{"id":253,"date":"2007-02-28T19:56:06","date_gmt":"2007-03-01T00:56:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blacknell.net\/dynamic\/2007\/02\/28\/sgt-eric-alva-still-fighting\/"},"modified":"2007-02-28T19:56:06","modified_gmt":"2007-03-01T00:56:06","slug":"sgt-eric-alva-still-fighting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blacknell.net\/dynamic\/2007\/02\/28\/sgt-eric-alva-still-fighting\/","title":{"rendered":"Sgt. Eric Alva: Still Fighting"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sgt. Eric Alva finished his career with the Marines (and a life with two legs) when he stepped on a land mine on March 21, 2003, the first day of “Operation Iraqi Freedom.”\u00c2\u00a0 As the Washington Post notes<\/a>, he was widely honored as the first American casualty of the war, with personal visits from Rumsfeld and Bush.\u00c2\u00a0 I wonder if they’ll be seen with him now that he’s come out:<\/p>\n

[I] can almost hear it now — “Oh, yeah, he’s that gay Marine.” I’m okay with that. The truth is, something’s wrong with this ban. I have to say something. I mean, you’re asking men and women to lie about their orientation, to keep their personal lives private, so they can defend the rights and freedoms of others in this country, and be told, “Well, oh, yeah, if you ever decide to really meet someone of the same sex and you want the same rights, sorry, buddy, you don’t have the right.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Fighting over here, so we can fight over there.\u00c2\u00a0 Or something like that.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Thank you, Sgt. Alva.<\/p>\n

~<\/p>\n

Today, Rep. Marty Meehan (D-Mass.) introduced<\/a> – with 109 cosponsors – a bill to finally get rid of the abomination that is the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s not a matter over which reasonable people can disagree – it’s long past time to end it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sgt. Eric Alva finished his career with the Marines (and a life with two legs) when he stepped on a land mine on March 21, 2003, the first day of “Operation Iraqi Freedom.”\u00c2\u00a0 As the Washington Post notes, he was widely honored as the first American casualty of the war, with personal visits from Rumsfeld […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":4,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6,8,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-policy","category-politics","category-society"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t