Servicemembers Legal Defense Network is gearing up for a rally on Capitol Hill today at noon to urge the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell." Speakers will include Col. Margarethe Cammermeyer, Maj. Margaret Witt (check back later today on Advocate.com for a story on her), and several recent service members discharged under "don't ask, don't tell."
Daniel Tepfer, a retired Air Force colonel and national PFLAG board member, will also speak at the rally. Here he dons his rainbow bracelet and notes that he has also removed his wedding ring in order to become more ambiguous.
"This way, when I say something about 'my partner,' people don't know whether that's a woman or a man," he says. "I even sometimes go into bookstores and browse the LGBT section."
In terms of getting involved in PFLAG, he says, "When a kid comes out of the closet, a parent goes in, and I went in deep." But that was more than a decade ago, and over the years he has marched in parades, given speeches, and lobbied legislators, including Gov. Ted Strickland, who was a congressman at the time. "He came right out, sat down, and said, 'You're from PFLAG, what do you need?' He talked to me until an aide finally came and dragged him away for a vote."
