Recommit to Ensuring Freedom for All This Fourth of July
Fourth of July is a time of celebrations; backyard barbeques, fireworks, pool parties, friends and family. It is a festive time to enjoy all that is good in America and show our collective patriotism. That goodness we enjoy today has been paid for with the sacrifices of men and women who’ve served our nation in every conflict dating back to the War for Independence. Many of those men and women never returned home to enjoy the benefits of their sacrifice.
It is important to remember this Fourth of July those service members who are still serving in harm’s way in two wars, protecting the freedoms we celebrate.
Thousands of these service members enjoy fewer freedoms than others because they have to lie every day about who they are. The law we call “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” mandates that gay and lesbian service members conceal who they are in order to serve their country, or get a one-way ticket back to civilianhood. These brave men and women cannot openly celebrate our nation’s freedoms with their loved ones without fear of being discharged from the military. Something as simple as taking your partner to a coworker’s house for a backyard barbeque, or going to watch fireworks could be enough to launch an investigation that would derail a promising career of service in the military.
Fourth of July weekend twelve years ago, one patriotic American paid the ultimate price for being who he was. Private First Class Barry Winchell was brutally murdered by another soldier in his unit who suspected Barry was gay. Since that horrible day Barry’s mother has been unwavering in her dedication to repeal DADT. She and her husband travel to Washington every year at their own expense to present the Barry Winchell Courage Award, honoring those who’ve made great strides to repeal DADT. Every year she’s given a standing ovation because of her love and sacrifice.
I’m optimistic because of the great momentum in Washington this summer to finally repeal DADT. We passed several critical votes in the House and the Senate. Now is the time to maintain pressure on our Senators as we approach our final vote in Congress. It is past time that our nation honors the sacrifices of all our patriots, gay and straight alike.
I look forward to next Fourth of July and a time where there will be no more stories like Barry’s.
07-02-10 By Former Air Force Major Mike Almy |
4 Comments
Comments for this entry are closed.Dino in Washington, DC on July 06, 2010 at 12.53 pm
Mike,
As always thank you for your courage and your service. I am glad you mentioned the late PFC Barry Winchell. I would yield my time for a debate any day with a supporter of keeping DADT, to tell the mother of PFC Winchell why the law is necessary. Also, I would also like to have someone tell the mother of the late Seaman Allan Schlinder, who was killed by fellow saliors in 1992 for being gay, why we need to keep the discriminatory law.
Michael @ LeonardMatlovich.com on July 03, 2010 at 11.16 am
“When Americans remember and honor those who gave their lives fighting, it never occurs to them that some of the strongest, bravest, and most heroic were also gay. It is time for us, as a community, to remedy that.”
– Leonard Matlovich, “The Advocate,” 1987.
Because we grow up internalizing the belief that LGBTs are somehow “other,” because we continue to be legally, in most places and most ways, a kind of second class citizen, many of us often feel disconnected, looking in on what it means to be “American,” our sense of self pressed up against the windowpane of patriotism. Whether it’s a cheery chorus singing, “This is MY country, to have and to hold,” a city billy belting his solipsistic, “I’m proud to be an American where at least I know I’m free,” or the more traditional anthems with their lyrics about “sweet land of liberty,” “Freedom’s holy light, and “liberty in law,” within some they can simultaneously resonate and raise the question, “When does Freedom ring for us?”
Until that question is answered, no matter what the law denies, no matter what bigots take away, they can never take away the fact that we are a people, that we have a history, that the Fourth of July is a part of it, and that WE are Americans, too. And, so, I share again the video of retired Navy CAPT & SLDN MAC member Mike Rankin, LT Dan Choi, former Army MAJ Andrea Hollen, and former Army CPT & ban victim Anthony Woods honoring the fallen at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier last fall in the name of all LGBTs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mF6Z03mDJzs
Of thee I sing.
Bill on July 02, 2010 at 06.30 pm
Just dawned on me: my apologies to the “hero” who is so active at trying to sink an end to DADT. He’s Navy, not Air Force. Otherwise, I stand by what I wrote.
Bill on July 02, 2010 at 06.25 pm
Mike— great thoughts. If the end of DADT reaches a safe landing, you will be on the short list of those who deserve the most credit for success. It is very sad that one of your oldest peers, one of the greatest American Air Force heroes, one of the most powerful men in our government, is now the one who it working hardest to produce a crash landing. I fear that those who do not closely follow the politics of ending DADT think the battle is already won. Probably most important now is the grass roots. There are a handful of key Senators who need to hear from masses of their constituents, straight and gay. As for those in Congress who already support ending DADT, their constituents should not forget to communicate profound thanks.