Email this page

Sentenced to 6 Months in Military Prison

Stephen Funk, 21 at the time of this interview, self-identifies as gay and “mixed race...I’m Filipino and Chinese; my dad’s Irish and Native American.”

Stephen refused to deploy when his Marine Reserve Corps unit was mobilized for active duty in Iraq. Instead, he engaged in anti-war work. After 47 days, he turned himself in. The Marine Corps promised it would quickly process his claim as a conscientious objector. Instead, the Corps court-martialed Stephen, convicting him of unauthorized absence (a higher charge of desertion didn’t stick), and sentencing him to six months in prison and a bad-conduct discharge. As this publication goes to press, Stephen has completed a six-month sentence in military prison at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, and is back home.

What affect did military recruiters have on your decisions, what tactics did they use to appeal to you?

I was in a really low, vulnerable time in my life, and I think recruiters know how to target people like that because they are more susceptible to joining. My recruiter encouraged me to come in and talk about what type of things I can learn from being in the military, and it still wasn’t working. He invited me to go along on these trips that they had and because I was feeling a sense like I didn’t belong, didn’t have a direction, those were the things that he talked about the most. You get a sense of belonging, you’re part of the team. I went to these places and they were trying to make me feel part of the team. Also, the recruiter tells people what [others] will say when you tell them you’ve joined the military. I didn’t talk to my family about it because I was depressed, and I didn’t tell them until two weeks before. But in a way my recruiter really encouraged me not to talk about it very much with people...” they are gonna discourage you from doing it, they’ll say, well that’s not really you, that’s not what you’re really like.” He was trying to make it seem like it was my decision to begin with, that I made a good decision, and that I should stay with that feeling.

Stephen Funk

What was it like, being gay in the military?

When people asked me in boot camp if I was gay, I didn’t say “no,” you know. I was just like, “well, I’m not gonna say.’” Even if I didn’t say it, everybody thought I was gay, and I didn’t try to act straight or anything. And even though [they’re] really not supposed to, drill sergeants referenced it. One time there was a guy, the platoon leader, who was a recruit like everybody else. He was supposed to get everybody out of the chow hall — that’s like the cafeteria — and I had gotten there last, so I was still hungry. I wasn’t gonna leave, I was being defiant. So the drill sergeant says to this guy, “Oh look, [you] can’t even scare the limp-wristed recruit from San Francisco into getting out.”

There was other stuff, there was stuff against Asians. And the two Asian recruits in our platoon, were the “laundry recruits” — you know like the Chinese laundry [stereotype]. So first [the drill sergeant’s] like, “Let me see where my Chinese recruits are at, let me try to figure out who is gonna be laundry recruits.” No one raised their hands, and then he said, “OK, Asian.” There were two of us, so we were the laundry recruits. And it was weird, there’s so much of that stuff that you start forgetting it, because it just seems so normal [that you forget that it hurts].

Boot camp is a normalization of violence and hate. Everyone goes through a process of dehumanization, where they hate themselves and they hate everybody, so [the soldiers] won’t feel so bad when they have to kill [others], or they won’t feel so bad when they have to hate “the enemy.”

Did you feel like you went through that process of dehumanization?

Did I learn self-hatred? No. Actually, it had the reverse effect on me, because when I went into boot camp, I was still in the closet to a lot of people, just because I didn’t want to tell some people in my life. So then I went into
boot camp and it made me realize how idiotic that was. At first I was really afraid, apprehensive, like, what if they think I’m gay, so I tried to be not obvious or anything. Then I was, like, “This is stupid.” By the end of boot camp I was more myself, and then I was more resolved to be honest about everything, because I was able to see the stupidity of [the lies].

How did the other recruits react to you?

The more hard-core recruits really hated me. I never really went along with the program, mainly because I thought what we were doing was immoral, having to yell “Kill!” all the time, having to be totally aggressive, and robotic in what we do, and [having] no individuality. That’s what was praised, things that I am really against. I was being challenged so much about holding onto my values, holding onto what I believe is right and wrong. I had to
defend that so much that my defenses and my convictions grew stronger.

At what point in boot camp did you realize that you didn’t want to be there, that you started thinking about doing something about it?

One time, when we were shooting rifles, I shot “expert” and I’d never shot a gun before. And the person scoring me said on my card that I had an attitude. And I don’t know what he means … so I asked him. That was weird in itself because you never challenge
authority, but I asked him, I said, ’What do you mean, I have an attitude? I shot well, didn’t I?” And he goes, “’In a real life situation you wouldn’t score as well.” I say, ’You’re right, I think killing is wrong, I don’t want to kill. I don’t want to be a part of that, I would not shoot.” It was like I had actually vocalized what I had been thinking. And at that point, it’s sort of like a “coming out of the closet” moment. It’s a realization [that] you just said it, you can’t take it back. After that I was like “Wow!” It was a relief, but it was also hard because I had to actually deal with the fact that I was a hypocrite. I’ll just admit it.

Would you comment on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell?”

I think [“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”] is an awful policy, because it perpetuates anti-gay sentiment, it helps people hate gay people. [But ] I don’t really advocate gay people serving in the military, because I don’t believe in the military mission as it is now. I think that if they just lifted [“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”] right now, the way things are, I think it would [still] be really bad for gay people in the military. Unless they unteach homophobia, and unteach the hatred toward gay people that they do teach in boot camp, unless they have something like that implemented as well, I don’t think it’s safe.

I got attacked by some gay newspapers... They were saying that not addressing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” was a sin of omission. But, like I said, that wasn’t my focus.

My focus was to get the information out that you can be a conscientious objector.

And so I got out that message, and lots of people wrote newspapers saying, “How do I get that information to my son or daughter?” And people in the service themselves wanted to know more about it, and I was able to get that information out and bring attention to conscientious objection. I think more stories started coming out about it afterwards. And then I was glad there was a voice of dissent, finally, because everything else by our own media had been downplayed and censored. Lots of people abroad wrote me, because it got international coverage, and they felt it was great that an American was standing up to this. But, I was glad to do that, that’s the part in history that I think is the coolest, people standing up for what they believe in, in the face of ... you know, standing up to the powers that be, saying something is wrong, and they won’t stand for it. People don’t really do much of that anymore.

Did you want your sexual orientation to be known when you first went public about your conscientious objection?

It is in my conscientious objector application, that being
gay is a part of what my beliefs are ... it’s obviously a part
of who I am, as somebody that is misunderstood by many people, who has experiences with hate. You can learn that that’s wrong or you can react and do it back [to those who hate you], and I learned that it was wrong. I experienced that as a minority, I experienced that as a poor person.

What advice would you give to other young folks, especially queer youth, who might be interested in joining the military or are currently serving?

As far as queer people, especially, this is what I would say to people that are gay or a minority or female or oppressed in other ways: Think about really what you are, what the military does, and how you are helping to perpetuate a bad situation for your people here at home, and who is benefiting from it. Who is benefiting from it are usually the people that are directly oppressing you. And that is why I would encourage people to think about it.

I would also encourage people not to join if they are in a depression, if they are joining because they want to escape something. [I would encourage people not to join if] they are joining because they want money for school, [because] you don’t get very much money.

[The military is] a culture of non-thinking, it’s a culture that’s violent, it’s a culture of aggression, it’s a situation that promotes alcoholism, and things like rape often occur because of that.

What was it like to decide to go against the U.S. military?

It’s obviously made it harder for me, but I’m glad I did. It
wasn’t something that I wanted to think about for the rest of my life, knowing I was part of the invasion of Iraq. I was extremely oppressed by being in the military, being gay, and I was oppressed because I didn’t go along with the program, and I was punished for that. And I think it is easier when you’ve experienced it, it gives you more momentum, something like that. Yeah, I’m glad I did it.

^ Top of page