Washington DC, Memorial, Nov 11th

A Veterans Day Memorial Service in memory of the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender men and women who gave their lives in all our nation’s wars will be held at 3:00 p.m. on Tuesday, November 11, 2008, at the Congressional Cemetery, 1801 E. St. SE, in Washington.

Led the past five years by retired Navy medical officer and Vietnam veteran Capt. Michael Rankin, the service will take place at the gravesite of Sgt. Leonard Matlovich, one of the first to challenge the military’s exclusion of GLBT people from the armed forces. On Sgt. Matlovich’s stone is written these words: "They gave me a medal for killing two men and a discharge for loving one."

The posthumous honoree this year will be Major Alan Rogers, the first openly gay casualty of the war in Iraq to be buried in Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors. Friends will be present to speak about their comrade in arms.