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Eric Alva

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Eric Alva
Major General Christopher Cortez (left), commends Staff Sergeant Eric Alva on July 13, 2003, calling him "a credit to the Corps".[1]
Born (1970-12-19) December 19, 1970 (age 53)[2]
San Antonio, Texas, United States
Occupation(s)Author, United States Marine, activist

Staff Sergeant Eric Fidelis Alva (born December 19, 1970) was the first Marine seriously injured in the Iraq War.[3] On March 21, 2003, he was in charge of 11 Marines in a supply unit when he stepped on a land mine and lost his right leg.[4]

Alva, a native of San Antonio, Texas, grew up in a military family. He graduated from high school in 1989, weighing just 90 pounds. He joined the United States Marine Corps in 1990 at the age of 19 when he already knew he was gay and the U.S. military excluded all gays and lesbians from service, open or not. He served for 13 years, including postings in Okinawa and Somalia. For much of his career, he was out to his fellow Marines.[5]

He began working as a spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign in 2006. In February 2007, he joined Democratic Rep. Marty Meehan of Massachusetts and a bipartisan group of House members when they reintroduced the Military Readiness Enhancement Act, legislation that would repeal the "don't ask, don't tell" (DADT) policy regarding service in the U.S. armed forces on the part of gays and lesbians.[6][7]

Alva then served as the Grand Marshal of the 2008 Chicago Gay and Lesbian Pride parade on Sunday, June 29, 2008.[8]

On July 23, 2008, Alva testified about DADT before a subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee. He said: "Unit cohesion is essential. What my experience proves, they are wrong about how to achieve it. My being gay and even many of my colleagues knowing about it didn’t damage unit cohesion. They put their lives in my hands, and when I was injured, they risked their lives to save mine." He described intimate living conditions while stationed in Somalia. He also reported conversations with military personnel from other countries in which they uniformly expressed surprise that "our Nation is so further behind others when we seem to be the forefront of trying to be the example."[5]

In an interview with the Chicago Tribune, General Peter Pace said, "I believe homosexual acts between individuals are immoral."[9] Alva commented: "His remarks were insensitive and disrespectful to the thousands of men and women who are serving in the military at this current time under the policy."[10] In December 2010, Marine Corps commandant Gen. James F. Amos said the presence of homosexuals in the marines would pose a "distraction" and that "I don't want to have any Marines that I'm visiting at Bethesda [National Naval Medical Center] with no legs be the result of any type of distraction." Alva commented: "He pretty much spit on me, my Purple Heart, and my 13 years of service. I would definitely ask Amos for a meeting to explain his comments, and I’d bring my Purple Heart with me."[11]

Quotes

  • "I come from a family of servicemen. My dad, Fidelis, is a Vietnam vet. My grandfather, also named Fidelis, was a World War II and Korean War veteran. I was named after them. My middle name is Fidelis. Fidelis means faithful."[4]
  • "We're losing probably thousands of men and women that are skilled at certain types of jobs, from air traffic controllers to linguists, because of this broken policy."[12]
  • Responding to a question about whether being in the closet affected him: "On a professional level, no, because I knew I had a job to do. On a personal level, in some ways, yes, because it was hard for me to live sometimes knowing that I was alone or that I couldn't be open about who I wanted to date."[13]

References

  1. ^ Matt Griffin, "Profiles: U.S. Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Eric Alva," July 23, 2003 Archived March 14, 2007, at the Wayback Machine, accessed May 29, 2012
  2. ^ "Meet GLBT History Month icon Eric Alva". San Diego Gay and Lesbian News. October 1, 2010. Retrieved April 27, 2015.
  3. ^ Thompson, Mark (March 13, 2007). "Reexamining 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'". Time magazine. Retrieved March 31, 2009.
  4. ^ a b Vargas, Jose Antonio (February 27, 2007). "Defending His Country, but Not Its 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Policy". Washington Post. p. C01. Retrieved April 27, 2015.
  5. ^ a b Congress, House, Military Personnel Subcommittee, Don't Ask Don't Tell Review, 110th Cong., 2nd sess., July 23, 2008, 7-9, 15, 17, 22, 27, 44
  6. ^ Maze, Rick (February 28, 2007). "New bill would let gays serve openly". Navy Times. Retrieved May 29, 2012.
  7. ^ Shaughnessy, Larry (February 28, 2007). "Gay veteran calls for end of 'Don't ask, don't tell'". CNN. Archived from the original on July 7, 2012. Retrieved May 29, 2012. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  8. ^ Berthelsen, Angie (June 24, 2008). "Eric Alva Comes To Chicago". EdgeBoston. Retrieved May 29, 2012.
  9. ^ "Pace Remarks Renew 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Debate". PBS. March 16, 2007. Retrieved May 29, 2012.
  10. ^ "Paula Zahn Now: America's Top General Under Fire". CNN. March 13, 2007. Retrieved May 29, 2012.
  11. ^ "Amos 'Pretty Much Spit on Me'". The Advocate. December 15, 2010. Retrieved May 29, 2012.
  12. ^ "Out former marine goes to Congress to fight 'don't ask, don't tell'". The Advocate. March 1, 2007. Retrieved May 29, 2012.
  13. ^ Lynsen, Joshua (February 28, 2007). "A new kind of fight". Washington Blade. Retrieved January 9, 2013.
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