Veteran Activists
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Frank Kameny
Frank Kameny is a gay and lesbian civil rights movement pioneer and an American World War II veteran discharged from the Army for being gay. Kameny is noted for arguing the first civil rights claim based on sexual orientation before the U.S. Supreme Court, a claim that would ultimately be denied. ()
Leonard Matlovich
Leonard Matlovich was a former Air Force technical sergeant who rose to fame in the 1970's after challenging the DOD on its stance on gays in the military. Matlovich's September 1975 cover of Time Magazine is widely recognized as a symbol of gay and lesbian acceptance. He died in 1988 from AIDS-related complications. Matlovich is also well known for the epigraph on his tombstone, which reads: When I was in the military, they gave me a medal for killing two men and a discharge for loving one. )
Perry Watkins
Perry Watkins was drafted into the Army in 1968, despite admitting he was gay in his entrance exam. In 1989 Watkins successfully challenged the Army's anti-gay ban in Watkins v. United States Army and was subsequently reinstated into the United States military. Watkins died of AIDS-related complications in 1996. (r)
Vernon "Copy" Berg
Vernon "Copy" Berg father was a respected Navy chaplain who was present as his son's hearing while being discharged for being gay, and was the first Naval officer to publicly admit being gay. Berg received an other than honorable discharge, which he would successfully challenge and have upgraded to honorable. ()
Tracy Thorne
Tracy Thorne was discharged from the military after came out nationally on ABC's Nightline, later to be reinstated. Thorne would soon be discharged again under DADT, however, this time with the Supreme Court refusing his appeal. Thorne would later The University of Richmond School of Law and today works at the city of Richmond attorneys office violent crimes division. ()
Grethe Cammermeyer
Margarethe "Grethe" Cammermeyer was discharged in 1992 after revealing she was a lesbian in a security clearance interview. Two years later a federal district court in Seattle ruled her dismissal unconstitutional, allowing Grethe to return to work until her retirement in 1997. In 1995, Grethe's story was made into a TV movie starring Glenn Close, Serving in Silence. ()
Joseph Steffan
Joseph Steffan was expelled from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1987 after revealing he was gay to his fellow cadets. The following year Steffan sued for reinstatement, represented by Lamda Legal Defense and Education Fund. The U.S. district court ruled in favor of the Navy, which was reversed later by three-judge panel U.S. Courts of the District of Columbia on appeal, though his case would again be reversed by the full court. Steffan chose not to appeal this last reversal, and instead finished law school at the University of Connecticut. ()
Keith Meinhold
Keith Meinhold became he first American service member to return to active duty after being discharged for disclosing he was gay in 1992. He was also the first openly gay service member to retire with full military honors. (
Zoe Dunning
Zoe Dunning is a retired Navy Commander and lesbian who came out in support of then President Bill Clinton's campaign promise to allow gays to serve openly. Dunning was soon discharged when DADT came into effect, only to later be reinstated and serve openly for 14 years. ()
Paul Thomasson
Paul Thomasson is a former Navy pilot who came out to his command a day after DADT went into effect, later becoming the first person to challenge DADT on a constitutional basis. He had previously worked with Colin Powell and others responsible for bringing DADT into law. ()
Alan Steinman
Al Steinman served 25 years in the U.S. Coast Guard and is the most senior most military officer to identify as gay. He has tirelessly worked alongside Servicemembers United and Servicemembers Legal Defense Network in speaking out against DADT. (read more)
Reichen Lehmkuhl
Reichen Lehmkuhl is a former Air Force captain famous for winning season 4 of The Amazing Race. Lehmkuhl would later write Here's What We'll Say, an autobiography book discussing life under DADT. He is currently an actor and has designed a jewelry line - Fly Naked - with proceeds going to organizations fighting for repeal of DADT. ()
Alex Nicholson
Alex Nicholson is the founder and Executive Director of Servicemembers United, and a former U.S. Army human intelligence collector who was discharged under DADT. In 2005, Nicholson began organizing other gay and lesbian veterans to bring awareness about the injustices of DADT. The Call to Duty Tour was followed by "12,000 flags for 12,000 Patriots" event on the National Mall. Nicholson was featured in the February 2006 edition of The Advocate and continues to work as the executive director of Servicemembers United. ()
Jarrod Chlapowski
Jarrod Chlapowski enlisted in the U.S. Army in 2000 and trained as a Korean linguist and cryptologic voice interceptor at the Defense Language Institute and Goodfellow Air Force Base, finishing second in his class. After witnessing the discharges of quite a few fellow service members, Chlapowski chose not to re-enlist because of the excessive burden of the DADT law. In November 2005, Chlapowski teamed up with Alex Nicholson to develop the aggressive Call to Duty Tour, a seven-week public education initiative geared toward putting a human face on the DADT issue. He would later co-found Servicemembers United and currently works as a military consultant to The Human Rights Campaign. ()
Julianne Sohn
Julianne Sohn served for five years as a public affairs officer in the U.S. Marine Corps and Marine Reserve.In the spring of 2006, Sohn chose to speak out about her experiences serving under "Don’t Don’t Tell" and joined the Call to Duty Tour, a national speaking tour that sought to reignite debate about the "Don’t Don’t Tell" law. Sohn was subsequently forced to resign her commission under the "Don’t Don’t Tell" policy while in the Individual Ready Reserve in 2008. ()
Jason Knight
Jason Knight was a Navy Hebrew linguist who was discharged under DADT after he was revealed to be gay during divorce proceedings. Due to an error in his discharge paperwork, Knight was later recalled and deployed to Kuwait before once again being discharged under DADT. ()
Eric Alva
Staff Sergeant Eric Alva served in the United States Marine Corps for 13 years. In 2003, while on a convoy in Basra, Iraq, Staff Sgt. Alva stepped on a landmine which resulted in the loss of his right leg. He became the first American service member injured in OIF. He has since earned a Bachelor of Social Work in 2008 and works with the Human Rights Campaign and Servicemembers United in an effort to help repeal the DADT policy. ()
Darren Manzella
Darren Manzella came out on the national news program 60 Minutesin order to bring awareness about those living under DADT. Many in Manzella's unit were aware of his orientation - including his command - yet did nothing until he came out publicly on television. He became the first American service member to come out against DADT from a war-zone, Manzella was later discharged under DADT in June 2008. ()
Dan Choi
Dan Choi is a Captain in the Army National Guard and founder of Knights Out, a West Point LGBT alumni association. Choi came out publicly on The Rachel Maddow Show and, as of this writing, is still awaiting discharge. ()
Victor Fehrenbach
Victor Fehrenbach was forced to come out to his command after a male acquaintance falsely accused him of rape. Fehrenbach would aggressively publicize his situation, was later featured in numerous national television programs and named as the "Man of the Year" by Instinct magazine. (
Christopher Landavazo
Former Navy sailor and founder of the non-profit organization Cops4Causes ()
Brian Fricke
Former Marine and Iraq War veteran who chose not to re-enlist because of DADT ()
Justin Elize
Former service member Justin Elize was the first U.S. Marine to be discharged under DADT. He would then go on to challenge the law and court and serve an additional 4 years in the Marines as an openly gay man. He was arrested along with other anti-DADT activists for handcuffing himself to the White House gates in protest of the law.
