Exhib Honors Gay Milary Veterans : NPR

Contents:

• THE REVOLUTNARY WAR HERO WHO WAS OPENLY GAY
• LEONARD MATLOVICH: THE GAY MILARY HERO YOU'VE PROBABLY NEVER HEARD OF
• "COMG OUT UNR FIRE": THE STORY OF GAY AND LBIAN SERVICEMEMBERS
• HISTORY’S GREATT GAY GENERAL
• EXHIB HONORS GAY MILARY VETERANS

THE REVOLUTNARY WAR HERO WHO WAS OPENLY GAY

”A earlier, the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” allowed gays and lbians to serve openly after centuri of hidg, persecutn and dishonorable, we salute some of the lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr and queer service members who paved the way for a more clive force. Ralph Earl via Getty ImagWhout this gay ary geni, the Contental army might not have won the Revolutnary War. Friedrich von Stben joed the Pssian army as a teen, eventually beg an ai--mp to Frerick the Great, who was also mored to be gay.

But In 1763, at 33, Stben was unceremonly discharged “unr a cloud, hound by accatns of havg relatns wh young men, ” acrdg to The Gay and Lbian Review. C., and the Stben Para, held each September down New York’s Fifth KamenyFrank Kameny Kennedy / Tribune News Service via Getty ImagOne of the Foundg Fathers of the morn gay rights movement, Frank Kameny enlisted the Army 1943, servg Europe throughout World War II.

After the war, he earned a doctorate at Harvard Universy and tght astronomy at Geetown Universy, In 1957, Kameny had jt started workg for the Army Map Service, wh hop of beg an astront, when he was termated after vtigators unvered evince he was a, then 32, appealed the firg, argug that flatly labelg gay people a secury risk was “no ls od than discrimatn based upon relig or racial grounds.

LEONARD MATLOVICH: THE GAY MILARY HERO YOU'VE PROBABLY NEVER HEARD OF

The jtic refed to hear the appeal, but marked the first time the high urt even nsired a civil rights se based on sexual orientatn — and galvanized Kameny to beg a lifelong activist for equaly for gays and years later, 1965, Kameny, Kay Tob and Barbara Gtgs started the Annual Remrs, the first anized picket protts for gay rights Ameri, held at Philalphia’s Inpennce Hall. In the 1970s, Kameny bee the first openly gay ndidate for Congrs and challenged the Amerin Psychiatric Associatn’s diagnosis of homosexualy as a mental disorr, acrdg to a 2015 Department of Labor 2009, the U.

Wh urage and strength, you fought back, ” said OPM Director John Berry, himself an out gay man, the Washgton Post December 2010, Kameny was ved to the Whe Hoe to wns Print Barack Obama sign the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” to law. ”Fannie Mae Clackum Though ls well known than Kameny, Clackum beme the first service member to succsfully challenge a ary discharge on the grounds of homosexualy. ”While the lg Clackum’s favor turned on due procs, rather than a rejectn of the ban on gays the ary, was the first time the Armed Forc had to answer for attacks on LGBTQ service MilkHarvey Milk outsi his mera shop San Francis 1977.

Bettmann ArchiveThough Harvey Milk is better known for his stnch gay activism, polil reer and tragic assassatn, he enlisted the U. Rather than face a urt-martial over his homosexualy, Milk was prsured to acceptg an “other than honorable” discharge. That ugly dismissal cut Milk loose to pursue other terts — he tght high school on Long Island, worked at an surance firm and Wall Street brokerage New York Cy and ultimately opened a mera shop on Castro Street San Francis, where his activist reer began was one of the first openly gay elected officials the U.

"COMG OUT UNR FIRE": THE STORY OF GAY AND LBIAN SERVICEMEMBERS

Many of our LGBTQ service members have given their liv for , like one of the first gay ary hero, Litenant Colonel John Lrens, who served durg the Amerin Revolutn. The false allegatns stemmed om public dislike of his prumed homosexualy, a dangero and irrponsible nflatn that is not all too unmon morn tim. He was forced to live as a gay man secrecy, preventg him om gettg the proper regnn for his achievements and succs.

HISTORY’S GREATT GAY GENERAL

Turng’s prosecutn for beg gay will live famy after all of the valiant efforts he ma to save hundreds of liv. Not only that, but she is also a gay rights activist and me out as beg a lbian for the first time durg a secury clearance terview. In an era before gay marriage or open pri, ary men fell love, formed passnate iendships and had same-sex enunters.

Historians also thk he was homosexual—and served as an openly gay man the ary at a time when sex between men was punished as a crime. ”After the war, von Stben legally adopted both men—a mon practice among gay men an age before same-sex marriage was legal. John Mulligan, who was also gay, served as von Stben’s secretary and is thought to have had a relatnship wh the baron.

Durg von Stben’s lifetime, the ncept of gay marriage, gay pri or g out was unthkable and there was no language or open culture of homosexualy.

EXHIB HONORS GAY MILARY VETERANS

But historil homosexual relatnships were actually don’t mean beg gay was ndoned: Sodomy was a crime lonial Ameri.

Perhaps, if wasn’t for Matlovich admtg his homosexualy to the Air Force 1975, today’s suatn would be have been different. Although there's no way to know every lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr hero through the centuri, we do know about some -- even as far back history as ancient 's our list of 16 (and, well, a few more) LGBT hero who ma the world a better place through acts of urage and serve to be remembered for their SippleIn many ways, the life story of Oliver Sipple, a gay former Mare who saved the life of Print Gerald R.