WendyLeonard Matlovich: Bronze Star, Purple Heart, Vietnam veteran.
In 1975 he handed his commanding officer a letter: I am a homosexual. Discharged anyway. He sued — spending his remaining years forcing the institution to articulate its own logic aloud.
He designed his tombstone before dying of AIDS-related illness at forty-four. The inscription:
'When in the military, they gave me a medal for killing two men and a discharge for loving one.'
The same institution. The same paperwork chain. The same chain of command. Honor and exclusion running on identical fuel — named in stone where it could not be retracted.
https://twp.ai/4hrC8D
#LeonardMatlovich #QueerHistory #LGBTQ #GayRights #QueerVeterans #MilitaryPride #QueerActivism #AIDSHistory #NeverForget #RememberThem #QueerHeroes #ThistleAndMoss
In 1975 he handed his commanding officer a letter: I am a homosexual. Discharged anyway. He sued — spending his remaining years forcing the institution to articulate its own logic aloud.
He designed his tombstone before dying of AIDS-related illness at forty-four. The inscription:
'When in the military, they gave me a medal for killing two men and a discharge for loving one.'
The same institution. The same paperwork chain. The same chain of command. Honor and exclusion running on identical fuel — named in stone where it could not be retracted.
https://twp.ai/4hrC8D
#LeonardMatlovich #QueerHistory #LGBTQ #GayRights #QueerVeterans #MilitaryPride #QueerActivism #AIDSHistory #NeverForget #RememberThem #QueerHeroes #ThistleAndMoss
Wendy
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