Rear
Adm. Alan M. Steinman, MD, USPHS/USCC (Ret),
photo: Kmetz |
WITH
JUSTICE FOR ALL
A salute to America's Lesbian, Gay,
Bisexual,
and Transgender Veterans
Chicago’s Salute to LGBT
Veterans
By
RADM Alan M.
Steinman
USPHS/USCG (Ret)
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I recently had the privilege of serving as
keynote speaker at a remarkable public event. On
June 21 in the middle of the workday in the
center of downtown Chicago (Daley Plaza), the
city officially saluted the contributions and
service of LGBT veterans. This was the fifth
such event that Chicago has staged on our
behalf. It was the original idea of Jim Darby,
stalwart president of the Chicago chapter of the
American Veterans for Equal Rights (AVER) who in
2003 worked tirelessly with Chicago officials to
gain recognition for LGBT veterans. Rochelle
Crump, the former Director of Chicago’s
Advisory Council on Veterans Affairs was
instrumental in advocating for and founding this
event. And it has been an annual affair every
year since.
This year’s Salute was co-sponsored by
Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) and
by Log Cabin Republicans (LCR). Jean Albright
from SLDN and David Valkema from LCR deserve
special recognition for their efforts in making
this event a success. But above all, I would
like to recognize Bill Greaves of Chicago’s
City Commission on Human Relations. Bill is the
Director/Community Liaison for the Advisory
Council on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and
Transgender Issues, and it was upon his
shoulders that Mayor Daley placed responsibility
for making this event happen. Tammy Duckworth,
the State of Illinois Director of Veterans’
Affairs was originally scheduled to speak at the
event, but unavoidable circumstances prevented
her from doing so.
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There are two unique aspects of this event
that, for me, makes the Salute important. First
and foremost, Chicago is the only major
municipality in America to formally recognize
LGBT Veterans. That fact is both gratifying and
sad at the same time; it is gratifying to have
the nation’s third largest city officially
proclaim on our behalf, but it’s also sad that
Chicago is the only city to do so. That is
something we, as a community, should work on in
the future.
The
other aspect of Chicago’s Salute that
was important was the degree of
cooperation shown among most of the
major GLBT activist groups advocating
for repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.
AVER, SLDN, and LCR were formal sponsors
of the event, and HRC contributed
veteran members of its current Legacy of
Service Tour as speakers. As one who has
a foot in all of these organizations
(and others as well), I am personally
gratified to see how successful such
joint efforts can be.
Photo
by Kmetz: Ed Zasadil, WW II
Veteran, US Army Corps of
Engineers. |
The event itself had performances from
Chicago’s Gay Men’s Chorus, and the lesbian
rock group Betty. In addition, there was a
wreath laying ceremony performed by Air Force
veteran Ed Wosylus accompanied by a moving
performance of Echo Taps by Mellisa Terrell and
Susan Jones of Chicago’s Lakeside Pride
Freedom Band and a rendition of America the
Beautiful by US Navy veteran and resident
artist, “travis.”
U.S. Navy vet 'travis,' singing
America The Beautiful; photo: Kmetz
A highlight for me was the attendance of five
WWII veterans, one of whom, Ed Zasadil from the
Army Corps of Engineers, served as the color
guard for the posting of the colors.
Speakers at the event, in addition to myself,
included Antonio Agnone, who was recently a 1st
Lieutenant in the US Marine Corps, working as a
combat engineer in Iraq, and who now works for
the Human Rights Campaign in Washington, DC;
former Public Affairs officer for the US Marine
Corps Julianne Sohn, who served in Fallujah,
Iraq and who now serves as a police officer in
Los Angeles; Army veteran Alex Nicholson, who
was discharged under DADT but who now speaks
five languages, including Arabic and is
prevented from serving because he is gay; Alex
was the founder and former director of the
highly successful Call to Duty Tour; and former
Army specialist Jarrod Chlapowski, who is a
Korean linguist and who served as an openly gay
soldier during his entire enlistment; Jarrod
served in Korea and worked as an interpreter and
translator on more than 300 sensitive
reconnaissance operation missions. These young
veterans presented a highly moving and personal
focus on the DADT issue, and their stories not
only captivated the attention of the media and
those in attendance, but more importantly,
illustrate the immense loss of talent DADT
imposes on our Armed Forces.
Eventually, and hopefully sooner rather than
later, the DADT law will be repealed. And events
like Chicago’s Salute to LGBT Veterans and the
contributions of those mentioned above will have
played a role in that victory.
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