Gay Pioneer Leonard Matlovich First TV Interview - May 26, 1975
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Uploaded by leonardmatlovichCOM on Jul 17, 2009
The fight for gay equality in the military is first brought into American living rooms by "CBS Evening News" legend Walter Cronkite introducing an interview with the first servicemember to challenge the ban, Leonard Matlovich.
Though Leonard was an experienced public speaker, he seems shy and uncertain in the brief interview because it was both his first appearance on national television and because he had such short notice that the interview was going to happen. After the story of his unprecedented test case broke that morning on the front page of the "New York Times," he got a call that CBS had chartered a plane to fly to Hampton, Virginia, where he was stationed at Langley Air Force Base, to interview him.
And, also because of what was happening behind the scenes that CBS, and the world at that time, didn't know. He had immediately called his mother in Florida to tell her that they finally had to tell his conservative Air Force vet father the two things he hadn't yet been told: that his only son, winner of a Purple Heart and Bronze Star, was gay AND threatening to sue his beloved Air Force.
He was shocked when his mother told him that it was too late. A syndicated version of the NYT's story had appeared in their local morning paper. His father read it, locked himself in his bedroom in which he cried for two hours, and, after exiting, never wavered in his support for Leonard. When next they met, he hugged his son for the first time since Leoanard had been a child.
For more information: www.leonardmatlovich.com
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Bless you for being a true American hero!
Bpers2001 3 months ago
That amount of courage, and disinterest in the status quo, doesn't usually accumulate in one person. But in Leonard Matlovich, it did. He was a person before his time. It is very sad he is not here today to see what his courage eventually led to. I salute an honourable man.
prixator 5 months ago
A true hero. A true pioneer. A very brave man. Thank you, Leonard Matlovich. May God Bless You.
beacher 5 months ago
Great man! I saw his grave today at ;Congressional Cemetary Washington, DC. Loved the words on the tombstone. It said "When I was in the military they gave me a medal for killing two men and a discharge for loving one" RIP Leonard Matlovich!
DCBIGBLKMN 1 year ago
Good Man
cmmndrblu 1 year ago
hi first person
bountytong1 2 years ago