Military Freedom Day, 20 September 2011
by
Danny Ingram
President,
American Veterans For Equal Rights |
|
Here in Atlanta, we held
a Retreat Ceremony to mark the end of the last day of
the nearly 100 year old policy that denied lesbian, gay,
and bisexual Americans the right to serve in the United
States Armed forces. The event was held at the small
veterans' marker and flagpole that AVER has adopted and
used as the site of our annual Memorial Day ceremonies.
It is difficult for me to convey all the powerful
emotions that we experienced last night. For the first
time in my life, my brother came to one of my events.
Many of you will probably understand how important and
moving that was to me. My brother and I are not that
close. We have never discussed the gay issue. It touched
me deeper than I can express that he was there. My
former commander, the man who had the task of processing
my discharge, was also there, and he spoke. He ended by
saying, "If the situation was tough and I was under
heavy fire, there is no one I would rather have in my
foxhole fighting beside me than Sergeant Ingram".
The Atlanta Freedom Band played Taps, Retreat, and then
the national anthem as I lowered the flag. I had
requested a long drum roll. I got it. Colonel Arlene
Ackerman, the highest ranking female member of AVER,
gave the commands. As customary, I lowered the flag
during the anthem, and in the following silence we
removed the flag from its halyards, folded it, and
presented it to LTC Joe Staiano who donated the flag
last Memorial Day in memory of his son Dr. Anthony
Staiano, USN. I feel comfortable in claiming that the
honor guard who folded the flag was the the most diverse
in US history. We were male and female, Black, White,
and Latino, Gay, Straight, Lesbian, Bisexual, and
Transgender, with vets representing World War II, Korea,
Vietnam, Desert Storm, and the Global War on Terror. The
silence was powerful, and the following singing of "We
Will Never Die" by the 30 member OurSong LGBT chorus was
beautiful and fitting.
Civil Rights legend and Congressman John Lewis had been
scheduled to speak but was instead at the bedside of his
wife at Emory University. He did send a staff member and
a beautiful letter. In the letter he said,
"As a Member of Congress, as a citizen, and as your
brother I salute you. I applaud you for getting in the
way, for getting into what I call 'good trouble.' This
victory is the culmination of your efforts and it stands
as an honor to the great sacrifice made by you, your
loved ones, and those who came before you but did not
live to see this day. As I said on the floor of the
House of Representatives 'in the battlefield it does not
matter who you love, only the flag that you serve.' So
let us continue to look towards our flag and honor it by
continuing to fight for justice and equality. Let us
join hands and work together in forming the Beloved
Community. Remember that we are all one people, one
family, and we live together in this one house, the
American House."
Jack Strouss, one of our World War II veterans, who grew
up only a few blocks from the site of our ceremony,
spoke wearing his uniform. He received two standing
ovations, and during my commander's speech later, the
Colonel stopped and made a special gesture of saluting
Jack. All around, it was a wonderful celebration of love
and respect.
I ended my speech with the following words:
"America's greatness does not lie in our wealth or in
our power. Nor can our greatness be measured by our GDP
or our credit rating. America's greatness lies in our
enduring dedication to the dream of liberty and justice
for all, and our devotion to one united society where
every citizen shares equal rights, equal respect, and
equal responsibility. So as the sun rises tomorrow on
our nation forever changed, let there be be no doubt in
your mind or in your heart, that its rays shine down on
a United States of America greater than we have ever
been before."
In preparing for this event, and indeed this day, I have
been thinking a lot about Chuck Schoen, one of AVER's
founders, who I met in Palm Springs earlier this year.
What happened to Chuck, a veteran of World War II,
Korea, and Vietnam, being discharged less than honorably
from the United States Navy just shy of retirement,
after working his way up from enlisted to officer, just
for the company he chose to keep, is so extremely unjust
that it is hard to believe that our nation and the
guardians of our freedom could ever act in such a
deplorable way. I shared this story with the crowd last
night and saw their shocked reaction when they realized
there would be no happy ending to Chuck's story. I
couldn't give them one. All I could say was "What was
done to Chuck will not be done to anyone else, ever
again".
Today is Chuck's victory, along with all the rest of us
who have worked so hard to end this injustice. It is a
victory for the United States military, because no
matter how hard you attempt to gloss over the issue with
stories of "honoring diversity", eventually it becomes
painfully apparent that you just can't defend liberty if
you don't honor it. The defenders of freedom have taken
a step closer to being the representatives of freedom.
And America, once again bursting at the seams to evolve,
has taken a further step in the long process to become
more truly American. Today, the 20th day of September,
2011, America is more free than we were yesterday.
Despite the individuals who cling desperately to any
number of excuses to justify their unwillingness to be
generous with the freedom they inherited for no better
reason then their birth, America could not stop its
ongoing process of equality. Like those of us who served
in the armed forces, every elected official in the
United States takes some version of an oath to "support
and defend the Constitution of the United States of
America." Next fall, when politicians are running for
office, each of us should be sure to ask them what they
think about same-gender marriage. And if they oppose it,
we should ask them how they justify that position with
the 14th Amendment. Anyone who has taken an oath to
defend the Constitution and opposes full equality for
LGBT Americans has already broken their oath.
Finally, where the rubber hits the road, let us today
remember all the men and women serving overseas on the
battlefields of America's war on terror. Most of our
nation remains oblivious to the the wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan, and there are already grossly shameful
calls to cut benefits to the men and women honoring
their commitments to our nation with dedication and
courage. We must do everything in our power to stop
those voices calling for cuts to their benefits. Our
service members have honored their side of the bargain.
We must honor ours. For those people today marks a
simple and practical change. No American soldier, no
Marine, no Coast Guardsman, sailor, nor airman, will
ever again die in battle because the medic or corpsman
who could have saved his or her life was kicked out of
the military for being gay. That is the least that we
can do for them.
Danny Ingram, Triumphant National President
American Veterans for Equal Rights
©
2011 Gay Military Signal