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Dr. Margarethe Cammermeyer
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Dr. Margarethe Cammermeyer, Ph.D., RN, Colonel, USAR, retired from the Army after six years on active duty and 25 years in the Army Reserves and National Guard. In 1989, she challenged the military's anti-gay regulation...and won. Her case resulted in the implementation of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," a policy she continues to fight against. Col. Cammermeyer has a BS in Nursing from the University of Maryland, and a M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Washington.
During her military career she challenged policies that discriminated against married women, and married women who became pregnant. In 1989, Colonel Cammermeyer, having served for 25 years, challenged the military's anti-gay regulation. Her story drew national attention since she was nationally recognized as a specialist in neuroscience nursing, was Veterans Administration Nurse of the year in 1985, had earned the Bronze Star for Service in Vietnam, was Chief Nurse of the Washington National Guard, and had an earned Ph.D. in Nursing Science.
Her book Serving in Silence (with Chris Fisher) was published in 1994. In 1995 a made-for-television movie, "Serving in Silence," in which Glenn Close portrayed Colonel Cammermeyer was aired earning the Peabody award and three Emmy Awards. Dr. Cammermeyer continues to challenge the status quo and promote civil and human rights throughout the world. She is an avid spokesperson for lifting the ban against gays and lesbians in the military.Using the military as the paradigm she weaves stories of social change, stressing the necessity to change the military as well as the corporate workplace and educational campuses to an accommodating environment for everyone. The challenge to the sexual minority community in disclosing and the challenge to the sexual majority to feel less threatened is illustrated as she shares anecdotes about grappling with her own sexuality, dealing with her children, being a political candidate and now an activist.
Her story is an exemplar of the lives of thousands unsung and unheard in America.
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Dave Kopay |
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Dave Kopay, the former U.S. professional football player who in 1975 became an LGBT icon with a closet-busting interview in the "Washington Star," is one of the 2010 Over the Rainbow Pride Parade Grand Marshal's.
Since his initial 1975 coming-out interview, Kopay has been an outspoken advocate for gay rights. Two years later, he co-authored "The Dave Kopay Story" with Perry Deane Young, a book that topped the "New York Times" bestseller list for weeks and is still so popular it will soon see its fifth printing.
Kopay played football at the University of Washington and then went on to a 10-year career in the United States' National Football League as a running back and special teams member for the San Francisco Forty-Niners, the Detroit Lions, the Washington Redskins, the New Orleans Saints, and the Green Bay Packers. Kopay retired in 1973 with a successful career behind him, but he had many conflicted feelings about himself and others he knew to be gay in professional football.
Kopay announced in September 2007 that he will be leaving $1 Million as an endowment to the University of Washington Q Center.
Today, Dave lives in Seattle and continues making speeches on the importance of living an honest life. His book has become standard reference material for NFL teams contemplating positive ways to react should one of their players come out publicly. Yet Kopay says the sports world is a place that still has much work to do to combat bigotry against gay men and women, from even the youngest school levels up through professional ranks.
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Eric Alva |
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Eric Alva, 37, a native of San Antonio, was sworn into the U.S. Marine Corps when he was 19 years old after attending community college. He graduated from Southwest High School in 1989.
Alva served in the Marine Corps for 13 years, and was a member of the 3rd Battalion of the 7th Marines. At the age of 22, he was deployed to Somalia for Operation Restore Hope. Over the years he was stationed from California to Japan. He was deployed to the Middle East in January of 2003.
On March, 21, 2003, the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom; Marine Staff Sgt.Alva was traveling in Iraq in a convoy to Basra with his battalion - where he was in charge of 11 Marines - when he stepped on a landmine, breaking his right arm and damaging his leg so badly that it needed to be amputated. Alva was awarded a Purple Heart and received a medical discharge from the military.
Alva, the first American wounded in the war in Iraq, has been on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" and various TV news shows and has appeared in People magazine and major newspapers.
Now, Alva has come out, and he's working with the Human Rights Campaign to speak out against the military "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy banning gay, lesbian and bisexual Americans from serving in the armed forces. When Gen.Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, stated recently that he supports the Pentagon's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" ban on gays serving in the military because homosexual acts "are immoral," and compared it to an adulterous affair with the spouse of another service member, Alva spoke out against Pace.
Alva, is an avid scuba diver and likes to ski as well. Alva graduated from college in May of 2008, with a Bachelor of Social Work degree. Currently, he is studying for a master's degree in social work in San Antonio, where he lives with his partner, Darrell, to continue, he says, to work for social justice.
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PFLAG |
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Kathy Reim and PFLAG chapters across the state of Washington are being honored at the 2010 Seattle Pride Parade on June 27 for their work in supporting Domestic Partnerships through the passage of Referendum 71. Kathy is the Regional Director for the Pacific Northwest Region- an area that includes Washington, Oregon, Montana, Idaho and Alaska. She has served for ten years as chapter president of the Skagit Valley PFLAG chapter. She and her husband Robert live in Sedro-Woolley, WA.
As a PFLAG volunteer Kathy has met hundreds of family members and allies who have worked for decades and who continue to be dedicated to creating safe and welcoming communities. The success of Referendum 71 was a state-wide effort and people did the hard work in rural and urban areas, small towns, in their places of faith and their neighborhoods.
The Seattle Pride Parade has been an inspiration throughout the years, and when Kathy and her husband, Robert and their daughter and daughter-in-law, Tammy and Rachel, started walking together in the parade in 2004, it never occurred to them that someday they would be representing families working for equality across the state. They know what it takes to be out and proud as a family and are joyful to be able to stand-in and stand-up for all parents, children, and beloved family members.
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| Kathy Reim |
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Tammy (back-left), Robert (back-right),
Rachel (front-left), Kathy (front-right) |
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Equal Rights Washington |
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Equal Rights Washington is the State’s largest Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender and allied civil rights organization. ERW mission is to achieve legal and social equality for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. Since its founding in 2005 ERW has worked successfully to pass:
- The Anderson Murray Anti-discrimination
- The Healthy Youth Act
- Bills adding gender identity and expression to the States Hate Crimes and Safe Schools Law
- The states domestic partnership laws
- Bills strengthening civil rights protections for LGBT students
- Budgets that provide adequate funding for AIDS/HIV services and prevention
In 2009 ERW was a founding member of the Washington Families Standing Together: Approve Referendum 71 coalition which successfully defended the State’s Domestic partnership law from repeal. Along with its educational arm the Equal Rights Washington Education Fund, and its electoral arm, the Equal Rights Washington PAC, ERW is moving forward to achieve marriage equality and other vital protections for the LGBT community. Get engaged with ERW at EqualRightsWashington.org.
Representing Equal Rights Washington and riding in the orange Mini-Cooper, we have Jane Lighty & Pete-e Peterson. Both Jane and Pete-e were active in the Approve Referendum71 Campaign. You might recognize them from their star turn in the television commercial where they flipped through their scrapbook, showing memories as a committed, loving couple for 33 years. Jane and Pete-e became domestic partners when Washington first passed the domestic partnership law in 2007. “We’re glad to be that far along in Washington State… But domestic partnership is not marriage,” explains Jane. “Marriage is a word that is universally accepted and recognized throughout the world.”
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The Seattle Gay News (SGN) |
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The Seattle Gay News (SGN) has proudly served the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community for over 36 years. As one of the oldest Gay & Lesbian community publications in the U.S., the Seattle Gay News is an established source for local, national, and international for the LGBT community. From its beginning, SGN has a proud history of activism, community support, and serving as an outlet for LGBT persons to “tell their story.”
On the front lines of the Gay civil rights movement, through the onset of HIV/AIDS epidemic, and onto the current fight for marriage equality, repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”, and passing an all inclusive Employment Non Discrimination Act, the SGN has aligned itself with politicians, other news outlets, and community leaders to play a vital role in educating the greater population about the LGBT community. Most recently, SGN dedicated countless pages and manpower to help pass Referendum 71. When it comes to LGBT news and entertainment, SGN has got you covered!
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| George Bakan |
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| George Bakan at Pride |
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