By JOSHUA LYNSEN
Feb 28 2007, 11:46 AM |
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It
was a late autumn evening when Eric Alva, now a retired Marine staff sergeant
and the first U.S. service member injured in the Iraq war, decided to come out
as gay. -img-
The
decision, Alva said, came after his partner noted Alva lost his right leg while
defending freedoms neither man could fully enjoy.
Alva
said the words his partner spoke then in their San Antonio, Texas, home have
stayed with him.
“Look
at the rights that people are being denied,” Alva recalled his partner saying.
“And look at the rights that you are fighting for. Look at the rights that you
put your life on the line for, for this country. And yet you don’t get any of
them.
“He
made me raise my eyebrows. Like, ‘Oh my God, you’re right.’ I’m just a
second-class citizen who isn’t going to get anything unless I say something.
And I’m in a position to do something.”
That’s
why Alva — who was christened the war’s first hero and met President Bush after
he was injured by a land mine in March 2003 — came out as gay publicly on
Wednesday.
“There
are certain things you do in life at a certain time and a certain place,” he
told the Blade. “In my heart, I know this is the right time.”
Alva
now plans to work with Human Rights Campaign as part of the organization’s
renewed effort to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” which bars gays from serving
openly in the armed forces.
Rep.
Marty Meehan (D-Mass.) introduced a bill Wednesday backed by more than 100
other House members to repeal the 13-year-old policy. A companion Senate bill
is expected later this year.
“We
know that there’s no place in this country for discrimination, whether it’s
based on race, creed or sexual orientation,” he said. “And there’s no place for
institutional discrimination codified in the federal statutes.”
‘Country
has changed’
Gay
activists consider Meehan’s bill, the Military Readiness Enhancement Act, a key
priority for the 110th Congress.
C.
Dixon Osburn, executive director of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network,
an organization that backs Meehan’s bill, said public opinion favors ending
“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
A
poll last year by the Pew Research Center found 60 percent of Americans think
gays should be allowed to serve openly. In a separate poll last year of 545
soldiers who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, 73 percent of troops said they
were comfortable interacting with gay service members.
“The
country has changed, the military has changed,” Osburn said, “and now it’s time
for Congress to change.”
But
it’s unclear how Congress will react. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has
indicated she supports the repeal, but a spokesperson for Pelosi said, “It’s
hard to say where things are going.”
And
efforts to repeal the policy could meet fierce conservative resistance.
Peter
LaBarbera, president of Americans for Truth, said Meehan’s bill could “activate
the grassroots conservative movement.”
“It’s
the gay side that has been working so hard to change hearts and minds, whereas
the conservative side has not been that engaged,” he said. “But I think that
will quickly change.”
Nonetheless,
Meehan, who chairs a House Armed Services subcommittee and aims for a hearing
on his bill by May, said momentum to repeal the policy “is clearly on our side.”
“I
don’t have any doubt that it’s just a matter of time,” he said, “and the people
who are on the other side are simply on the wrong side of history.”
‘He’s
still Eric’
As
activists work to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” Alva said Americans should support
domestically the same ideals the nation is touting in Iraq.
“It’s
an opportunity to really test the guidelines of what everybody always talks
about in this country,” he said. “Everybody always preaches that everybody’s
equal in this country — everybody’s treated the same. We’re really not. I mean,
we’re not. This would be a test. If you feel that we’re the same, then repeal
the policy. Let people serve openly in the military.”
Alva,
who joined the Marines in 1990 at age 19, said being closeted had an adverse
affect on him.
“On
a professional level, no, because I knew I had a job to do,” he said. “On a
personal level, in some ways, yes, because it was hard for me to live sometimes
knowing that I was alone or that I couldn’t be open about who I wanted to
date.”
Although
he became accustomed to concealing his identity, Alva said he came out to
several Marines during his 13 years in the armed forces. He was never
questioned, though, or reprimanded for lying about his sexual orientation on
his military application.
But
he said there was one particularly awkward instance during which Alva and
another Marine were having drinks at a sports bar in Burbank, Calif.
After
the Marine commented on several women in the bar, he noticed Alva’s
dispassionate demeanor.
“He’s
like, ‘Dude, what’s the matter? Are you gay or something?’” Alva said. “And
just out of response — because I already had two margaritas in me, I was buzzed
— I just turned to him and said, ‘As a matter of fact,' ... ‘I am. So what do
you have to say about that, jerk off?’ He just looked at me and he goes, ‘Are
you serious?’ And I said, ‘I am.’”
Alva
said although the man pledged to keep the secret, it was soon leaked. But the
gossiping didn’t cause any harm.
“It
was amazing, because people respected me and liked me more than they did him,”
he said. “When he would tell people, everybody was like, ‘What’s your point?
He’s still Eric.’”
But
now the man who fought for fairness in Iraq will seek the same on Capitol Hill.
HRC
President Joe Solmonese said Alva will serve as the organization’s national
spokesperson on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” issues. Plans include public
appearances, a media campaign and meetings with key members of Congress.
“When
Eric Alva lost his leg in Iraq, it didn’t matter whether he was gay or
straight, only that he was a courageous American serving his country,” he said.
“The courage and sacrifice of gay and lesbian service members, like Eric Alva,
should be heralded, not silenced.”
Alva,
while relishing the opportunity, said he’s still becoming accustomed to his new
role.
“Thinking
that I’m going to be some poster boy, or given that title all over again — a
hero — I mean, to me, I’m just wanting to be your regular, average American
citizen who has a voice, who has a point to make and wants to empower other
people about the rights and equality of what people really deserve in this
country.”
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