Featured Speakers' Biographies
Eric Alva
Eric Alva, 36, a native of San Antonio, was sworn into the U.S. Marine Corps when he was 19 years old after attending community college. He graduated from Southwest High School in 1989.
Alva served in the Marine Corps for 13 years, and was a member of the 3rd Battalion of the 7th Marines. At the age of 22, he was deployed to Somalia, and later he was stationed in Japan and Iraq. He re-enlisted following the Gulf War.
On March 21, 2003, Marine Staff Sgt. Alva was traveling in Iraq in a convoy to Basra with his battalion — where he was in charge of 11 Marines — when he stepped on a landmine, breaking his right arm and damaging his leg so badly that it needed to be amputated. Alva was awarded a Purple Heart and received a medical discharge from the military.
Alva, the first American service member wounded in the war in Iraq, has been on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” and various TV news shows and has appeared in People magazine and major newspapers.
Alva was a distance runner before his injury in Iraq, and he continues to run and ski with a prosthesis. He is currently studying for a degree in social work in San Antonio, where he lives with his partner, Darrell, to continue, he says, to work for “social justice.”
Jarrod Chlapowski
Jarrod Chlapowski, 25, enlisted in the U.S. Army in 2000 and trained as a Korean linguist and cryptologic voice interceptor at the Defense Language Institute and Goodfellow Air Force Base, finishing second in his class. He worked as an interpreter and translator in Korea, supporting the 3rd Military Intelligence Battalion on more than 300 sensitive reconnaissance operation missions, and as a squadron school’s non-commissioned officer at Ft. Lewis, Wash., in the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment.
Chlapowski came to terms with his sexuality after joining the Army and, after coming out within his unit, he experienced widespread acceptance by his peers. He was awarded both the Army Achievement Medal and the Army Commendation Medal during his time in the Army; however, Chlapowski chose not to re-enlist because of the excessive burden of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law.
In November 2005, Chlapowski teamed up with Alex Nicholson to develop the aggressive Call to Duty Tour, a seven-week public education initiative geared toward putting a human face on the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” issue. Along with Admiral Alan Steinman and nine other veterans, Chlapowski visited 18 cities in spring 2006, educating thousands of opponents and moderates around the country on the reality of living, serving and leading under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” Outside of the tour, Chlapowski has spoken before House and Senate staffers regarding the financial costs of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” and has met with a number of politicians and military leaders, the results of which have been directly responsible for contributing to the current momentum in the movement to repeal the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law.
Chlapowski will earn his bachelor’s degree in political science in December 2007 from North Georgia Military College, where he has been also been active in educating the Corps of Cadets and the wider military community on aspects related to “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” He was chosen by faculty to represent North Georgia Military College at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point’s Student Conference on United States Affairs in November 2006. Chlapowski plans to attend Georgetown University to pursue a master’s degree in public policy in fall 2008 and will continue to focus on recruiting quality young veterans to speak out against “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
Alexander Nicholson
Alexander Nicholson, 26, enlisted in the U.S. Army in 2001 and trained as a human intelligence collector. When he enlisted, Nicholson already spoke four languages; given the fact that all human intelligence collectors must cross-train as linguists, the skills Nicholson brought to the Army were going to save the government several hundred thousand dollars and up to two years of operational time normally lost to language training. Just six months after Sept. 11, however, Nicholson’s unit was forced to issue him an involuntary honorable discharge pursuant to the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law, over the objection of his brigade commander, after he was “outed” by a fellow service member in his unit.
After almost four years of silence about his untimely discharge from the military, Nicholson chose to go public with his story and speak out against the law that forced the Army to forfeit his critical skills. Nicholson started a nationwide veteran speaking tour, the Call to Duty Tour, in spring 2006 to draw attention to the patriotic and talented young men and women who are lost to the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law. After debuting at Harvard with Rep. Martin Meehan, D-Mass., Nicholson led the Call to Duty Tour into the conservative South and Midwest, visiting 18 cities, personally addressing more than 3,000 Americans and appearing in more than 60 pieces of media within seven weeks. Nicholson has also met with former chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Senate Armed Services Committee, governors and numerous members of Congress about the impact of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law.
Nicholson was featured on the cover of The Advocate on Feb. 14, 2006, and is the public plaintiff on one of the three lawsuits currently challenging the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law in the courts. He now speaks five languages, including Arabic, and holds a bachelor’s degree in international relations from the University of South Carolina and a master’s degree in public administration from North Georgia Military College. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in political science at the University of South Carolina while he continues to volunteer his free time to work on the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” issue nationwide.
Local Veteran Biographies
Iowa
James S. Taylor, 27, born in Spencer, Iowa, enlisted into the U.S. Navy in December 1999. Upon completion of basic training in Great Lakes, Ill., Taylor attended intelligence training both to become an intelligence specialist and later to specialize in imagery analyses, obtaining a Top Secret/SCI clearance, in addition to various other higher level caveats within this classification.
Stationed on the USS John C. Stennis, an aircraft carrier based out of San Diego, Taylor managed national overhead collection requirements in support of battle-group targeting during Operation Enduring Freedom. Providing the most current intelligence for the creation of national imagery accomplishments and disseminating that information in hundreds of briefings to the intelligence staff, including both flag officers and captains within the battle group, Taylor distinguished himself among his peers as having great potential within the intelligence community. He was awarded the National Defense Service Medal, along with various other medals including Good Conduct, and even received a letter of appreciation from the commanding officer for being a grassroots ambassador of goodwill due to his record of community service.
Upon much personal reflection and encouragement from his chain of command, Taylor made the decision to re-enlist on July 22, 2003. Shortly after his re-enlistment he relocated to shore duty and was stationed at Joint Interagency Task Force West in Alameda, Calif. Through this interagency intelligence fusion, he participated in dismantling drug-related transnational threats throughout southeast Asia. Shortly after this command relocated to Camp H.M. Smith Hawaii, Taylor, along with a few co-workers, was sent to the Fleet Intelligence Training Center based out of San Diego.
While temporarily assigned to the school, Taylor had a falling-out with a co-worker and friend. When this former friend and co-worker got angry, she contacted their senior chief at JIATF-West and informed him that Taylor was gay. The senior chief then confirmed that information from two other co-workers who knew that Taylor was spending much of his off-time with his boyfriend. Although Taylor completed the training in San Diego and received the overall highest scores in his class, it mattered very little when he arrived back home, because he was instantly stripped of his clearance. The paperwork for his discharge had begun.
While on active duty Taylor moved up very quickly in rank due to both his evaluations and overall performance as an intelligence specialist. He spoke of becoming an officer and making a career of the Navy. However, the future has been decided already by someone with malicious intent. That future is no longer possible.
Taylor now lives in Sioux City, Iowa, and is seeking degrees in political science and international relations. He has recently joined forces with the Human Rights Campaign to speak out against the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy and to encourage others to see the reality of its impact on American troops.
Seattle
Daniela Dusac
Daniela Dusac served five years as a Korean linguist in the U.S. Army, training at the Defense Language Institute, Goodfellow Air Force Base and the U.S. Intelligence Center and Schools at Ft. Huachuca, Ariz. After completing a two-year tour of duty with the 2nd Infantry Division along the Demilitarized Zone in Korea, Dusac was deployed to Iraq, where she served a year-long tour as an intelligence analyst. Dusac completed her service in 2006 and decided not to
re-enlist because of the burden and risk posed by the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" law. She is now pursuing a degree in psychology at
the University of Washington.
Alan M. Steinman
Rear Admiral Alan M. Steinman served in the U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Public Health Service for 25 years. He retired in 1997 as the Coast Guard’s director of health and safety (equivalent to the surgeon general). Since then he has worked tirelessly for the repeal of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law. In 2003, on the 10th anniversary of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” Steinman came out publicly, becoming the most senior military officer to self-identify as gay. He was a co-founder of the Puget Sound chapter of the American Veterans for Equal Rights, and most recently served as the military advisor and senior member of the highly successful Call to Duty Tour.Steinman’s military decorations include the Coast Guard Distinguished Service Medal, the Legion of Merit, the Meritorious Service Medal, two USCG Commendation Medals, the USCG Achievement Medal, the USPHS Commendation Medal, two USPHS Unit Commendation Medals, the USPHS Surgeon General’s Medallion and the USPHS Surgeon General’s Exemplary Service Medal. He currently serves on the Advisory Board of Directors for the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network and on the Advisory Board for the Military Equality Alliance. He continues his affiliation with the Call to Duty Tour. Steinman lives in DuPont, Wash.
Palm Springs
Julianne Sohn served for five years as a public affairs officer in the U.S. Marine Corps and Marine Reserve. She graduated from the University of California at Los Angeles with a degree in anthropology and political science and was commissioned a second lieutenant after completing Officer Candidate School in December 1999. She then graduated from the basic officer course in June 2000.
Sohn’s active-duty assignments include serving with the consolidated Public Affairs Office of the III Marine Expeditionary Force on Okinawa, Japan, from 2000 to 2001. During her tour there, she deployed to Korea, Thailand and mainland Japan to support joint, combined military exercises such as Cobra Gold, Ulchi Focus Lens and an artillery relocation exercise. She also served as the public affairs officer for the 6th Marine Corps Recruiting District, headquartered in Parris Island, S.C., from 2001 to 2003. Sohn left the Marine Corps in 2003 due to the strain of serving under the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy.
In 2005, Sohn was activated from the Individual Ready Reserves and served with the 5th Civil Affairs Group in Falluja, Iraq, and then later in Ramadi. During her tour in Iraq, Sohn worked with civil affairs teams that operated in Al Anbar province to generate media coverage for infrastructure projects, earning a Navy Marine Corps Achievement Medal. In spring 2006, Sohn chose to speak out about her experiences serving under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and joined the Call to Duty Tour, a national speaking tour that sought to reignite debate about the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law.
Sohn is a member of the Society of Professional Journalists and the American Legion and is a graduate of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. She was the honor graduate for her class from the Los Angeles Police Academy in February 2006 and currently serves as a police officer.
Orlando & Phoenix
Sonya Contreras, a former Servicemembers Legal Defense Network client, served five years in the U.S. Army before being discharged under the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. Born and raised in southern California, Contreras enlisted in the Army in March 1998. She completed basic training at Fort Jackson and moved on to advanced individual training at Fort Gordon.
Her first duty station was with the 121st Signal Battalion in Kitzingen, Germany. She served alongside her sister and completed back-to-back deployments to Kosovo in 1999. Her desire to share pride in serving her country led Contreras to volunteer for the Corporal Recruiting program, a program designed for Army E-4 specialists to return to their hometowns for one year to assist and generate interest in military service, in October 2000. She was promoted to the rank of E-5 in May 2001 after completing the Primary Leadership Development Course at Fort Lewis.
Contreras was able to reach out to schools and areas in the community which previously had not been receptive to the military. Outside of her recruiting duties, she volunteered and was requested to speak to troubled youths in schools as well as at the Civil Youth Authority. The Command Team of Oxnard Recruiting and the command sergeant major of the Los Angeles Recruiting Battalion recognized her success in the Hispanic community. They began priming her to become a station commander in a Central California Recruiting Station which required Contreras to re-enlist with a one-year stabilization option until the command could work out the surrounding factors and have her relocated.
During the waiting game, Contreras welcomed a new company commander and a new station commander. The new station commander was aware of the plans for Contreras to assume a station of her own and complained to the first sergeant and new company commander that she was a disruption to his station. Contreras was pulled aside by the command and advised that she would serve as the company’s recruiter trainer and would travel between the seven stations and recruit for the company. Contreras began this new role and assisted a station that had been missing numbers for months meet and exceed their goal in the last month of the quarter. This earned her the attention of the brigade command sergeant major, who, according to her first sergeant, said to “speed up the process of relocating her.”
Unfortunately, Contreras’ peers did not respond well to being compared to the lowest ranking non-commissioned officer in the station. Jealousy and accusations led to an unfounded investigation of Contreras’ recruiting tactics. When those attempts failed, her fellow non-commissioned officers began making accusations about her sexual orientation. Slanderous remarks were made at several functions that followed. The company commander was also a participant in the exchanges of anti-gay jokes during his first equal opportunity class with the recruiting company.
Contreras knew that she could not endure another four years of harassment or another investigation. Contreras contacted SLDN for assistance and received an honorable discharge from the Army in 2003 for admitting that she was a lesbian. She is currently the environmental services manager for a rehabilitation hospital in Oakland, Calif.
New Hampshire
TBA