WASHINGTON (AP) -- A Smithsonian Institution exhibit on submarines includes a poem by a sailor who was kicked out of the Navy for being gay.

"It's kind of like a validation of my service," said Tim Beauchamp, a native of Tulsa, Okla., who lives in Washington. "I was considering the Navy as a career."

Beauchamp, a yeoman who served in the Navy for over four years, wrote "Sub Sailor's Views on 'Glasnost"' in December 1987 on board the USS Henry Clay, a nuclear submarine patrolling the North Atlantic.

The poem is part of the exhibit "Fast Attacks & Boomers: Submarines in the Cold War" at the National Museum of American History. A copy of it is displayed on a sailor's bunk in a part of the exhibit dealing with daily life on a submarine.

Harkening back to the days of the Cold War, the poem includes lines like, "Reagan and Gorbachev back and forth volley while Nancy and Raisa put on their best. Capitalist/Communist -- Political folly! What does it matter? It's East against West."

Eight months after writing the poem, Beauchamp, now 36, received an honorable discharge from the Navy after his superiors discovered he was gay.

"The fact that such a committed and rule-bound serviceman was kicked out of the Navy for no other reason than being gay illustrates the stupidity and wastefulness of our current policy toward gays in the military," said Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., an openly gay member of Congress.

Before his discharge, Beauchamp had been awarded a Good Conduct Medal, a Sea Service Ribbon and a letter of commendation.

When Beauchamp was in the military, homosexuals were prohibited from serving. Under the current "don't ask, don't tell" policy, homosexuals can serve so long as they do not engage in homosexual conduct or state their sexual preference.

Beauchamp, who has worked since his discharge as a computer systems analyst and a writer, said he'd forgotten about the poem until he came across it in an old notebook from his days as a submariner. It was included in the exhibit after Beauchamp's partner brought it to the attention of the curator.

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Exhibit Shows "Stupidity" of Anti-Gay Policy
by Paul Johnson
365Gay.com International News Editor in Washington

(August 28, Washington) An exhibition at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC marking the centennial of the U.S. Navy's Submarine Force includes a poem by a gay sailor written aboard the USS Henry Clay in 1987. Ironically, several months after writing the poem, the sailor was thrown out of the Navy for being gay.

The Smithsonian's National Museum of American History is sponsoring an exhibition entitled "Fast Attacks and Boomers: Submarines in the Cold War" which explores the technology of the nuclear-powered submarines that played a major role in American policy and strategy during the Cold War years.

The exhibition also showcases life aboard ship through graphics, memorabilia, and submarine artifacts, and it includes a poem written by former US Navy sailor Timothy Beauchamp entitled Sub Sailor's Views on "Glasnost," a reflection on the waning days of the Cold War.

Beauchamp, a yeoman who served in the Navy for over 4 years, wrote the poem in December 1987 onboard the USS Henry Clay, a nuclear ballistic missile submarine patrolling the North Atlantic.

Eight months after he wrote the poem Beauchamp was discharged from the Navy, despite exemplary behaviour, when his superiors discovered that he was gay. Beauchamp had previously been awarded a Good Conduct Medal, a Sea Service Ribbon, and a Commander Submarine Squadron Fourteen Letter of Commendation..

"It's kind of like a validation of my service," said Tim Beauchamp, a native of Tulsa, Okla., who lives in Washington. "I was considering the Navy as a career."

Out Congressman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) said, "Beauchamp was a first-rate sailor who ably served our nation during a tense and perilous period in US history. The fact that such a committed and rule-bound serviceman was kicked out of the Navy for no other reason than being gay illustrates the stupidity and wastefulness of our current policy towards gays in the military."

In another matter, in August 1999 Beauchamp attended the House Judiciary Committee's hearing on hate crimes violence during which his partner Tony Orr testified how they had both suffered from a violent hate crime in Oklahoma that had not been adequately prosecuted by state authorities.