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On the weekend before Veterans Day, Chicagoans who have been discharged under the armed forces’ Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT) policy and have returned to their hometown, spoke to the ‘Chicago Says: Let Them Serve’ reception. They were joined by Darren Manzella.
Pictured #1 From left: Former Army medic Darren Manzella, SLDN Development Director Marijean Hall and former Marine Sgt. Eric Alva, the first American wounded in the Iraq War. #4 Travis (left) and Marquell Smith. Photos by Kat Fitzgerald.
Manzella is a former Army medic who, after anonymous harrassment by e-mail, sought help from his military supervisor in 2006 and was re-deployed to Iraq anyway, then discharged in June of this year after appearing on a 60 Minutes feature on the topic of gays in the military.
In the Chicago gathering were many gay veterans who had served in combat and for multiple terms of service. Some had reached full retirement, some had their careers cut short by DADT or by the outright ban on gays and lesbians serving in the military which existed before the policy.
The event was to raise funds and awareness of the federal law which supports the armed forces’ anti-gay policy and makes the military the only employer mandated by law to fire gay and lesbian people. The Servicemembers Legal Defense Network is the only organization working full-time to provide direct services to people impacted by DADT, act as a watchdog on military policy and work to overturn the law.
The event was sponsored by the City of Chicago Commission on Human Relations’ Advisory Council on LGBT Issue; the Oak Park Parents and Friends of Gays and Lesbians; and the American Veterans for Equal Rights and held at Northside College Prep High School in cooperation with the Lakeside Freedom Symphonic Band and Wind Ensemble’s concert, ‘Harmony and Discord, The Struggle for Peace,’ which Alva emceed. See www.sldn.org and www.chicagoSLDN.com. Text by Jean Albright and photos by Kat Fitzgerald; see www.MysticImagesPhotography.com