Chicago honored America’s LGBT veterans June 2 in Daley Plaza during ‘With Liberty and Justice for All,’ the only municipal military salute of its kind in the country.
There are more than 1 million gay veterans in the U.S. An estimated 65,000 lesbian and gay servicemembers currently serve in the armed forces. The event was presented by: The Chicago Commission on Human Relations’ Advisory Council on Veterans’ Affairs and Advisory Council on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Issues; American Veterans for Equal Rights; and Servicemembers Legal Defense Network. It was a celebration of LGBT people who have and continue to fight for the country.
‘Last weekend people gathered to honor soldiers who died in the Civil War. Today honors those who have continued the battle against discrimination,’ said keynote speaker Kathi Westcott, deputy director for law at Servicemembers Legal Defense Network. She is the organization’s primary attorney for military members impacted by ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.’ ‘These warriors fight fiercely, proudly, but, unfortunately, often in silence and sacrificing more than our country should ask of them or anyone,’ Westcott continued.
Vietnam veteran and former Army specialist Robert Bell was featured at the event. Bell served from 1966 to 1969 and was honorably discharged. Bell was a former chairman of the board for Horizons Community Services (Center on Halsted.)
Bell spoke of attending a parade for Vietnam veterans in 1986 and feeling that he could finally openly acknowledge his service to his country in an unpopular and hotly debated war.
‘There are a lot of parallels to that parade 20 years ago, and the first gay pride parade I marched in over 30 years ago,’ Bell said. ‘In each, I was apprehensive and I feared what would happen if anybody knew. Now I understand that it’s a process. It’s standing up for who you are and being proud of it. It’s taking a chance of actually finding yourself. It’s a journey we all make. Veterans, whether we’re members of the GLBT community or both, each represent coming out and integration of who we are.’
Congress is currently considering The Military Readiness Enhancement Act, a bill that would repeal ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ a policy that has, in the last 12 years, gotten more than 11,000 people involuntarily discharged from the armed forces because they are lesbian, gay or bisexual. Illinois Reps. Rahm Emanuel, Lane Evans, Luis Gutierrez, Jesse Jackson, Jr. and Jan Schakowsky are co-sponsors of the bill.