Today is "Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day."
Seventy-one years ago today, the forces of Imperial Japan attacked the U.S. Armed Forces at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii setting into motion America's entry into World War II. Although very few survivors of that day remain, their stories have been recorded and preserved for future generations. And among the brave men who endured the carnage of that day and the long war which followed were gay service men and women whose stories are lesser known, but equally important.
December 7th 1941 marked a significant turning point in American culture, attitudes and beliefs. Along with the death and devastation of war, new understandings of what it meant to be an American were also born on that day. And as "the sleeping giant" was awakened from a weary depression era stupor, American culture would set off on the path that has led it to this present day and to the future that finally looks much brighter for her GLBT citizens. Although we were always there, GLBT Americans were more or less invisible and in hiding, but with the arrival of war, we began to take our first feeble steps from the shadows and into the light of truth. The stories of those brave men and women who faced our enemies both in war and at home deserve to be told and remembered.
When Freedom Called, We Always Answered
We Were There!
"Fear Eats the Soul"
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