He missed the Navy every day, he said, but was relieved that he no longer had to be two different people. In his case, it was literal: To protect himself, he had two names and two listings in the phone book so that his military and gay friends would not overlap.
He came out to some of his Navy friends, for the first time, at a 2003 crew reunion and somewhat to his surprise, they were unruffled. "It was an invisible issue," he said.
That's what he has been hearing from the men and women who will appear in the film. "A lot of people have fears about their peers' acceptance of them," he said. "But when they come out to their peers and company mates and classmates, they all remark how impressed they are that their peers treat them just as they did."
The film will not include interviews with anyone currently at the academy, but both he and Petrie said that, despite the military's restrictive policy, gay midshipmen have a somewhat easier time than those who came before them. Because of groups like USNA Out, gay Mids know they are not alone, they said, and though it always involves taking a risk, some tell select friends about their sexual orientation.
Hall, who is hoping to finish the film in the spring, was back in Annapolis in early November to attend a gathering for donors and to shoot some footage of campus.
"When I go away from here and come back and see the yard - every time, I'm so amazed," he said. "It's such a beautiful campus."
He was down by the city's waterfront, and if he tilted his head he could just make out the green copper dome of the academy's chapel. He always gets nostalgic when he's around his old stamping grounds.
"It was a tremendous opportunity," he said, motioning toward campus. "I attribute where I am today in the world to having gone to this place."
