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Leonard Matlovich

Back in the day on September 8th, 1975, Air Force Sergeant Leonard Matlovich became the first openly gay person to appear on the cover a major U.S. news magazine. The Vietnam veteran was profiled in TIME for challenging the military’s discriminatory ban on homosexuals. Matlovich, who had what was described as an impeccable military record, had delivered an open letter to his superior officer declaring his sexual orientation. The Air Force Sergeant was promptly discharged as the matter moved to court. Matlovich, who was also a Mormon, faced repercussions from his church as well as he was eventually excommunicated not once, but twice. In the ongoing court battle, the gay veteran scored a victory five years after making the cover of TIME when a federal judge ordered him reinstated in the Air Force with back pay. He never returned, however, opting to settle instead of having the case be appealed all the way to an increasingly conservative Supreme Court.

Matlovich would later die from complications from AIDS in 1988; a history maker whose story too often has been subjected to a ‘don’t ask, don’t tell,’ policy of its own

For Uprising, this is your truth professa’ saying it’s no mystery why they conceal our people’s history