Can out gays and lesbians join ROTC even though they can’t serve in the military? Since the military doesn’t actually ask when you join I assume ROTC. If you got threw the program and got your commision then told your CO that your gay would you need to give back the scholarship money?
My understanding is that they do lose their scholarship and must pay back the scholarship money that was already disbursed to the school. I wish I could give you a cite, but trying to google news anything about “gay”, even with “ROTC” attached, brings up umpty-billion gay marriage articles and very little about anything else. Damn election year…
I would certainly think that “out” gays in ROTC, displaying specific actions counter to military rule, would be forced out of any scholarship program just as if they violated any other major “deal-breaker” rules (drugs, violent crime). The military can kick you out for homosexual behavior.
If they stayed “celibate” before and during their scholarship period, then declared themselves gay at the end, there would likely be an investigation into whether or not the subject knew they were taking advantange of the government. I believe there was a big Naval Academy case a few years back. Here is one similar case. This guy was going to have to pay back $86,000, but the Board of Correction of Naval Records overruled the decision and he didn’t have to.
If you are openly gay or lesbian, ROTC will not accept you into the program.
The problem generally occurs because students are often at an age where they are not yet sure of their sexual orientation, or willing to accept it. Sometimes they even join the military as a way to ‘go straight’. Then as they mature, they realize or accept that they are indeed gay or lesbian. (This is happening less frequently nowadays; the internet, cable tv, etc. makes information available to even the most isolated parts of the country.)
When ROTC graduates do ‘come out’, they are generally kicked out of the service.
There have been attempts by the military to punish them by forcing them to pay back the cost of their education. These have generally been thrown out by higher-ups or by Courts, on the grounds that it is the military that is kicking them out; the soldier was willing to serve out their hitch. The rulings being that it’s not fair for the military to terminate their contract, and then to demand reimbursement for them failing to complete that contract. So the military seems to have given up on attempting to collect ‘damages’ from people they throw out.