I’m sure I’m among the older members of this group, having served in El Salvador from 1969 to 1972. Many of you might not know that homosexuals were not allowed to hold US Government positions until the law was changed when the U.S. Civil Service Commission ended the ban on homosexuals in federal civil service in 1975. So, from Peace Corps’ inception in 1961 until 1975, the application to join Peace Corps had this question: Do you have homosexual tendencies? An incalculable number of gay and lesbian applicants lied on a Federal application form, and had to go deeply underground during their service. I was one of those people.
Fast forward to 2008, and in completion of a Master’s degree, I submitted my thesis entitled Diversity’s Hidden Dimension: Gays and Lesbians in the Peace Corps with the attribution, “To the gays and lesbians who have served as Peace Corps Volunteers 1961 to 1991. We have a voice now.”
