MEMORIAL DAY

The Few, The Proud: 5 LGBT Military Heroes Of The “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” Repeal

rob-smith

Rob Smith is an openly gay Iraq war veteran, journalist, author, lecturer, and LGBT Activist. He served for 5 years in the United States Army as an Infantryman, earning the Army Commendation Medal and Combat Infantry Badge. After graduating with honors from Syracuse University, he became a noted journalist, with work published at Salon.com, USA Today, CNN.com, and The Huffington Post among many others.

This year, we celebrate only the second Memorial Day in history in which lesbian, gay, and bisexual soldiers are allowed to openly serve in the United States Military.  As a gay veteran myself who served under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” in Operation Iraqi Freedom exactly 10 years ago this year, it seemed completely outside of the realm of possibility to me at the time that gays would one day be able to be out and proud while serving their country.  What I wasn’t aware of, however, was not only the rich history of gay veterans who’d served before me but also those who would take up the mantle in the next few years and take the fight against DADT all the way to the White House.  What I also didn’t know is that I would be one of them.  In November of 2010, I joined fellow LGBT military veterans and activists protesting DADT and was arrested at the front gates of the White House.  Less than 30 days later, I was attending the signing of the legislation that repealed the discriminatory law once and for all.

While the end of DADT was an important step forward in recognizing the service of lesbian, gay, and bisexual veterans, there is still work that needs to be done.  Transgender people still aren’t allowed to serve openly, there remains no nondiscrimination policy based on sexual orientation in the United States Armed Forces, and the fight for same-sex military partner benefits on par with what spouses in heterosexual relationships receive is very much ongoing.  Still, the demise of DADT is something to celebrate, though on this Memorial Day when we traditionally stop as a country to recognize our fallen soldiers, we need to remember that we have fallen LGBT brothers and sisters as well.  In our CNN/MSNBC/YouTube era, we like to assign wins to one particular person or organization, but many, many people and organizations took a part in the ultimate demise of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.

On this Memorial Day, let’s recognize some of the lesser-known heroes of this movement.  Here, we can celebrate a few of our trailblazers, our fallen, and those who are going to lead the LGBT soldiers’ movement into the future.

Leonard Matlovich

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The granddaddy of the gay veterans’ movement, this Air Force tech sergeant was the first to out himself to fight the military’s pre-DADT outright ban on service by gays and lesbians. A recipient of both the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star, he also appeared on the cover of Time magazine in 1975, becoming a symbol of the post-Stonewall gay rights movement. After contracting HIV and participating in HIV/AIDS activism in the ‘80’s, Matlovich died of AIDS-related complications in 1988. His tombsone at the Congressional Cemetery reads: “A Gay Vietnam Veteran. When I was in the military, they gave me a medal for killing two men and a discharge for loving one.”

Alexander Nicholson and Jarrod Chaplowski 

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These two gay veterans co-founded Servicemembers United, an organization widely credited with placing the issue of repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell on the map in Washington, D.C., successfully getting the attention of groups such as the Human Rights Campaign and Servicemembers Legal Defense Network with more connections and deeper pockets to help with the fight. In 2012, Nicholson released Fighting to Serve: Behind the Scenes in the War to Repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”  Chaplowski is now a self-proclaimed “recovering lobbyist” who teaches English in Korea.

Corporal Andrew Wilfahrt

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Killed in Afghanistan in early 2011, Cpl. Wilfahrt is the first gay soldier to be lost to that war since the signing of the DADT repeal legislation (it didn’t go into effect until September of that year). Wilfahrt was openly gay in his military unit while deployed, and was merely a few days from returning to America at the time of his death. His parents have since taken up the mantle for marriage equality and gay rights in his native Minnesota. Corporal Wilfahrt’s story is the reminder that the ultimate sacrifice is made by LGBT soldiers, too.

Evelyn Thomas

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This former Marine and out lesbian was arrested twice at the White House while protesting DADT, once with other uniformed LGBT veterans and once with a contingent of LGBT veterans and civilian gay activists. Not only is she an important voice for the gay veterans’ movement, she is also an eloquent and impassioned activist for the rights of women in the armed forces, and has spoken openly about her rape at the hands of a superior officer in the hopes that the military’s culture of violence against women is curbed. She is the co-founder of Sanctuary Project, an organization that helps LGBT servicemembers navigate through the benefits claims process after they’ve separated from the military.

Autumn Sandeen

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As the fight for LGBT veterans’ rights shifts away from the DADT era and moves toward military partner benefits and transgender issues, this transgender Navy veteran is at the head of the pack. Along with Evelyn Thomas, she was arrested twice at the White House during the height of the DADT repeal protests, and since she has taken on the fight for open service by transgender people. She recently enjoyed a major win. After fighting for years to have her Navy records updated to reflect her current gender (she served as a male), she received a letter from the Pentagon notifying her of the change, making it the first time that the Department of Defense has changed the gender of anyone affiliated with the military on official records, and giving military trans rights advocates hope for the future.

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