Steve May Steve May ( born c . 1972 ) is a former politician from Arizona , where he served in the Arizona House of Representatives . He was openly gay when he ran for and served in the legislature . He was nevertheless recalled to active duty in the military . He came to national attention in 1999 when the U . S . Army attempted to discharge him from the United States Army Reserve under the gay - exclusionary law known as " don ' t ask , don ' t tell " ( DADT ) . May was born around 1972 and grew up in a Mormon household in Phoenix , Arizona , in the district he later represented in the state legislature . He was an Eagle Scout . He entered the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps in 1989 at the age of 17 at Claremont McKenna College and received his commission as an U . S . Army officer in 1993 . He served for two and a half years at Fort Riley , Kansas . His assignments included managing the integration of women into an all - male platoon . He left the Army with an honorable discharge in 1995 . May ran unsuccessfully for the House in 1996 before winning a seat in 1998 , as a Republican . He ran as an openly gay man and had secured the endorsement of the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund , a political action committee dedicated to helping elect openly LGBT candidates to public office . He and his family have engaged in protracted lawsuits about their competing business interests . On February 3 , 1999 , May spoke to a committee of the Arizona House about pending legislation that would prevent local jurisdictions from providing benefits to the domestic partners of their employees . He said : A few weeks later , as the Kosovo crisis was developing , he was recalled by the Army Reserves , where he attained the rank of First Lieutenant . He returned to duty in April and in May a local magazine reported on him under the headline " Gay Ring Wing Mormon Steve May is a Walking Talking Contradiction " . In July the Army notified him that he was under investigation for homosexuality . An Army spokesman commented in August : " I don ' t think that the individual has been , shall we say , keeping this under wraps , as to his sexual orientation . " In March 2000 , the Army asked him to resign and he refused . On September 17 , 2000 , an Army panel recommended May be given an honorable discharge under DADT . May fought to remain in service and in January 2001 the Army terminated its discharge proceedings . May received an honorable discharge in May 2001 at the scheduled conclusion of his term of service . During his time in office , May served as the chairman of the House Ways and Means committee and was instrumental in getting Arizona ' s sodomy law repealed . In June 2000 , May filed suit against the state of Arizona after receiving a parking ticket that included a mandatory 10 % surcharge to be paid into a state fund , enacted by referendum in 1998 , to provide subsidies to candidates for public office who agreed to certain campaign finance restrictions . May refused to pay the surcharge , claiming it was compelled political speech and an infringement of his rights under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution and also provisions of the Arizona Constitution . The Arizona Supreme Court ruled in 2002 that the surcharge did not violate May ' s rights . In 2002 , May lost his bid for re - election facing two fellow incumbents who were set to run against each other following redistricting pursuant to the 2000 United States Census , by 58 votes . Following the loss , May served as Chief Operating Officer of Wisdom Natural Brands , until retiring in 2008 . When Arizona Representative John Shadegg announced his retirement in 2008 May announced plans to run for the seat , but withdrew from the race when Shadegg announced he would seek another term after all . In 2010 , May joined the race for Arizona ' s 17th District House seat as a write - in candidate . In August , May was one of several Republicans named in a complaint filed by the Arizona Democratic Party , alleging that he conspired to recruit Mill Avenue street people to run as Green Party write - in " sham " candidates to pull votes from Democrats . May acknowledges that he recruited candidates but denies any conspiracy or wrongdoing . District court judge David G . Campbell denied a request from the state Green Party to remove the candidates from the ballot . Following the revelation of a 2009 guilty plea to a charge of driving under the influence of alcohol , for which May served ten days in jail and received three years of probation , May dropped out of the race .