The gay airman who took on the US military

Continue reading the main story In today's Magazine The ex-POW teaching Vietnam to swim The riches beneath Mongolia's Turquoise Hill The Indian town with 6,000 widows Chess and 18th Century artificial intelligence In 1975 an air force sergeant made history when he came out, to challenge the ban on homosexuals in the US military. Leonard Matlovich became a figurehead for gay rights, but he could not have foreseen that in 2013 the US Supreme Court would be considering whether to overturn a ban on same-sex marriages.

"It just tears me apart on the inside," Matlovich said in his first national TV interview in May 1975. "My conscience just wouldn't let me do it any more. I had to come forward and say: No more, America!"

Matlovich was the kind of serviceman the air force prided itself on. He had voluntarily served three tours of duty in Vietnam. He had been injured while clearing landmines and was awarded a Purple Heart and the Bronze Star medal.

At the time, David Addlestone was working as a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union and had been looking for a gay soldier who would put himself forward to challenge the ban on homosexuals serving in the military.

Continue reading the main story“Start QuoteHe was a patriotic, conservative middle-class war hero - he destroyed the popular myth of homosexuality”

End QuoteDavis AddlestoneLawyer "He was the perfect test case," says Addlestone, who hoped Matlovich's excellent military record might make the air force think twice about applying the ban.

Addlestone warned Matlovich, nonetheless, that he was likely to be discharged and "throw away 13 years of military service and a pension". But "Leonard said he couldn't live a lie" any longer, Addlestone recalls.

Matlovich had only come to terms with his homosexuality two years earlier, at the age of 30. Both his parents were deeply religious and politically conservative - his father had also served in the air force - and Matlovich was a devout Catholic himself.

"We were very much a 'What do the neighbours think of me?' type of family," says his niece Vicky Walker. "We had to do everything the right way. We were not even allowed to drink soda. My grandfather was very strict - loving but strict."

According to Michael Bedwell - a gay rights activist who became a close friend and flatmate for several years - Matlovich knew from an early age that he was "different".

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