Memorial Day

The school was investigating three boys for misgendering a trans kid. This angered people so much that their bomb threats canceled the city’s Memorial Day parade.

These films tell the stories of LGBTQ people in the military.

We recognize these seven veterans from the American Revolution to the present who, while not having lost their lives in military action, sacrificed themselves in other ways.

Fox News hosts spent the weekend attacking the VP for saying “enjoy the long weekend,” days before the actual Memorial Day commemorating slain veterans. Their own news room was guilty of the same.

These revealing portraits show the pride and problems that LGBTQ veterans face every day.

Instead of remembering people who have died, he said that those dead people should be praising him.

These are the times we live in.

“Every veteran should be remembered and honored for their service.”

Memorial Day is about honoring not only those who died in foreign lands fighting for our freedom, but also those lost to far different battles at home.

On Memorial Day, let’s expand our definition of “patriot” while we remember and honor all of those serving our country.

Every year that I have lived and worked in this city I have always gone to Arlington National Cemetery to observe the Memorial Day ceremonies. Afterwards, I wander down through the grounds, just to watch, maybe to listen, but mostly to contemplate on the sacrifices made by those brave souls whose final resting place has become hallowed ground, a literal garden of stones. Arlington’s rolling hills are a place of extraordinary beauty, a fitting repository for the memory of the living history of the United States. Names from the history books leap off the pages as one strolls through the grounds…

They had grown up in eastern Ohio, in a small rural farming community. They played football, went fishing, did farm work, and discovered that after a few failed attempts at pursuing the fairer sex, that their real romantic interests laid in each other. By the time they had graduated from high school, the Vietnam conflict had escalated and rather than wait to get drafted, they decided to join the U.S. Marines together. They went to boot camp and not long after graduation found themselves on troop planes headed for Vietnam…

For me, Memorial Day is about honoring not only those who died fighting for our freedom, but also those closer, lost to far different battles, particularly AIDS. … And so, this Memorial Day, I’ll pause and honor the many of my own troops who have fallen in battle. They may not have had the uniform or the recognition of our armed forces, but the wars they fought were just as valiant, and I, for one, am richer for their many, varied gifts and sacrifices.

While all Americans have a right to serve openly in the military, without regard to sexual orientation, thanks to the repeal of the ‘Don’t ask don’t tell’ law, LGBT servicemembers still suffer rampant discrimination with regard to marriage equality, green card sponsorship of binational partners or spouses and a host of other missing benefits caused by lack of equality under the civil law of the U.S.A.

For me, Memorial Day is about honoring not only those who died fighting for our freedom, but also those closer, lost to far different battles, particularly AIDS. … And so, this Memorial Day, I’ll pause and honor the many of my own troops who have fallen in battle. They may not have had the uniform or the recognition of our armed forces, but the wars they fought were just as valiant, and I, for one, am richer for their many, varied gifts and sacrifices.