Watch: Out Marine Pilot Leaving Service after Homophobic Harassment: 'I Feel Segregated'

A Marine pilot and six-year military veteran says he's leaving the service after an episode of homophobic harassment he says has left him feeling "segregated" from his fellow service members, reports news channel KPBS.

Lt. Adam Adamski told the news station that he had "felt supported" for much of his stint in the military. But in November, 2019, the article said, "Adamski was invited to a West Coast Marine Corps Birthday Ball at Pala Casino Spa and Resort. He came back to the hotel room where the Marines had been holding an after-party."

Adamski described what he saw: "The TV had been moved, like on a pivot to face the doorway. And I saw my dress whites draped over and around the TV and there was hard-core gay porn playing."

Not wanting to make a big deal of the incident before his deployment, Adamski decided to "shrug the incident off, and let the matter go."

But he wasn't the only one affected by the prank.

"I received numerous calls from people that are in the closet, in that squadron," Lt. Adamski recalled. "Both men and women and openly gay service members. Telling me that they are upset. That the climate, especially for pilots, is not a good climate and they think that I should report it."

Unilad described what followed, writing, "Adamski later filed a complaint that was substantiated by a squadron commander and Navy Inspector General, who also offered to pull the offenders' wings."

But Adamski "instead requested, 'I want an in-person apology from all three of them. I want a meeting, in which they are there and I can talk to them.' "

Though "Don't Ask Don't Tell" - the policy that once allowed LGBTQ Americans to serve in uniform only so long as they kept their true selves as closely-guarded secret - was repealed a decade ago, the KPBS article noted that "A study in the journal Sexuality Research and Social Policy found 59% of service members surveyed still don't feel comfortable coming out to their peers."

Marine veteran and Lambda Legal attorney Sasha Buchert told the news channel, "It's one thing to have Don't Ask, Don't Tell removed. It's another thing to have a culture where people feel safe being who they are and not have to worry about being discriminated against."

As time passed. the pilot's private life and military career both began to suffer. His boyfriend, also in the military, had considered coming out, but decided not to when he saw how Adamski had been treated. Their relationship eventually ended. Adamski also stopped logging hours in the air.

"I lost a lot. I'm not happy," the officer told KPBS. "I no longer feel I'm an effective leader, an officer, a pilot. I don't feel part of the military anymore. I feel segregated."

Adamski has decided to retire rather than continue his military career. But that doesn't mean his fight is finished.

"I'm not someone who will back down easily or ever," the pilot told KPBS. "I'm not going to do it."

Watch the news clip below.