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FOUR SEASONS BREEZE | OCTOBER 2024 47 Our next potluck will be on Saturday, Oct. 26, consisting of our anniversary celebration and annual group meeting. Information on the location and the time is available via our Facebook page or email (rainbowgroup@myyahoo.com). This month, our selection for the Famous LGBT Americans series is Eric Alva, Staff Sergeant, United States Marine Corps (retired). Alva was born in San Antonio in 1970. Following high school, he attended community college and then joined the United States Marine Corps. He served in Somalia, Japan, California, and Iraq. In January 2003, while exiting his vehicle in Iraq, Alva triggered a landmine, suffering a broken left leg, a broken right arm, and a badly injured right leg that was later amputated. He was the first American wounded in the war and the war's first Purple Heart recipient. Alva retired from the Marines in 2004, after 13 years of military service. One year later, Texas passed a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. Wanting to address the ban, he joined the Human Rights Campaign, a gay rights organization, and offered to help in any way possible. HRC responded that they wanted him to be their national spokesperson to help repeal the Don't Ask, Don't Tell (DADT) policy, which came into effect in 1994, by telling his story. In February 2007, Good Morning America broke the news. He later said, "I did get some hate mail with people saying, 'You should have died in Iraq,' but 95 percent of (the mail) was from supporters." On Feb. 28, 2007, Alva joined Congressman Martin Meehan in introducing the Military Readiness Enhancement Act to repeal DADT. Later, he sat before a House committee and gave his testimony. On Dec. 22, 2010, he stood by President Barack Obama as he signed the repeal to DADT, an occasion Alva described as a blessing for him. In 2010, at a Veterans Lobby Day in Washington, D.C., Alva met Danny Ingram who had served six years in the Army rising to the level of Sergeant. Ingram was one of the first soldiers discharged under DADT. They were married in 2017. Alva has a Master's in Social Work and is a program specialist at the University of Texas Department of Social Work. For more information on Eric Alva and on the sources for this article, please go to the Rainbow Group's Facebook page or request a copy via our email. ~ Dan Hazeltine and Frank Galvan Rainbow Group

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