America can never repay the debt we owe to the LGBT troops who defended and died with honor while suffering in silent shame. “Thinking of the LGBT military service members who died in silence during oppressive rules that kept them behind closer doors. They gave their lives for this country while being told who they were was wrong,” read a tweet from Jersey Craig, the Queer Activist, and #LGBTvoices Founder.“They were always perfect just the way they were.”

Indeed.

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— JerseyCraig – Fully Vaxxed! (@Jersey_Craig) May 31, 2021

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Out Sports: “Until Don’t Ask Don’t Tell was repealed, gay, bisexual and lesbian troops served our nation from the closet. Transgender troops remain the target of a complicated government ban that allows transitioned service members to continue to serve, but forces any currently serving troops diagnosed with gender dysphoria to serve in their sex as assigned at birth and bars them from taking hormones or getting gender-affirming surgery. It also prevents anyone with gender dysphoria who is taking hormones or has already undergone a gender transition to enlist. The U.S. Navy did recently allow for one exception for a transgender sailor; the courts will ultimately decide whether this ban was just or not.”

Forgotten, too, will be those troops who took their own lives, a growing epidemic that reaches far beyond our LGBT community.

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This year in particular with Memorial Day falling on the day before Pride month begins brings the urgency of this remembrance home. And even though you can read about many of the service members we do know about, and because of the repeal of don’t ask, don’t tell, LGBT service members are allowed to be out and proud, a fear of repercussions still persists.