National Equality March / Tracy Thorne-Begland / DADT Protest & Memorial for Leonard Matlovich

TRACY THORNE-BEGLAND speaking at the DADT Protest & Memorial for Leonard Matlovich in DC the day before the National Equality March. He was only 25 but already a highly rated Navy Lt. and Top Gun when he stood next to the jet hed flown so often in May of 1992 and realized it was the last time. I knew I was not going to fly again—for six days later he outed himself on national TV to fight the ban on gay servicemembers, and within hours the Navy removed his call sign from the side of the plane. Like Leonard years before, he was one of the few to ever volunteer to challenge the policy, and the first officer. Though Gov. Bill Clinton had yet to secure the Partys presidential nomination, efforts were already underway in Congress to overturn the ban, and Tracy and Navy Petty Officer Keith Meinhold came forward on the same day. The next spring, he was one of several gay vets on the five-week, 32-city cross-country bus Tour of Duty to drum up public support. He was one of two against the ban out of 17 witnesses that demagogue Sam Nunn allowed to testify before a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing at Norfolk Naval Base, a process Tracy aptly characterized as Nunns dog and pony show where he was jeered by 1000 sailors and Marines. To wild applause and laughter, infamous racist Senator Strom Thurmond told him, "Your lifestyle is not normal. It's not normal for a man to want to be with a man or a woman with a woman, asking if he had ever considered getting help from a medical or psychiatric standpoint. A court reinstated him after his pre-DADT discharge but, despite his exemplary record and the millions of dollars spent to train him, he was discharged again under DADT, the Supreme Court refusing to hear his appeal.

For more information:

http://www.leonardmatlovich.com/oct10thdcmemorial.html

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• National Equality March
• Leonard Matlovich
• Tracy Thorne-Begland
• gays
• military
• Dan Choi
• DADT

[08Shards]

Great share on Memorial Day... sending out.