I’m very proud of Justin Elzie and Tanya Domi, two LGBT veterans who served their country proudly and with honor for a combined total of twenty-four years. And I’m honored to call them friends and colleagues — colleagues because their writings often appears in these pages.
Today, they have an op-ed that was just published in CNN, titled, “‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy is discrimination in a time warp.” I won’t steal their thunder — you’ll have to read it on CNN, but here are a few passages that made me very proud, both as a writer and as a gay man:
“America’s buildup to World War II was a time when things were very different. The helicopter, ballpoint pen, canned beer and Scotch tape had just been invented.
“We were a country without atomic bombs. You could not yet order a transistor radio from Sears & Roebuck. Cell phones were a crazy idea of science fiction. Two of our recent presidents, and the current one, had not yet been born. In many states in 1941, blacks and whites could not drink from the same fountain, nor could they marry each other.”
“As we approach the end of the first decade of the 21st century, isn’t it time that we did away with a backward policy and yield to the American tradition of equality and dignity?”
Tonight you can see and hear them both. Tanya Domi will moderate a panel discussion in which Justin Elzie, along with fellow former LGBT Marine Corps servicemembers will read from their own writings. Featured along with Domi and Elzie will be Rich Merritt, Brett Edward Stout, and Evelyn Thomas.
Thomas and Elzie were both arrested Monday when they, along with eleven other LGBT GetEQUAL activists, chained themselves to the White House fence.
I hope you’ll read the piece, and, if you’re in the New York City area, visit the LGBT Center.