Who I Am: West Point Cadet Katherine Miller Tells Her Story

By all accounts, Katherine Miller is a remarkable cadet. She is ranked ninth in her class of 1,100 at West Point, she maintains a 3.829 grade point average, and she can even do 68 push-ups in two minutes.

But instead of starting her junior year at West Point, Katie is in the process of leaving the military and transferring to Yale. She is resigning because of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. She described what led her to this decision last night on the Rachel Maddow Show.

Katie sat down to share her story with the New York Civil Liberties Union earlier this summer, and we were struck by her courage and poise in the face of such a difficult, personal decision. She talked about how she couldn’t continue to compromise her dignity and identity even though the military and West Point were her first loves.

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Since 1994, more than 13,500 service members have been discharged under Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, and who knows how many Katies there are who have voluntarily left. How many military service members and would-be members do we have to lose before Congress repeals this shameful, discriminatory and counterproductive policy?