Equality Forum’s LGBT History Month Icons: Oct. 18 – David Mixner
Political Activist
David Mixner is a human rights activist, a political operative and a best-selling author. Newsweek once named him the most powerful gay man in America.
David Mixner is a human rights activist, a political operative and a best-selling author. Newsweek once named him the most powerful gay man in America.
In 1989, U.S. Army Col. Margarethe (Grethe) Cammermeyer was undergoing a routine security clearance interview when she said four simple words, “I am a lesbian.” At the time, she was a highly decorated nurse and war hero on track to becoming a general. The admission started an intense investigation and highly publicized discharge proceedings …
At the center of those proceedings was Col. Patsy Thompson who in 1992 was a decorated Army nurse, only two years away from retirement.
These cases represent a broad spectrum of individuals who are pushing “the system” in hopes of securing the rights and privileges afforded to their straight counterparts. Each are championed by Lambda Legal and others.
Unlike last year, LGBTQ issues did not figure as prominently in the news media. But don’t be fooled. Donald Trump and his administration have been hard at work, gutting nearly every protection put in place by former President Barack Obama.
So far four court cases have been filed, and more could be coming, against the Trump administration’s transgender military ban.