The lesbian cadet who quit West Point
in protest over “Don't Ask, Don't Tell” and had sought to rejoin
says she's abandoned the effort, the AP reported.
Katherine Miller said on Wednesday that
she accepted the academy's rejection for re-admission.
“Although I am deeply saddened that I
will not be readmitted to West Point, I understand and respect the
decision,” Miller, 21, said in a statement.
She said she plans to join the military
through officer candidate school after graduating from Yale
University, which she's now attending.
Miller, who was the ninth-ranked cadet
in her class of 1,157, resigned last August, two years into her
program, in protest of the military's ban on gay and bisexual troops
serving openly.
“At present, I find military service
to be incompatible with personal values,” she wrote in her letter
of resignation, which included the announcement that she's gay.
During her time at the school, the
policy banned her from revealing her sexual orientation to
classmates.
“In short, I have lied to my
classmates and compromised my integrity and my identity by adhering
to existing military policy,” she said.
Her departure before returning for her
third year means she doesn't owe the government service or
compensation for the education, training and benefits she received.
Miller, who came out gay at 17, is
taking gay-related curriculum at Yale University not offered at West
Point. She's also found a vibrant gay community at her new school.