jessiethedrake: Just read first few words and thought, “…there was a gay Vietnam War?”
TooShiftyForYou: *Leonard personally designed his internationally known tombstone, incorporating the same kind of reflective black granite that was used in the construction of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall, inset with his famous quote and pink triangles referencing the emblem used to mark gays in Nazi concentration camps.*
*Note it does not bear his name—his last name inscribed at the foot of a granite grave border was to be the only indication that the grave was his. He wanted the stone itself to serve as a memorial to all gay veterans.*
Leonard Matlovich was a Vietnam War veteran who was the recipient of the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star. He is considered a major historical figure in the LGBTQ community for being the first openly gay soldier in the US military.
[Source](http://www.leonardmatlovich.com/storyofhisstone.html)
mike_pants: “You’re killing me.”
“Sorry, I’m a soldier.”
“No, with those eyes, bro.”
“Bro.”
J4CKR4BB1TSL1MS: > Throughout much of his military career, Sergeant Matlovich said, he lived in fear that his homosexual leanings would be discovered. But after visiting a gay bar in Florida and later becoming a practicing homosexual, he decided to test the military’s regulations banning homosexuality.
> After his public announcement of his sexual orientation and his subsequent discharge from the service, Mr. Matlovich became a national hero for the homosexual rights movement. He was featured in Time magazine, became active in gay rights organizations and ran unsuccessfully for political office in San Francisco, where he lived until last April, when he moved to West Hollywood.
We need his kind of (double) brave people to advance as a society, he may very well have contributed to other people in the military feeling more confident to come out and making it less of a taboo.
john22544: There’s a podcast called “Making gay history.” That I have really been enjoying lately. One of the episodes had a guy that had been drafted into Vietnam and was open and honest about being gay. They took him anyways. He served for 15 years, openly gay the entire time, before they kicked him out for being gay, he would have had a pension at 20.
http://makinggayhistory.com/podcast/perry-watkins/
Anyways personally I find these podcasts to be very worthwhile listening to anyone interested in the history of gay rights in the United States going back to the 40’s.
Gemmabeta: War, what is it good for?
applebrush: He should have slaughtered a village full of women and children instead of being gay. Then he would be considered a patriotic hero.
Bartomalow2: If you like this you may find this interesting:
Steve Buscemi was a firefighter who helped rescue survivors on 9/11
MichaelBolton23: But then shouldn’t 99% of the navy be discharged?
Ahehhwheej119283: This is why I can’t stand numbnuts who act like gay rights are just “wedge issues”.
pineapples_and_stuff: “and a discharge for discharging in one.” FTFY
dont_take_pills: When DADT was coming up for appeals, the Marine Corps Times sent out an invitation for active duty members to write a letter justifying your position about the situation.
Mine was one of the featured ones, but that was like, WAAAAAY back when. Almost a decade ago.
I really wish I had a copy of that around, because I made a really good argument for keeping DADT.
I completely disagree with it now. But it would be fun to read.
iwontmakeittomars: Lol… discharge…
Krasex: There’s a deeper message to be taken in which means that he got rewarded for killing and punished for loving.
smegsymeg: I once had a discharge while loving a man too
zipoforigin: That is savage and amazing. Vest ever.
zephyer19: I wonder if had turned downed the 160K and stayed in the Air Force, fighting the appeals, if gay rights in the military might of happened sooner.
dr00bles1: I didn’t realize until the end that this article was from 1988. I was thinking how outdated a lot of the narrative felt. Glad I was right.
It’s amazing how far we’ve come in less than 30 years.
I guess I also could have done the math given his age and the fact that he fought in Vietnam.
jeegsy: Almost sounds like he loved one of the guys he killed
lennyflank: Make love, not war.
Dubanx: >and a discharge for loving one.’
Some antibiotics could probably help with that discharge…
jaxative: Discharging into two men
Milk__Is__Racist: He didn’t even make it to 45 years old…. Sounds like AIDS
notonthisbus: There was a very old (audio only) compilation of bloopers. One that stood out was during a pre game show interview, an explanation of the most surprising event in a ladie’s life. She thought her husband was still overseas, but he woke her up standing by the bed with his discharge in his hand.
TheAdmiralCrunch: Well yeah your job in the military is killing people
reggie-hammond: On a tangent note, he was only despised by the *really good* americans. You know, the ones that threatened to kill Obama “for the good of the country” or who told the “gov’t to keep its hands off their medicare”.
Moral of the story: you can learn just as much about the type of person someone is by their list of enemies as you can by their list of friends.
Mr. Matlovich should be resting easy by the definition.
exackerly: I hope he had a doctor look at that discharge.
plasmaflare34: Im more surprised he got a medal for killing two men than anything. Thats nothing special in a battleground.
Guy1524: And he died at 44 of AIDS.
proudcanadian3410875: All men, gay or straight, should stand united against the great threat that is socialism/communism. United we’ll win.
AllLooseAndFunky: Well his job was to kill the enemy, and to not fuck other fellow soldiers in the ass. So yeah… spot on. You’re there to win a war, I’m all about you being able to suck cock when you get home…. if you won. If not, there’s no chance of this soldier being able to take a hot load to his face. Because you know… war
RetardsAdvocate: He was so gay that he died from AIDS.
You better open up some condoms before you open up dat ass.
Brazen_Serpent: Killing communists is moral.
Homosexuality is immoral.
Whaddaya Say?