From where did the background music come?

The music for the production was written and performed by Heather Davies, USNA '93. There are five pieces currently included in the film, four of which were written specifically for “Out of Annapolis.”

Where can I see the final film?

OUT of ANNAPOLISwill be screened at two venues East Coast (New Fest/New YOrk and Q-Fest/Philly), two venues West Coast (including Frameline34) and one southwest venue. There have been other inquires, however no screenings have been scheduled as of now.

When will the film be released?

“Out of Annapolis” is expected to be released in June, 2010. A short trailer was completed in January, 2009.

Why are you making this movie?

The Producer/Director, Steve Clark Hall (USNA '75), has been a long time “visionary” at Frameline. The production was launched at the urging of the directors/staff of several LGBT film festivals including Frameline (SF), Three Dollar Bill Cinema (Seattle) the Pikes Peak Lavender Film Festival (Colorado Springs) who constantly seek out material which would be of interest to their audiences.

Will “Out of Annapolis” be shown at my local film festival?

Why can't you people just “stay in the closet?” Why do you need to ruin the reputation of the US Naval Academy?

Hmmm . . . this question has nothing to do with the film, but we have been getting asked this a lot, so we'll answer it anyway, second part first . . .

Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Dartmouth and Stanford all have equally or higher percentages of openly LGBT alumni than does the US Naval Academy. "Knights Out," the Organization of LGBT Alumni of The US Military Academy at West Point, is rapidly closing in on us. Perhaps you can tell us why the LGBT alumni of those fine institutions have not seemed to have tarnished the reputation of those schools. And we also know that the numbers of LGBT alumni at Colorado Springs are similar to Navy.

Most of the participants in the film might be happy with “staying in the closet” if we knew that all the LGBT alumni of the U. S. Naval Academy were safe and secure in their positions of leadership. But we know this is not the case. We know that many of them are deeply troubled about their status as a sexual minority in the military. We look forard to the day that all are treated equally.

Why do so many of the LGBT graduates of the U.S. Naval Academy decide to become Marine Corps Officers?

Good question, perhaps it is because the US Marine Corps is still looking for a few good men . . . . seriously, the disproportional number of Marine officers in the trailer is because it is only a trailer featuring a small number of the participants. We are studying ourselves to understand who we are. Initial findings are that we entered into every warfare specialty at about the same proportions as do graduates as a whole. You can read more about who we are on this website.

Isn't this film really being made for publicity and political purposes?

Obviously, there are many who would like to use a film such as OUt of ANNAPOLIS for political purposes. USNA Out has been offered assistance funds for the completion of the film, but all external funding requests have been refused so that USNA Out can maintain our story line uninfluenced by outside interests, even though some of us are closely aligned with those interests.

When interviewees are asked to talk about “why participate in this project” their motivation is not “to end Don't Ask Don't Tell.” What participants consistently reveal is that “no one ever again should have to feel that they are the only one, and go through what I went through alone.” “Don't Ask Don't Tell” only adds another layer of complexity for a midshipman (or cadet) or junior officer, most who come from very conservative and often very religious backgrounds, to cope with the realization that they aren't who they thought they were.

The projected release date of “Out of Annapolis” is late summer, 2009. We have been urged (particularly from LGBT alumni of other service academies) to broaden our expected distribution outside the LGBT film festivals to include legislators. Should “Don't Ask Don't Tell” still be effect by the time the “Out of Annapolis” is released, we will cross that bridge at that time.

Why did you “censor” my comments on YouTube?

The most likely reason your comments were deleted is because your comments or username didn't meet the YouTube Terms of Service or it appeared that you are currently serving on active duty.

We also note that most inappropriate comments appear to be coming from a rival service academy on the Hudson, which still won't make up for your six straight years of defeat on the football field.

Comments which are tawdry or vulgar are inappropriate. We do not censor comments which are reasonable and can provoke a useful dialog or discussion, provided that they are not from persons in the military. See DoD Directive 1344.10 for starters.

The DoD has not officially endorsed the production of this film, hence last we knew, DoD personnel are required to refrain from making any comments about it, we don't want you to get in any trouble over us.

My town doesn't have an LGBT film festival, how can we have “Out of Annapolis” shown in our local area?

Other than LGBT film festivals, there is currently no distribution plan for “Out of Annapolis” as the film is still in production. We expect that any potential distribution discussions would begin about the same time the film debuts.

June 2010 is a long way off, can't the release date be pushed ahead

No.