Search EVPL
In honor of Veterans Day, learn about the contributions of veterans who are part of the LGBTQ+ community. You can pick up a set of trading cards featuring the veterans below at EVPL West, while supplies last.
Friedrich von Steuben
September 17, 1730 – November 28, 1794
At 33, Prussian soldier Friedrich von Steuben had served as aide de camp to Frederick the Great, who was rumored to be gay. Von Steuben found himself discharged from the Prussian Army after his own rumored relations with young men. Benjamin Franklin didn’t care. He was in Paris in 1777, and signed up the experienced soldier for his budding War of Independence. Steuben arrived at Valley Forge in February 1778 with his Italian greyhound, Azor, and his 17-year-old secretary, and set about remaking the ragtag colonial troops into a proper Continental Army. One of Washington’s last acts as general was a letter written to the Prussian signifying “in the strongest terms my entire [praise and approval] of your conduct.”
Albert Cashier
December 25, 1843 – October 10, 1915
Albert Cashier was assigned female at birth but enlisted in the Union Army as a man in 1862. While it wasn’t unheard of for women to pose as men to fight in the war, Private Cashier left his mark on history by continuing to live as a man for the rest of his life. In the final years of his life, he was incidentally outed after multiple medical emergencies. Despite this, Cashier was buried with full military honors, and his headstone is inscribed with his chosen name and military service.
Christine Jorgensen
May 30, 1926 – May 3, 1989
Christina Jorgensen gained notoriety after becoming the first person in the United States to successfully undergo successful gender reassignment surgery. Jorgensen served in the U.S. Army during and after World War II before being honorably discharged in December of 1946. She spoke openly and candidly about her life, understanding the impact her story could have.
“I was surprised that everyone seemed very interested in my life… time went on and I realized this was an important step in the eyes of the world.” – Christina Jorgensen
Frank Kameny
May 21, 1925 – October 11, 2011
Frank Kameny found himself a victim of the Lavender Scare when fired from his position as an astronomer with the U.S. Army Map Service after President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Executive Order 10450. This Executive Order made homosexuality grounds for dismissal for federal employees. Kameny appealed to federal courts and lost twice before taking the matter all the way to the Supreme Court. There, he made the argument that the government had no right to declare homosexuality immoral. The U.S. government issued a formal apology to Kameny in 2009, but wouldn’t fully repeal E.O. 10450 until eight years later in 2017.
Jose Sarria
December 13, 1922 – August 19, 2013
Jose Sarria was a Latino American drag performer and political activist who was the first openly gay person to run for public office in the United States. As a young man, Sarria served in World War II, becoming a staff sergeant. Eventually, he took a job as a waiter at the Black Cat Cafe in the North Beach neighborhood of San Francisco. There, he began singing while waiting tables and shortly thereafter started his long career as a drag performer. In 1965, Sarria founded the Imperial Court of San Francisco (now the International Court System), an association of charitable organizations that raises money primarily for gay causes. With nearly 70 chapters in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, it is one of the largest LGBTQ organizations in the world.
Eric Alva
December 19, 1970 – Present
Eric Fidelis Alva joined the United States Marine Corps in 1990 as a 19-year-old. He knew he was gay at a time when the military strictly barred LGBTQ+ service. Yet he served for 13 years, in Okinawa, Somalia, and finally Iraq, much of the time being out to his fellow Marines. Alva became the first U.S. Marine to be seriously injured in the [Iraq] war. The Texas native was in charge of 11 Marines in a supply unit when he stepped on a land mine and lost his right leg. In 2006, Alva joined the Human Rights Campaign and began working in 2007 to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” He testified before the House Armed Services Committee, “My being gay and even many of my colleagues knowing about it didn’t damage unit cohesion. They put their lives in my hands, and when I was injured, they risked their lives to save mine.”
Alan Greg Rogers
September 21, 1967 – January 27, 2008
Alan Greg Rogers, a U.S. Army major and intelligence officer, worked in his lifetime to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” with a group of fellow gay service members. However, he may be most remembered for the way his death contributed to LGBTQ+ civil rights. Rogers died in January 2008 while on foot patrol in Baghdad. His death coincided with the U.S. military death toll in Iraq reaching 4,000. While Rogers was out to many in the military and among friends, and many news organizations were aware of his orientation, coverage of his death uniformly failed to recognize that he was gay. Instead, mainstream media widely reported that Rogers “was not married and left no children.” According to the Washington Post’s ombudsman at the time, the news organization made an overt decision not to disclose Rogers’ sexuality. His posthumous closeting became an emblem of how “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” affected LGBTQ+ soldiers even after their lives ended.
Dan Choi
February 22, 1981 – Present
Dan Choi was a model soldier. A graduate of West Point in 2003, Choi earned degrees in Arabic and environmental engineering and served as an infantry officer in Iraq with the 10th Mountain Division in 2006 and 2007. But in 2009, Choi appeared on The Rachel Maddow Show and uttered three powerful, career-ending words: “I am gay.” That public admission broke Army regulations and earned Choi a prompt, dishonorable discharge. “This is to inform you that sufficient basis exists to initiate action for withdrawal of federal recognition in the Army National Guard for moral or professional dereliction,” Choi’s letter of dismissal read. “Specifically, you admitted publicly that you are a homosexual, which constitutes homosexual conduct.” Choi’s actions, and subsequent activism, helped supercharge efforts to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” DADT was signed out of law by President Obama in 2010.
Pete Buttigieg
January 19, 1982 – Present
Pete Buttigieg, the first out gay cabinet secretary in history, was serving the people of South Bend as their 32nd mayor when he was called up by the U.S. Navy Reserve in 2014 for a seven-month deployment to Afghanistan. The one-time presidential candidate was based at Bagram Air Base as part of a unit assigned to identify and disrupt terrorist financial networks. He also served as a driver for his unit commander on more than 100 trips to Kabul. The future transportation secretary referred to the role as “military Uber,” through a gauntlet of improvised explosive devices and potential ambushes into the capital. Buttigieg was awarded the Joint Service Commendation Medal before leaving the Reserve in 2017. He came out in 2015, following his deployment.
Bree Fram
Unknown – Present
In 2016, Bree Fram, an astronautical engineer, was an active duty Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Air Force when President Obama dropped the military’s ban on transgender service members. Fram came out as trans the very same day, and instantly became one of the highest-ranking out transgender officers in the U.S. military. Then, in a series of tweets written in July 2017, President Donald Trump wrote, “After consultation with my Generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States Government will not accept or allow transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military.” Suddenly, thousands of trans military personnel, who’d served openly for 18 months, would be forced back into the closet or kicked out of the U.S. Armed Forces altogether. In January 2021, President Joe Biden lifted the ban altogether. Now, Fram has fully transitioned, with the support of her wife and two kids. In August 2021, she joined the Space Force as a woman.
