Gay general
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He wrote florid and lusty letters to his beloved aides-de-camp, Benjamin Walker and William North, who lived with him for some time and ultimately inherited his estate. After returning to the U.S., she married Tracey Hepner in March 2012 and was promoted to brigadier general. She was selected by the Oregon Future Farmers of America (FFA) chapter to be its state reporter.
The Continental Army “was an amalgam of local militias and random men who stepped away from their plow to take up a gun for the cause,” Benemann said. He commanded in the U.S. Army Special Operations Command, served in the White House Military Office, and is qualified as a Ranger and jumpmaster. He’s not dismissing the idea that von Steuben was gay but opening the possibility he may have been bisexual or even asexual.
It was not unusual at the time for gentlemen to write like this. While in a committed relationship with Hepner, Smith was unable to acknowledge her as her partner. Some of them were pay problems, mobilization issues, etc.,” she explained in an interview for the Library of Congress’ Veterans History Project.
Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell was repealed in September 2011 while Smith was still deployed.
The reason he took on the American cause? “I traveled all around Afghanistan while I was there and worked with problems that were unique to the Reserve. The Prussian, French and British armies worked as a unit. Now I feel very comfortable [living authentically].”
We honor her service.
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Major General Randy Taylor
Major General Taylor made big waves when he introduced his spouse, Lucas, to the Secretary of Defense after the general and his husband had been together nearly 20 years.
Gen. George Washington wrote a fawning letter to von Steuben, his last in the final hours of Washington’s commission on Dec. 23, 1783, “to signifie in the strongest terms my entire approbation of your conduct,” after years of von Steuben’s faithful service. She became the highest-ranking openly gay officer after DADT was repealed in 2011.
After graduating from high school in Oakland, Oregon, Tammy Smith could not afford to pay for college and decided to become an agricultural journalist instead.
She became the Army’s first openly gay general officer in military history in August that same year.
“The fact that I was able to have my military family in the front row, there with me, supporting me in the role, following the tradition of participating with my dad promoting me was – it was just absolutely fantastic.
But the rest of that letter — “or to speak without figures, all the sentiments of true friendship” — isn’t always included in the story of a gay general, said Alexander Burns, a history professor at Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio who prefers a nuanced look at von Steuben’s sexuality.
Benjamin Franklin was in Europe at the time, desperate for an officer with von Steuben’s rank and experience to give the tattered patriots back home some hope. Sometimes, they have rainbow ribbons. My scholarship was the only way for me to stay in college, so I knew I couldn’t be discovered.