Washington Blade - September 26, 2003
Bryan Anderton

His headstone, a black granite slab adorned with two pink triangles, tells the story: "When I was in the military they gave me a medal for killing two men and a discharge for loving one."

Now a national group is hoping to get an official memorial honoring gay veterans built in Congressional Cemetery, where Matlovich is buried alongside other soldiers, congressmen and former FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover.

"We're very proud of our service," said retired Lt. Col. Nancy Russell, president of the gay veterans group American Veterans for Equal Rights and the project officer for the memorial. "Over the years, we have watched the military disparage gay and lesbian veterans, so we want some sort of visible memorial to that service."

The cemetery, located in southeast D.C., was first established in 1807 and is home to about 60,000 graves. It earned its name after a number of members of Congress were buried there in the 19th century.

But in the last decade it has become the final resting place for about a dozen or so gay veterans, many of whom, like Matlovich, use their tombstones to relay political messages about the military's ban on gays.

Representatives from the cemetery could not be reached for comment by press time.

Currently, under the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, gay soldiers are discharged if they reveal their sexual orientation. That policy extends even to their funerals. According to Jo Schuda, a spokesperson for the Dept. of Veterans Affairs, no reference about sexual orientation can be made on the tombstones of veterans buried in national cemeteries, including Arlington National Cemetery.

"That's the problem," said Jim Darby, a 71-year-old Chicago resident and Korean War Veteran. "Discrimination will follow you to the grave."

However, Schuda said veterans buried in national cemeteries could use the word "partner" on their tombstones, so long as they didn't specify the partner's name, "because ['partner'] could be used generically by anyone." She said heterosexual veterans buried in national cemeteries were also not allowed to reference their spouses by name on their tombstones.

Russell said AVER has been talking to officials from the cemetery for the past two years about building a memorial for gay veterans. She said cemetery officials had sent her a letter "expressing interest" in the project.

"They didn't say they were definitely going to build a memorial there, but they did say they were amenable to pursuing it," Russell said. She added that AVER was looking for submissions of possible designs for the memorial from artists.

A national gay veterans group is hoping to build a memorial to gay veterans at Congressional Cemetery. If the plan goes through, Congressional Cemetery will join several other cemeteries around the country with memorials for gay veterans. In August, a small marker honoring gay veterans was unveiled in Capitol Park in Sacramento, Calif., while another was erected in the National Cemetery in Phoenix.

1 million gay vets

According to a recent study completed by the Urban Institute, an estimated 1 million U.S. veterans are gay. The study showed that of the more than 25 million American veterans, about 4 percent self-identified as gay men or lesbians.

Still, the issue of gays in the military has been one that has divided the country for decades, and especially since the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy was enacted 10 years ago. But experts say the tide of opinion is changing on the issue.

"I think the gays in the military issue is a contentious issue that is always going to be somewhat divisive for some people," said Aaron Belkin, director of the Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military, a research unit of the University of California, Santa Barbara. "That said, I do think the polls show that the majority of the country is accepting of gays serving in the military."

Many critics have said issues relating to sexual orientation do not need to be addressed in cemeteries. Russell said she disagrees.

"It's similar to their question of why do we have to come out of the closet - can't we just stay in the closet so they can be comfortable?" Russell said.

"Having a memorial to the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered veterans who have served their country, it's like coming out of the closet. It's saying, 'We served too, and we want it to be known that we served with honor just like other veterans did.' "

Belkin echoes that sentiment. To him, a memorial for gay veterans is more about shining a light on a group that have served in the military despite being discriminated against openly.

"This memorial isn't so much about the politics of the gay ban so much as the heroics involved with serving in the military," Belkin said. "There have been more than 200 years of honorable and courageous service by gay and lesbian soldiers who have been persecuted and tormented throughout their lives who at the very least deserve formal recognition of their service in death."

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MORE INFO

American Veterans for Equal Rights

www.glbva.org

Congressional Cemetery

1801 E St., SE

Washington, DC 20003

202-543-0539

www.congressionalcemetery.org

030926
WB030913

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