The Gay Greatest Generation Vets and How to Honor Them

Even at 92, you can bet that Lt. Rupert "Twink" Starr could kick your ass. Sent over to Europe in 1944, he was helping the fight the Nazis in the Battle of the Bulge and was captured by the Germans. "Starr survived a series of harrowing travails as a POW, including eight days in a boxcar jammed far beyond capacity with other prisoners and forced marches in subzero weather." Yeah, Starr is a motherfuckin' part of the greatest part of the so-called "Greatest Generation." And Twink loves cock. He's a knobgobbler who was together with his interior designer partner, Allan Wingfield, in Ohio for over 50 years.

Starr's story is all over the place this Veterans' Day because, frankly, it's a suck-on-this to everyone who ever opposed having gay men and women in the military. "This old dandy took on Hitler," it says. "What the fuck did you do in your 20s? Tailgate?" And, yeah, his nickname really is "Twink."

Gay vets from World War II will kick your prejudices right in the nutsack. It proves that everything homophobes believe is wrong because if the decorated soldiers who went toe-to-toe with the Germans and the Japanese were bonesmokers, what other false gods do you worship?

Last year, two vets, a 95 year-old WWII vet and a 67 year-old Vietnam vet, both dudes, made news when they got married at a veterans' senior living home in California. While a couple of the cranky old bastards were upset, they had their ceremony without event. Said one anti, "I just know that it’s against my faith and my religion, but as Americans they have a right to do what they want to do." Yup, old hater, yup.

So these LGBT Great Ones are still fighting. Earlier this year, Robina Asti, who, when she was Robert Astley, flew combat missions for the Navy in World War II before transitioning in the 1970s, won her deceased husband's survivor benefits from Social Security. That we're still having these movie-of-the-week battles in the 21st century is shameful to all of us.

Maybe, just maybe, while every politician is spending the day spouting encomiums to the once-warriors, young and old, talking about their bravery, talking about their service, talking especially about the ones still alive from the "Greatest Generation," maybe they could pass the Restore Honor to Service Members Act that has languished for over a year. Maybe we can do something for the 114,000 veterans who were dishonorably discharged for just being themselves. Maybe we can shut the fuck up for a few minutes and put our laws where our filthy mouths are.