Leonard Matlovich papers, 1961-1988

Format:

Book

Series:

Archives of Sexuality and Gender: Community and Identity in North America.

Archives of Sexuality and Gender: Community and Identity in North America

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Matlovich, Leonard--Correspondence.

Matlovich, Leonard.

Gay military personnel--United States.

Gay military personnel.

Coming out (Sexual orientation)--United States.

Coming out (Sexual orientation).

LGBT activism--United States.

LGBT activism.

Gay men in the military.

LGBTQ+ activism.

LGBTQ+ people in the military.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (237 manuscripts) : illustrations.

Place of Publication:

1961

Summary:

The Leonard Matlovich Papers consists of correspondence, subject files, legal documents, photographs, and personal mementos. The bulk of the collection is comprised of correspondence. Leonard Matlovich was a decorated member of the United States Air Force. During his three tours of duty in Vietnam, he received a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star. Like his father, he was a career military man and was considered an outstanding technical sergeant when, on March 8, 1975, he wrote a letter to his commanding officer at Langley Air Force Base in Virginia, in which acknowledged his homosexuality but requested that he be allowed to remain in the Air Force. The Air Force responded by expelling Matlovich with a general discharge. He took the Air Force to court to contest this decision and in November 1980, U.S. District Judge Gerhard A. Gessell in Washington, D.C. ordered the Air Force to reinstate Matlovich with back pay and the rank and salary that he would have obtained if he had not been discharged. In an out-of-court settlement with the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, he agreed to drop his case in return for a settlement of $162,000, which included $98,000 compensation in addition to the $62,000 in back pay as well as having his discharge upgraded from a general to an honorable rating. This series of actions set him on a path that transformed him into a symbol for the gay community throughout the United States. He appeared on the cover of Time magazine and his story was translated into a television documentary entitled "Sgt. Matlovich vs. the Air Force." After the settlement, Matlovich continued to fight for gay rights. He ran for public office, lectured, counseled gay men and women on their rights, and founded organizations such as the Matlovich Foundation and the Never Forget Foundation to fight for the rights of gays and lesbians. He was also deeply committed to the fight against racism. In fact, his experiences in the military as a lecturer about equal rights had spurred him into making his decision to come out. Matlovich was a very devout man. During his tour of duty in Vietnam, Matlovich converted from Catholicism to Mormonism and eventually became a minister. When he publicly came out, the Church of Latter Day Saints took him to an ecclesiastical court and eventually expelled him from the church.

Throughout Archives of Sexuality and Gender you will find language and terminology you might consider offensive. You will also find images that may be graphic or pornographic. MiFhGG

Notes:

Date range: 1961-1988 (bulk 1975-1988).

Includes the following publications: Correspondence 1975 Minnesota; Correspondence 1975 Idaho; Correspondence 1975 Canada; Correspondence in September 1978; Correspondence in October 1980; and others.

Reproduction of the original from El Colegio de México, Biblioteca Daniel Cosío Villegas.

OCLC:

1504735078