Ninety Gay and Lesbian Service Members Killed in Iraq and Afghanistan
by Denny Meyer, editor gaymilitarysignal.com

According to Gary Gates, PhD, Senior Research Fellow at The Williams Institute, the number of Gay and Lesbian servicemembers killed in the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan is currently estimated to be 90.

In a very brief telephone interview on Monday (Aug 13, 2007), Dr. Gates was asked to make an estimate based upon his previous statistical analysis' of the number of gay and lesbian servicemembers on active duty in the current conflicts (which he estimated to be 2.5 % of the total).  Using the most recent rough figure of 3600 patriotic American servicemembers killed in action in Iraq and Afghanistan overall, he extrapolated that 90 of those would be gay or lesbian.

Although this was a rough statistical extrapolation made in response to an off the cuff question, it gives us an idea of the shared sacrifice made by our courageous volunteers serving and dieing in silence, along with all troops risking their lives daily in service to our nation.

For the partners of gay and lesbian servicemembers, however, there is no official word of their loss in combat, only a cessation of communication from their beloved.  This is because gay and lesbian servicemembers are required to keep their orientation and relationships secret.  Nor are their partners given the recognition and respect of receiving the American flag from the funeral coffin in honor of their sacrifice and loss.  For them there is only an empty silence in the service of a pointless policy of ideological bigotry.