Thursday, September 27, 2007

In memory of Gay Hero Leonard Matlovich


Leonard Matlovich

A decorated Vietnam veteran who received a Bronze Star, the Purple Heart and an Air Force Commendation Medal for attending to wounded comrades during a mortar attack.


After publicly coming out he was discharged from the military.


Sgt. Matlovich assisted the ACLU with the ban on gays in the military.


His battle for reinstatement drew nationwide attention. Due to this attention he was on the cover of Time magazine in 1975.


He did win a honorable discharge in 1980.


In 1988 Matlovich die of AIDS complications.

On his tombstone it states:

When I was in the military they gave me a medal for killing two men and a discharge for loving one.

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