SFC Stacy Vasquez Oral History

title:

SFC Stacy Vasquez Oral History

creator:

Vasquez, Stacy J. (Cox)

subject:

Army

description:

Stacey Vasquez (formerly Cox) was born on December 24, 1972 in Denton, Texas. Her father was a Navy SEAL until she was around 10, so she grew up moving around rather regularly until settling in Denton again when he retired. She graduated early from Denton High School in the fall of 1991, and since she didn’t have a way to pay for college and her family has a long history of military service, she decided to enlist in the Army that year. She went to basic training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina and was somewhat quickly sent to her first overseas tour of duty in Mainz, Germany to work as a legal specialist. One of the officers she worked with there, Major Wells-Petry, wrote a book arguing that gay people should be excluded from the military because their presence in the service violated the right to privacy of straight people. While they remained friends for over a decade, after the Major found out Vasquez was gay, she stopped speaking to her. She remained in Germany until 1993, when she was stationed at Fort Irwin, California. She was the only woman who had ever been assigned to the armored cavalry regiment there, and although her first sergeant tried to get her moved elsewhere, the JAG office said she was their only option. She remained there until 1995, when she left active duty and joined the reserves. She was taking care of her brother at the time, and they were planning to ship her to a new station right before he graduated, so she decided to put him, her recently disabled father, and her new husband first. Six months later, she was called up for Operation Joint Endeavor and had to ship off to Germany for a year with 24-hours’ notice. Shortly after returning to the United States, she and her husband divorced, and she began to realize she might be gay. Because she kept being deployed while in the reserves and trying to earn a degree, she decided to go back into active duty in 1997. Her first assignment after returning to active duty was Fort Riley, Kansas, then Fort Stewart, Georgia. She was up for another hardship tour then and went to Pyongyang, South Korea for a year, which is where she was stationed when the Twin Towers and Pentagon were attacked on 9/11. When she returned to the United States, it was on recruitment duty, which she was only happy with because she was close to her parents. She was discharged in 2003 after she was accused of being gay, with the options of admitting it in a statement and receiving an honorable discharge, or facing a criminal investigation. Although an honorable discharge wasn’t meant to cut off her access to benefits, the military took her 26 years’ pension and disability money, saddling her with all of that debt. She worked with the Servicemember’s Legal Defense Network, and was eventually selected as a plaintiff in Cook v. Rumsfeld. She debated it for some time, but after a woman she knew from the Army died by suicide after telling her she was struggling with her sexuality, she decided to advocate publicly for gay people in the military. The military and federal government argued that mixing gay and straight people in places like bunks and showers was a violation of straight peoples’ privacy, but after Lawrence v. Texas established a right to privacy with regards to sexuality and sexual practices, they argued discharge due to their now-private sexuality and practices (if any in the first place) was illegal and an invasion of their privacy. As of this interview, the motion had been dismissed and they had yet to receive an update on their request for oral arguments. In the years following this interview, the legal challenge proposed in Cook v. Rumsfeld failed to end the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy. Upon her discharge Vasquez had reached the rank of sergeant 1st class, and for her service she was awarded an Army Commendation Medal with a silver oak leaf cluster, Army Achievement Medal with 4 bronze oak leaf clusters, Army Good Conduct Medal with a bronze clasp, National Defense Service Medal with a bronze Service Star, Armed Forces Reserve Medal with an "M" device, NCO Professional Development Ribbon with a Bronze Numeral 3, Army Service Ribbon, Army Overseas Service Ribbon with a Bronze Numeral 3, US Army Gold Recruiter Badge with 3 Sapphire Achievement Stars, and Army Basic Recruiter Badge with 3 Gold Achievements. A transcript of thins interview is available.

publisher:

Military Women's Memorial Foundation

contributor:

Scott, Kate M.

date:

2006-04-12

type:

Moving Image

format:

VHS

identifier:

959; 2006.959

source:

CLIR - Recordings at Risk

language:

English

relation:

604787

coverage:

1990s | 1991-2003

rights:

Unrestricted