Newly Out Gay Vet Urges Americans to End Don't Ask, Don't Tell

The first American wounded in Iraq was a gay Marine. His buddies knew it as they rushed to his shattered body. Now, he wants the nation to know, as Congress weighs whether to repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell.

In the early hours of the U.S. ground invasion of Iraq in March 2003, Marine Staff Sgt. Eric Alva's life changed forever: He stepped out of his Humvee and onto a landmine.

"There was a huge explosion, and black smoke and sand falling from the sky, and shrapnel flying," recalls Alva. "I was thrown 10 feet." Dazed, his ears ringing, Alva saw in horror that part of his index finger was gone. And when he awoke in a medical tent back in Kuwait, he saw a bandaged stump where his right leg belonged.

"My thoughts were: 'This is a nightmare. This can't be happening,'" says Alva, a marathon runner who had just re-enlisted. "I was losing everything I had known for the past 12 years."

Alva, whose other leg was badly damaged, became a symbol of the physical sacrifices being made by young Americans in Iraq. President and Mrs. Bush visited to thank him for his service. Alva appeared on "Oprah" and in People magazine. Back home in San Antonio, he was a celebrity.

In the media blitz, Alva kept secret that he's gay. He didn't reveal the emotional sacrifices he'd needlessly been forced to make. He didn't say that every time he signed up for another tour of duty, he had to choose between serving our country and having a fulfilling personal life.

Over the years, he'd shared his secret with dozens of fellow Marines, but had shied away from romantic relationships for fear of losing his career.

"People would wonder why I didn't date, why I'd go to the Marine Corps ball every year alone," he says. "I would confide in them. And people reacted positively. People respected me as an individual, for the job I did."

Discharged because of his wounds, Alva fell in love with Darrell Parsons. Last summer, Parsons urged him to courageously come out and speak up for gay soldiers risking their lives to bring freedom to others while themselves being discriminated against. "You have a unique story to tell," Parsons recalls saying. "This is your moment to shine."

Alva contacted the gay Human Rights Campaign. And at the recent press conference announcing re-introduction of a bill to repeal the gay ban, Alva was back in the spotlight. This time, he spoke up for the gay men and lesbians who can't speak up for themselves. And he led a platoon of folks to Capitol Hill to lobby for lifting the ban.

"I am an American who fought for his country and for the rights and freedoms of all American citizens — not just some of them, but all of them," Alva declared. "When I was injured, everybody didn't stop, the people who knew me — that I was gay — to say: 'Well, he's gay. Don't help him. Let's not save his life.' They were saving the life of an American."

The first American wounded in Iraq, a runner who won't run again, is now quite rightly asking something of the nation he proudly served: "Give (gay soldiers) the chance to serve openly, to have the opportunity to be judged for who they are."

Deb Price of The Detroit News writes the first nationally syndicated column on gay issues. To find out more about Deb Price and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate web page at www.creators.com.

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