Cliff Arnesen's Biography

Cliff's dyslexia and inability to concentrate in school was exacerbated by the constant harassment, fear and physical abuse he endured from his father, who failed to reconcile with his estranged mother. Thus, Cliff's mother -- at the insistence of his father, who constantly called him "Stupid" -- responded by sending Cliff to the predominately African American Wiltwyck School for Boys in Esopus, N.Y. At age ten, he realized he was physically and emotionally attracted to several of the other 99 boys at school, just as much as he felt attracted to girls.

During the next four years, Cliff became friends with the late, great First Lady, Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt, who founded the Wiltwyck School for Boys. After his discharge from Wiltwyck, he spent another three years at the Floyd Patterson House for Boys, on East 18th Street in Manhattan, named after former Heavyweight Boxing Champion of the World, Floyd Patterson. Cliff found it more than coincidental that Patterson attended Wiltwyck before him, along with Claude Brown, author of the 1965 best-selling book: Manchild in the Promised Land. 

In 1965, as the war in Vietnam escalated, Cliff dropped out of high school during the beginning of the tenth grade. In an attempt to escape a life of physical abuse from his father and persistent poverty, he convinced his mother into signing a waiver so he could join the U.S. Army. After completing Basic Training, Advanced Infantry Training, and earning a military high school GED, Cliff was selected by his superiors to attend "Trainee Leadership School" at Fort Dix, N.J. No longer able to live life as a lie, Cliff told his Company Commander that he was gay. 

Thereafter, he was interrogated by the Central Intelligence Division (CID); ordered to see a psychiatrist; sent to a priest for counseling; marched to a court house in public through Fort Dix while a 17 year-old soldier trained a .45 caliber gun at his back, stating he would "shoot to kill" him if he tried to escape. 

Cliff was court-martialed and sentenced to a year of hard labor in a military prison. He served four months in segregated confinement as other prisoners had threatened to rape and kill him. 

Upon completion of his sentence, Cliff was sent back to his AIT unit for four months to face further threats of death and humiliation, until the Army finally gave him an Undesirable Discharge based on his homosexuality. This effectively precluded his receiving any and all VA medical or educational benefits, as the U.S. military -- then and now -- makes no distinction between one who is homosexual or bisexual. 

In protest to the humiliation he suffered at the hands of his superiors and fellow soldiers, as he was being escorted out of the front gate of Fort Dix under armed guard by two military police officers, Cliff took a lighter out of his pocket and burned his Undesirable Discharge and threw it on the ground, much to the horror of the MPs. "Then I hitched a ride back to Brooklyn with nothing but a subway token in my pocket," Cliff recalls somewhat nonchalantly.

"Returning home," Cliff says, "I nervously told my mother I was discharged because I liked guys, but instead of being angry she told me that she still loved me and it would be our 'secret.'" 

But the secret got out to his father when his mother died of breast cancer five months after his discharge. In turn, his father forever disowned him as his son. 

Later, due to the pain in his heart, Cliff petitioned the army for an upgrade in discharge, which was granted and changed from Undesirable to "General Under Honorable Conditions."

Nevertheless, Cliff continued on a 22 year binge of abusing himself with alcohol and drugs, "until I finally ended up having severe brain seizures and checked myself into a VA hospital in Boston in 1983," he says. "My doctor told me I would soon die if I continued to drink a quart of vodka per day," Cliff recalls with a shudder. 

Finally, he went to AA, and after a year of sobriety, went on to become the first person in his family to go to college, graduating with high honors. 

In 1988, while enrolled at Harvard University Extension School, he attended a meeting of the New England Gay & Lesbian Veterans in Boston. "After talking with my GLBT brothers and sister veterans, I dropped out of Harvard, ran for office and was elected president of NEGLBV," Cliff says proudly. 

Later in the winter of 1988, along with 12 officers and members of NEGLBV, Cliff attended a meeting at the Boston Vet Center with Dr. Paul Comacho, Associate Director of the William Joiner Center for the Study of War and Social Consequences at the University of Massachusetts. After the meeting, Dr. Camacho agreed to let GLB veterans join the Congressional Conference on the Concerns of Vietnam Veterans, held annually in Washington, D.C. 

Thus, in 1989 and 1990, he was afforded the opportunity to advocate on behalf of our country's GLB military veterans, when he became the first and only openly bisexual veteran in U.S. history to testify before the Congressional House Committee on Veterans Affairs: Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations.

In May 1997, along with officers and members of the Gay, Lesbian & Bisexual Veterans of America, and NEGLBV, Cliff attended two historic meetings: One at the Pentagon with Mr. Frederick Pang, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Force Management Policy; and one at The White House with "gay liaison" and Special Assistant to the President, Mr. Richard Socarides. They were there to voice their profound concern regarding the military's noncompliance with the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell , Don't Pursue (DADTDP)" policy. 

"DADTDP has resulted in the brutal and cowardly murders of U.S. Army PFC. Barry Winchell and U.S. Navy Seaman Allen Schindler, " Cliff exclaims. "It has inhumanely led to the discharge of nearly 5,000 servicemembers due to their sexual orientation, at a cost of approximately $200 million dollars to American taxpayers since its implementation in 1994," he says. 

"In sum, I had found an avenue in which to strike back at the military that almost destroyed my life and caused me to lie for years to my friends out of shame and fear due to my Undesirable discharge," Cliff said. "And, in the process, I found a sense of identity and great personal satisfaction in trying to make a difference in the lives of all of our country's GLBT veterans and the larger gay community." 

Throughout his long and painful journey through life, Cliff felt sustained by the inspirational words of his childhood friend Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt who said, "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent." 

Mrs. Roosevelt's simple words have inspired him all of his life to strive tenaciously to secure human and civil rights for all of God's gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered children. 

To this end, Cliff has never given his consent, and has been sober for 17 years. His speeches often conclude by imparting the uplifting spirit of his childhood mentor, Eleanor Roosevelt, when Cliff proudly proclaims: "God bless America, and God bless America's gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered citizens and military veterans." 

Cliff Arnesen's current appointments include: Vice-President, New England Gay, Lesbian & Bisexual Veterans, Inc.; (1 of 5) Co-Founders Gay, Lesbian & Bisexual Veterans of America, Inc.; Board Member, National Bisexual Advisory Board; Member, Alexander Hamilton, American Legion Post 448; and Member of the National Blinded Veterans Auxiliary.