Soldier of Change: From the Closet to the Forefront of the Gay Rights Movement by Stephen Snyder-Hill is the first memoir to be published by military personnel about serving under the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy. When “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” the official U.S. policy on gays serving in the military, was repealed in September 2011, soldier Stephen Snyder-Hill (then Captain Hill) was serving in Iraq.
Having endured years of this policy, which passively encouraged a culture of fear and secrecy for gay soldiers, Snyder-Hill submitted a video to a Republican primary debate held two days after the repeal. In the video he asked for the Republicans’ thoughts regarding the repeal and their plans, if any, to extend spousal benefits to legally married gay and lesbian soldiers. His video was booed by the audience on national television. Soldier of Change captures not only the media frenzy that followed that moment, placing Snyder-Hill at the forefront of this issue, but also his twenty-year journey as a gay man in the army: from self-loathing to self-acceptance to the most important battle of his life—protecting the disenfranchised.
Since that time, Snyder-Hill has traveled the country with his husband, giving interviews on major news “Stephen Snyder-Hill has written a compelling account of his experience as a closeted gay soldier in the era of Don't Ask, Don't Tell. It is at once a heart-wrenchingly intimate look at the corrosive consequences of being forced to live a double life, a love story, and a profile in hard-won courage,” said Christopher Goffard, staff writer for the Los Angeles Times. “The book chronicles his journey from fear and secrecy to an unforgettable moment on the national stage—and beyond.”