Gay bar san antonio military

Home News Store Locator Videos. Help Save. Results 1 to 1 of 1. Thread: Gay Marine's life was hidden but not unique. After losing his right leg above the knee, Alva, 36, made speeches, attended banquets, appeared on "The Oprah Winfrey Show," received awards, was hailed as a hero.

But still he kept the secret — until now. Alva unveiled his sexual orientation Wednesday, then stormed the halls of the Capitol as a spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign, a civil rights group. By telling the truth, he has signed up for a different kind of hitch: reporting to the front lines of the cultural war whirling over gays in the military.

The disclosure came amid a new push in the Democratic-controlled Congress to repeal the so-called "don't ask, don't tell" policy that's been the basis for thousands of "homosexual separations," as the military calls the discharges. Alva acknowledged the repeal movement faces significant opposition.

Even his congressman, U. Charlie Gonzalez, declined to sign on when Alva stopped by last week. For his part, Alva said in an interview Saturday he never told superiors about his homosexuality and confided over the years in just a few trusted friends, including the women he would take to the Marine Corps Birthday Ball.

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Even then, he said: "I was taking a chance. I was taking severe risks. But Alva, a graduate of Southwest High School medically discharged insaid he knew he wasn't alone, since it was commonplace to bar men with military haircuts and dog tags when he'd go to gay clubs during his year career.

The same dynamic holds locally in this military town. It always has been," military Chris Hammet, 46, a San Antonio radiologist who retired from san duty in as an Air Force major and from the Texas Air National Guard in as a lieutenant colonel. Main Ave. I've dated them. San Antonio's gay establishments have been off limits at various times over the years, but that hasn't stopped a steady stream of military patrons.

And the Internet has introduced another antonio for military men to meet men, and women to meet women. He even described attending a gay commitment ceremony about 10 years ago attended by a general. I can go outside and get a job that pays three times as much. On the flip side, groups such as the Center for Military Readiness argue that excluding homosexuals is necessary to maintain morale and protect unit cohesion.

According to Defense Department figures, the military averaged about discharges gay year between and According to the SLDN, those discharges included dozens of troops vital to security, including Arabic translators and intelligence officers. The story of gays serving in the military may stretch into antiquity, all the way to Alexander the Great, but local history of a sort was made insaid Gene Elder, archivist of the HAPPY Foundation, a local gay philanthropy.

Mary's Street, fought its off-limits designation.