THE SET-UP
Seth is a young Marine serving during wartime. Nicholas is his civilian longtime companion who waits back home. In addition to the strain on their relationship caused by distance and absence, they must hide their love for one another behind code words and secret identities because of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy barring gays and lesbians from serving openly in the United States military. Seth’s mother Anne assists them by providing the cover of a woman’s handwriting for Nicholas’ daily letters, but Nicholas and Seth’s resolve is starting to weaken. Jonas, another young gay Marine in Seth’s unit just coming to terms with his identity, forms an intense bond with Seth overseas. Tyson, a former Army soldier who got fed up with “don’t ask, don’t tell” and didn’t reenlist, now works alongside Nicholas, providing temptation as well as a reality check. When Seth returns home for an unexpected leave, with Jonas at his side, and post-traumatic stress following him from the battlefield, old relationships are tested, and new ones bloom.
Tyson and Seth are having an argument about their unexpectedly entangled personal lives, since they have both Nicholas and Jonas in common, and the fact that Seth has made the decision to stay in the Marines, despite the strain on his relationships, while Tyson decided not to re-enlist in the Army, and thus he’s back home with Nicholas, while Seth is not. Seth throws down the gauntlet for Tyson of how he could leave the other guys in his Army unit behind.
The full scene this speech is part of is also available here online under the title:
Who’s The Coward?
“It’s the most important thing I will ever do in my life and I am pissed as hell that they took that from me for no good reason. I didn’t abandon anyone. I was driven out.”
TYSON
Do I feel like I’m letting them down? The other guys that are still over there? Abandoning them?
Man, it’s like the soft spot on the top of a baby’s head – you just can’t help yourself, you gotta keep poking it.
I was, still am, very good at what I do. I would defuse tough situations and fight my way through ones that were beyond defusing.
It’s the most important thing I will ever do in my life and I am pissed as hell that they took that from me for no good reason. I didn’t abandon anyone. I was driven out.
I just couldn’t do it anymore, what you’re doing, I tried.
My time was up, I chose not to reenlist because I knew I’d just be signing up for more of the same. I was not gonna fall more in love with that job and sit around quivering in fear that some day they would kick me out because I went to a coffee shop and held hands with my boyfriend in public. Or got a letter or an email or a phone call from a guy I wasn’t related to. Or a man picks me up at the airport and gives me a hug.
Because it’s not just sex they’re scared of, it’s the illusion of intimacy between two men that’s not properly sanctioned by the U.S. armed forces. Which is hilarious, because let’s be honest, the military is the most homoerotic profession in the known universe. Large groups of men, obsessed with their physical appearance, eating together, showering together, exercising together, sleeping together. Seriously, just take random footage of the most ordinary day on the job, slap a porn music soundtrack on it and bingo, instant jackoff material. And they’re worried about me?! Gimme a break.
(photo: (left to right) Derek Ewing as Tyson and Ryan Henderson as Seth (facing away) in the 2011 Minneapolis production of “Leave” by Urban Samurai Productions; photography by Ron Ravensborg)
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