SAN ANTONIO – The United States has not always applied the principles on which it was founded equally, but over the last 250 years, trailblazers fought to make the nation — and its military — more accepting for everyone.
Retired Marine Staff Sgt. Eric Alva, a San Antonio native, was the first service member seriously wounded in the Iraq War. He lost his right leg in combat, but years after his return, he chose to take on another battle: repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.
“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell was a law that literally forced people like myself to go to work every day and lie about who you are,” Alva said.
The policy, enacted in 1993, prohibited discrimination against lesbian, gay and bisexual people in the military, so long as they were not open about their sexuality, a compromise relaxing previous policies which prohibited non-heterosexual people from serving their country.
Alva chose to come out publicly during a 2007 interview with ABC News to raise awareness on the issue.
“Losing my leg probably made me not just come out of the closet,” Alva said on Good Morning America. “It made me realize everything that I actually had to speak up for.”
Alva said the announcement shocked many of his fellow Marines, leading to mixed reactions, but those who knew about his sexuality said they were not surprised he was taking up this fight.
“My Battalion Commander said, ‘I’m proud of you, Staff Sergeant. I stand with you,’” Alva said. “I think it opened people’s eyes and opened the doors for people to have their own self-reflection.”
Three years later, Alva stood by former U.S. President Barack Obama when he signed a 2010 law allowing lesbian, gay and bisexual people to serve openly in the military.
In the crowd, former Army Sgt. Danny Ingram watched as one of the first service members discharged under the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy in 1994.
“The closest I came to fulfilling my oath to defend the Constitution was coming out while I was serving in the military,” Ingram said. “I saw a policy that was unjust — that really stood against how I understood the Constitution to be, which tells us that we’re all equal.”
“Any policy that undermined trust was detrimental to military service,” Ingram continued, ”because trust is the glue that holds the military together.”
Ingram said he was discharged after coming out while serving.
“I lost my career — which was very painful,” he said. “But it was the closest I came to fulfilling my oath, so I’m proud I did it.”
Ingram met Alva a few months earlier in Washington while lobbying senators to vote to repeal the policy. The two men got married in 2017 in San Antonio, Alva’s hometown.
The couple said their fight was never about seeking special treatment.
“It’s never been about giving us extra or special privileges,” Ingram said. “It’s about the equal benefits that others have.”
Their advocacy is now recognized at the Obama Presidential Center Museum in Chicago.
“The thing that was pretty cool to us — it was not in the LGBT section of the museum,” Ingram said. “It was in the military achievements section.”
Today, Ingram works closely with American Veterans for Equal Rights, the nation’s oldest LGBTQ+ service organization, and helps veterans who were discharged under Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and other discriminatory policies.
“I’m very proud of my service to this country,” Ingram said. “I’m proud of the work we’ve done to make this nation a little closer to freedom and equality for everyone.”
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