It's Memorial Day, a U.S. federal holiday formerly known as Decoration Day, a day set aside not for BBQs and to mark the beginning of summer, but for remembering our war dead, by cleaning and decorating their gravesites. Above is the grave of Leonard Matlovich, a brave Air Force Technical Sargent who served valiantly in the Vietnam War. Leonard was notably a Purple Heart and Bronze Star recipient and also an early and tireless champion for gay rights in the military long before "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."
He outed himself to his commanding officer to begin the fight for our freedom to serve openly. I remember him every year on the holidays we set aside for those who've served our nation and the cause of freedom.
Although Leonard did not live long enough to see victory in the fight he helped ignite, his bravest act is immortalized in the inscription on his memorial...
A Gay Vietnam Veteran
When I was in the military, they gave me a medal for killing two men and a discharge for loving one.
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