” and was being investigated.

When the investigation closed, he was literally escorted off base. He had performed four of his six year contract so the Navy went after him for his $13,000 signing bonus. Signing bonuses are made available as a recruiting incentive to boost the numbers of qualified people in critical ratings, which CTI was one.

They zeroed out his bank account and began garnishing his income tax and wages, a constant reminder of his unseemly discharge that would follow him for several years.

Read Part 2 of Knight's amazing story, Monday, May 10, right here on SDGLN.

Morgan M. Hurley is the Copy Editor for SDGLN and a retired Navy Chief Petty Officer (CPO) who served both on active duty and the reserves for a total of 22 years. She can be reached at (877) 727-5446, x710 or at morgan@sdgln.com