But fearing further legal disappointment and bad precedent, Addlestone decided not to appeal the case to the U. S. Court of Appeals. Matlovich, however, was determined to fight on. Attorney Carrington Bogan took on the case in 1976 and combined it with another gay service member's case, that of sailor Vernon Berg, yet the court did not reach a decision until 1978.

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Meanwhile, the Matlovich case continued to attract much media attention. In 1978, NBC broadcast Sgt. Matlovitch vs. the Air Force, one of the first gay rights feature stories aired on national television.

When the Court of Appeals did rule, it overturned the lower court's decision, but not on constitutional grounds. Rather, the higher court required the Air Force to clarify its exception rule. It was not the victory that Matlovich or Bogan had hoped for, but it was a limited success.

Two years later, Judge Gesell issued a new ruling in the case. Because the Air Force had failed to respond appropriately to the court's order, Gesell ordered Matlovich reinstated in the Air Force, with $62,000 in back pay. The Air Force, in turn, offered him a tax-free settlement of $160,000 to drop his case and accept an honorable discharge.

At this point, Matlovich faced a difficult decision: either he could return to the Air Force and face a hostile environment and likely dismissal in the future, or he could accept the settlement and continue in his new civilian life as a gay activist and aspiring politician.

Matlovich accepted the settlement and returned to San Francisco, where he had been living the previous few years. Shortly thereafter, he moved to Guerneville on the Russian River and opened a restaurant. He was elected to the Board of Directors of the Russian River Chamber of Commerce. After three years of working to make the restaurant succeed, Matlovich decided that his business was untenable because of the stigma associated with the AIDS epidemic, which had begun to devastate the gay community. In 1984 he returned to San Francisco.

Alarmed by the AIDS epidemic, Matlovich attacked the bathhouse culture of San Francisco and worked tirelessly to close down the baths. He then moved to Washington, D. C. to help form a gay conservative organization. When the gay conservative group failed in 1985, he returned to San Francisco.

In 1986 Matlovich was diagnosed with AIDS. In the last few years of his life, he devoted himself to AIDS activism. A few months prior to his death, he moved to Los Angeles, where he died from complications related to AIDS on June 22, 1988.

With full military honors and a twenty-one gun salute, Matlovich was interred in the Congressional Cemetery in Washington, D. C. He intended his grave to serve as a memorial for all gay and lesbian veterans. Hence, rather than recording his name, the headstone reads simply "A Gay Vietnam Veteran."

Also inscribed on the stone are the words "Never Again" and "Never Forget," chiseled beneath two triangles, and the words that he made famous through his many speeches: "When I was in the military they gave me a medal for killing two men and a discharge for loving one."

In the United States, glbtq people have played an integral and often leading role in AIDS activism, greatly influencing AIDS treatment and advocacy.

The site of contentious battles for glbtq rights, Miami is home to a vibrant glbtq community; as is Key West, which has a long tradition of celebrating diversity.

The United States military's relation to homosexuality is complex and contradictory, defining itself explicitly in opposition to homosexuality, but nevertheless facilitating the very behavior and identity it seeks to exclude.

The various symbols of glbtq pride render marginalized communities visible and assert self-esteem in the face of discrimination and oppression.

Long active in the glbtq community, Miriam Ben-Shalom was the first gay or lesbian servicemember to be reinstated to her position in the United States military after being discharged for her sexual orientation.

The highest-ranking official in the United States military to acknowledge her homosexuality while in the service, Colonel Margarethe Cammermeyer served a number of years in the Washington State National Guard as an open lesbian.

The American glbtq movement for equality has largely allied itself with the Democratic Party.

One of the founding fathers of the American gay rights movement, Frank Kameny helped radicalize the homophile movement, preparing the way for the mass movement for equality initiated by the Stonewall Riots of 1969.

The Legacy Walk in Chicago is an outdoor history museum that reclaims and celebrates glbtq contributions to world history and culture.

Troy Perry is the founder of the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches, a Protestant denomination devoted to ministering to the spiritual needs of glbtq people.

Designed by Gilbert Baker in 1978, the rainbow flag has become a popular (and sometimes controversial), internationally recognized symbol of gay and lesbian pride.

The Republican Party of the United States has not been supportive of glbtq issues, despite the efforts of the Log Cabin Republicans.