Citadel Photography Class with Tiffany Silverman and Alice Keeney, September 2011
Description:
William Lindsay Koob III (b. 1946) is a Citadel graduate (1968) who served fourteen years in US Army Intelligence, rising to the rank of Major. In 1987, while stationed at the Pentagon, he admitted under interrogation to being a homosexual and was forced to resign his commission rather than risk a messy investigation and a less-than-honorable discharge (this happened in the days before "Don't ask, don't tell.") A short time later, he came out to his parents and brother (also a Citadel grad) during a visit back home: “I told the whole story, and by the time I finished, I was in tears. My brother made a few supportive comments -- then, everyone sat and waited for a response from my father: the retired Army Colonel. There I was: the third generation of my family to serve in the military. But, my Dad just kind of sat there, looking down at the table. After awhile, he got up from the table, walked around to my seat ... and he pulled me to my feet, hugged me warmly, and said, ‘Son, I don't like it, I don't understand it, and I’m going to have to think about this for a long time ... but you're my son and I love you.’ Could I have asked for anything more? No.” Koob further reported that his Citadel classmates, following the leadership of their former cadet company commander, have been accepting of his homosexuality: “I am still one of the brotherhood," he said. "And, for that, I will be eternally grateful.” (Koob, Interview by Kerry Taylor 26 February and 24 April 2010). These days, Lindsay (known as "Bill" during his Citadel years) maintains his thriving "retirement career" as probably the only internationally-respected classical music critic and journalist to ever graduate from The Citadel.
