 |
|
 |
| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
debateman
Joined: 05 Dec 2007
Posts: 349
Location: New Mexico
|
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
Kizzume
Site Admin
Joined: 31 Dec 1969
Posts: 2831
Location: Tacoma, WA USA
|
 Posted: Thu Dec 06, 2007 7:40 pm Post subject: |
 |
|
| Quote: | Veteran?s Day is a time to pay tribute to the soldiers of the U.S. Military who have fought ? and died ? for the American way of life.
Leonard Matlovich was one of those soldiers. But he had to fight against the military for his way of life. And this past weekend, a small group of Arlingtonians made sure he was remembered for his courage.
Matlovich was a highly decorated Air Force sergeant who had served three tours of duty in Vietnam when he informed a supervising officer in 1975 that he was a homosexual. After being discharged, Matlovich took the Air Force to court and became the poster boy for the burgeoning gay rights movement, appearing on the cover of Time magazine in a landmark story on gays in the military.
After five years of litigation, Matlovich eventually dropped the case and the military later instituted its controversial "Don?t Ask, Don?t Tell" policy. In the summer of 1987, he appeared on "Good Morning, America" and announced that he had been diagnosed with AIDS.
Matlovich died a year later in California and is now buried at Congressional Cemetery in Southeast Washington, D.C. His gravesite has become a landmark ? both physically and emotionally ? for those who advocate for the rights of gays in the military.
On the tombstone reads one of the most famous quotes in the gay rights movement, attributed to Matlovich: "When I was in the military, they gave me a medal for killing two men and a discharge for loving one." |
That was an interesting article. I should have more to say about it in the future.
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
jen
Joined: 05 Dec 2007
Posts: 69
|
| Posted: Thu Dec 06, 2007 7:41 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Wow. Great story. I wish that all of our Veterans were given the respect they deserve.
_________________
" The feeble tremble before opinion, the foolish defy it, the wise judge it, the skillful direct it." Jeanne-Marie Roland
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
You can attach files in this forum
You can download files in this forum
|
| |
|
