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Denny Meyer
1946 - 201_ |
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Denny Meyer, the founder
and editor of Gay Military Signal, passed away
on -------- after a lengthy battle with cancer,
and other illnesses. He was also the
Public Affairs officer and Veterans Affairs
officer of American Veterans for Equal Rights,
and served as the Media Director for Transgender
American Veterans Association.
An activist for over 50
years, Denny was born to Holocaust refugee
parents in the post WWII era in New York City.
He said that his mother taught him that "There
is nothing more precious than American Freedom,"
which influenced him to leave college and
volunteer to serve his country during the
Vietnam war, "to pay my country back for my
family's freedom," after he saw fellow students
burn the American flag in protest against the
war. "I was very gay and very out, but I
wasn't going to let that stop me from doing what
I wanted to do," he said. He served for
ten years in two services, the Navy and Army
Reserve, leaving honorably as a Sergeant First
Class.
Denny Meyer's activism
began at the age of 13 in 1960 when he marched
for civil rights with the NAACP. He never
stopped. His work for the right of gay
people to serve openly in our armed forces began
in 2003 after he became multiply disabled.
"That was when I found my true purpose in life,"
he said. He founded the NYC chapter of
AVER and soon became a national officer.
His particular pleasure was serving as Veterans
Affairs officer, taking calls and e mails from
LGBT vets around the country, doing what he
could to advise them.
He founded Gay Military
Signal on July 4th, 2006. He had a fantasy
that it would be read in Congress; and just six
months after the first issue, he was astounded
when a Congressional staffer told him that it
was, in fact, widely read in Congress. "I
pissed in my pants when he told me that," he
said, "and began to take every word I wrote very
seriously. Later, when the Pentagon began
to seriously work on preparing for the end of
DADT, he was consulted on the process which led
to GMS being read there as well.
Anticipating the
eventuality of his illnesses, Denny made clear
that he felt that Gay Military Signal had
achieved its purpose of having some small
influence in the battle to end DADT and
following that in advocating for equal benefits
and telling the stories of patriotic LGBT
veterans. "The battles will go on and on,
of course," he said, "but, after the repeal of
DADT, Gay Military Signal served more to keep me
going. Other voices are already carrying
the torch to carry on the battle." And so,
herein is the last word for Gay Military Signal.
Click Archive above for
the five years of published articles.
