Steve Clark Hall (born November 9, 1953) is a retired

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

submarine officer and documentary film maker. He is the first

openly gay Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBTQ people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. This is often framed and debated as a privacy issue, ...

senior U.S. Navy officer who is a graduate of the

U.S. Naval Academy The United States Naval Academy (USNA, Navy, or Annapolis) is a federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as Secretary of the Navy. The Naval Academy is the sec ...

Early life and education

Steve Clark Hall was born in San Francisco on November 9, 1953, and attended high school in

Eureka, California Eureka ( ; Wiyot: ; Hupa: ; ) is a city and the county seat of Humboldt County, located on the North Coast of California. The city is located on U.S. Route 101 on the shores of Humboldt Bay, north of San Francisco and south of the Oreg ...

. He was nominated to the U.S. Naval Academy by Senator John V. Tunney of California. He graduated with honors in the Class of 1975 with a Bachelor of Science in

Systems Engineering Systems engineering is an interdisciplinary field of engineering and engineering management that focuses on how to design, integrate, and manage complex systems over their Enterprise life cycle, life cycles. At its core, systems engineering uti ...

and rowed all four years on the Navy Lightweight Crew team. After completing his 20-year career as a

nuclear submarine A nuclear submarine is a submarine powered by a nuclear reactor, but not necessarily nuclear-armed. Nuclear submarines have considerable performance advantages over "conventional" (typically diesel-electric) submarines. Nuclear propulsion ...

r, he retired from Naval Service and returned to his home in the

Castro District The Castro District, commonly referred to as the Castro, is a neighborhood in Eureka Valley in San Francisco. The Castro was one of the first gay neighborhoods in the United States. Having transformed from a working-class neighborhood throug ...

of San Francisco.

Career

After graduation from Annapolis, Steve Clark Hall entered the nuclear submarine training pipeline at the

Naval Nuclear Power School The Nuclear Power School (NPS) is a technical training institution operated by the United States Navy in Goose Creek, South Carolina. It serves as a core component of the Navy’s program to prepare enlisted sailors, officers, and civilians emplo ...

Vallejo, California Vallejo ( ; ) is a city in Solano County, California, United States, and the second largest city in the North Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, Bay Area. Located on the shores of San Pablo Bay, the ci ...

. His sea tours included USS ''Haddock'' (SSN-621), Engineer Officer of USS ''Michigan'' (SSBN-727), as the Submarine Liaison Officer for Commander, Carrier Group THREE based at

NAS Alameda Naval Air Station Alameda (NAS Alameda) was a United States Navy Naval Air Station mostly in Alameda, California, with a slight portion of it within San Francisco proper, on San Francisco Bay. NAS Alameda had two runways: 13–31 measuring and ...

deploying on the carriers

USS Enterprise (CVN-65) USS ''Enterprise'' (CVN-65), formerly CVA(N)-65, is a decommissioned United States Navy aircraft carrier. In 1958, she became the first Nuclear marine propulsion, nuclear-powered aircraft carrier in the United States Navy, and the world, as we ...

and

USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) USS ''Carl Vinson'' (CVN-70) is the United States Navy's third supercarrier. She is named for Carl Vinson (1883–1981), a congressman from Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, in recognition of his contributions to the U.S. Navy. The ship was launch ...

, as Executive Officer of USS Permit (SSN-594) and as the

Commanding Officer The commanding officer (CO) or commander, or sometimes, if the incumbent is a general officer, commanding general (CG), is the officer in command of a military unit. The commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually give ...

of the nuclear submarines USS ''Greenling'' (SSN-614) (1992–94) and USS ''Drum'' (SSN-677) (1994–95) He was the commanding officer at the time the “Drum” collided with another ship in Hong Kong. His only shore assignment was as the Executive Officer (ashore) at the Navy Program Management Office,

Sunnyvale, California Sunnyvale () is a city located in the Santa Clara Valley in northwestern Santa Clara County, California, United States. Sunnyvale lies along the historic El Camino Real (California), El Camino Real and U.S. Route 101 in California, Highway 1 ...

Later work

After departing the U.S. Navy, Hall continued his public service, serving on the boards of various non-profit public benefit corporations including the Castro Area Planning + Action and the San Francisco Friends of City Planning. He served as President of

the Castro The Castro District, commonly referred to as the Castro, is a neighborhood in Eureka Valley in San Francisco. The Castro was one of the first gay neighborhoods in the United States. Having transformed from a working-class neighborhood throug ...

/Eureka Valley Neighborhood Association in 2008.

''Out of Annapolis'' project

Hall was one of 35

LGBTQ LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, Gay men, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning (sexuality and gender), questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, Asexuality, asexual, ...

Naval Academy alumni who sought official recognition from the U.S. Naval Academy Alumni Association as the USNA Out Chapter. In July 2007, Hall began the Out of Annapolis Project which included a detailed study of the LGBT alumni of the Naval Academy. He produced and directed the documentary film by the same name, which opened at the SVA Theater in New York in June 2010. In January 2009, after a front-page article in the Annapolis ''

Capital Capital and its variations may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** Capital region, a metropolitan region containing the capital ** List of national capitals * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Econom ...

'' brought significant awareness to the Out of Annapolis Project, Hall worked with LGBT alumni of the U.S. Military Academy to establish an association similar to USNA Out, Knights Out.

References

External links