Robert Stout: in 2004, U.S. Army sergeant Robert Stout was seriously wounded by a rocket-powered grenade while fighting in northern Iraq.

Robert Stout: in 2004, U.S. Army sergeant Robert Stout was seriously wounded by a rocket-powered grenade while fighting in northern Iraq. After winning the Purple Heart, he created a firestorm after publicly coming out in various media reports. The Ohio native served his time in the military and left in May 2005. On returning to the United States he has met with members of Congress to try to get the "don't ask, don't tell" policy repealed.

What effect do you think you had in visiting Washington last year?

Leaving Washington I felt pretty good--I actually put a face on people in the military who are gay and lesbian. Before, it was always just numbers, and now it's a face and a person behind the numbers. But we need 65,000 faces. That's the estimated number of LGBT service members currently enlisted in the military.

What was the feeling about "don't ask, don't tell" on the ground?

Pretty much everybody I talked to, with the exception of a couple of people, thought that "don't ask, don't tell" was the biggest load ever. It's just another way to dehumanize the entire gay community, because everybody knows there are gay people serving-and yet [the military] hasn't fallen apart. The justification for "don't ask, don't tell" has been proved wrong time and time again. People are seeing that; it's just that nobody wants to stand up and say it.

The justification being that openly gay service members would undermine morale, which in your experience was not true. Why else do you oppose the policy?

It's inhuman. How can you expect American citizens to quite literally fight and die for their country when you can't--well, you can, but you won't--give them the same rights as every other human being? How can you call me an American citizen, expect me to pay taxes, and at the same time you won't even let me marry?

Speaking about marriage, you and your boyfriend are to be married later this year in Toronto, right?

We're heading up this spring because their government will allow us to. It's really a kick in the butt to say, "Good job serving five years in the United States Army, here's your Purple Heart for being wounded in a war that Bush started--oh, by the way, you have to go to another country to be married." When you wear the uniform of a country and then they turn their backs on you and you have to go somewhere else just to get rights and dignity, it's disgusting.

Many opponents of "don't ask, don't tell" are now casting the debate in national security terms, that discharging LGBT service members is detrimental to our efforts in Iraq and elsewhere. Do you agree?

Certainly, because just using the round number of 65,000, that's three divisions right there. We don't even have that many soldiers in Iraq right now. If every gay and lesbian service member came out, the military would be crippled fiat-out. If three full divisions of the military got kicked out, we'd be up crap creek without a paddle--or a canoe.

Having sewed in Iraq, what's your inside perspective on what will happen there? Is it a hopeless mess, or is a stable democratic state still possible?

I really have no idea what will ever happen with that country. But I do know that it's about time for our elected leaders to actually ask the president to put forth the facts--finally, completely, and utterly. Personally, it's a huge slap in the face that I was lied to to go to war, I was shot at by a rocket-propelled grenade because of a lie. I take great offense to that-especially when you add on the fact that I'm a second-class citizen.