Steve May is a politician from Arizona, a former member of the Arizona House of Representatives. May came to national attention in 1999 when, following a speech to the House in which he discussed his homosexuality, he was discharged from the United States Army Reserve under the gay-exclusionary law known as "don't ask, don't tell" (DADT).
May grew up in a Mormon household in Phoenix, Arizona, in the district he would later represent in the Legislature. He was an Eagle Scout and a member of the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps. He joined the Army Reserve, where he attained the rank of First Lieutenant. May unsuccessfully ran for the House in 1996 before winning a seat in 1998, as a Republican. May had run 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.[1]
On February 3, 1999, May spoke on the floor of the Arizona House about pending legislation on public funding for health care benefits for same-sex partners and discussed being gay. The Army initiated discharge proceedings as a result.[1] On September 17, 2000, an Army panel recommended May be discharged under DADT.[2] May fought to remain in service and was successful in challenging his proposed discharge before the end of his term of service. Pursuant to a settlement with the Army, May received an honorable discharge in May 2001 at the scheduled conclusion of his term of service.[3]
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May served as the chairman of the House Ways and Means committee and was instrumental in getting Arizona's sodomy law repealed.[4] In June 2000, May filed suit against the state of Arizona after receiving a parking ticket that included a mandatory 10% surcharge to be paid into a state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.[5]
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.[6] Following the loss, May developed SweetLeaf brand sweetener, based on the plant stevia, and served as Chief Operating Officer of Wisdom Natural Brands,[7] until retiring in 2008. When Arizona Representative John Shadegg announced his retirement in 2008 May announced plans to run for the seat,[8] but withdrew from the race when Shadegg announced he would seek another term after all.[9]
In 2010, May joined the race for Arizona's 17th District House seat as a write-in candidate.[10] 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.[11][12] District court judge David G. Campbell denied a request from the state Green Party to remove the candidates from the ballot.[13] 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,[14] May dropped out of the race.[15]