On September 8, 1975, Air Force Sergeant Leonard Matlovich, a decorated veteran of the Vietnam War, appears on the cover of Time magazine above the headline “I AM A HOMOSEXUAL,” challenging the ban against homosexuals in the U.S. military. A month and a half later, he is given a “general” discharge by the air force.
Matlovich's move to go public came after a commanding officer turned down his request for a waiver from the Air Force’s regulations prohibiting homosexuality. The 12-year military veteran had completed three tours of Vietnam.
In 1979, after winning a much-publicized case against the air force, his discharge was upgraded to “honorable.” In 1988, Matlovich died at the age of 44 of complications from AIDS. He was buried with full military honors at the Congressional Cemetery in Washington, D.C. His tombstone reads, “A gay Vietnam Veteran. When I was in the military they gave me a medal for killing two men and a discharge for loving one.”
