America: The Story of Us

I've been watching this fascinating History Channel special the past couple of days. In the second part, Revolution, we are told about Baron Von Steuben. The narrator boldly mentions that Von Steuben had been forced to work elsewhere because he was homosexual. (Wikipedia more timidly mentions that it is not known for certain that he was homosexual or not--though the rumors did exist.)

So he traveled from Europe to America and eventually came to train American soldiers for General George Washington. He showed the developing army how to employ the bayonet and, most importantly, to practice hygiene in the set up of their camps, to cut down on the impact of disease, which often killed more troops than enemy bullets.

It is important, then, to realize that without Von Steuben's help and tenacity and skills, America might have had a much more difficult time obtaining its independence from Britain.

If he was homosexual, then this is yet another example, at the very creation of our nation, that homosexual soldiers have made invaluable contributions to American freedom. He is yet another reason that DADT must be eliminated.

On Sunday, in a related matter, I volunteered for HeyDenver, a Colorado AIDS project confidential testing site, at a BBQ of Element, a gay men's group. Two of the young men I sat with are Air Force enlisted men. Each expressed his optimism that DADT will be overturned and they will no longer have to fear exposure and expulsion.

Let us hope their optimism is well founded.

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