 | This article has multiple issues. Please helpimprove it or discuss these issues on thetalk page.(Learn how and when to remove these messages) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
|
| |
|---|---|
.jpg) Miriam Ben-Shalom in 2018 | |
| Born | (1948-05-03)May 3, 1948 (age 77) |
| Allegiance |
|
| Branch | |
| Years of service |
|
| Rank | Staff Sergeant |
| Unit | 84th Training Division, 5091st Reception Battalion[1] |
| Battles / wars | War of Attrition |
| Other work |
|
Miriam Ben-Shalom (Hebrew:מרים בן שלום; born May 3, 1948) is an Israeli-American educator, activist and former Staff Sergeant in the United States Army. After being discharged from the military forhomosexuality in 1976, she successfully challenged her discharge in court and returned to military service in 1987—the first openly gay person to be reinstated after being discharged under the military's policy excluding homosexuals from military service. She served until 1990 when the Army succeeded in terminating her service after prolonged judicial proceedings.
Ben-Shalom was born inWaukesha, Wisconsin, one of six children in aRoman Catholic family, and grew up in the surrounding area of Big Bend and East Troy. After her mother died in an automobile accident when she was six, she was largely raised by her father, aWorld War II veteran and owner of a local chain of convenience stores.[2] Graduating from high school in 1967, she married for a short time and had a daughter. The next year, she converted toJudaism and, at the age of 19, left with her daughter for a five-year residence inIsrael, where she took up Israeli citizenship, remarried, changed her name to her current name and served in theIsraeli Army during theWar of Attrition as the driver of an armored personnel carrier.[3] In 1971, she returned to the United States, divorced and entered theUniversity of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, majoring in creative writing and graduating with a B.A. and M.A.
In 1974, Ben-Shalom enlisted in the United States army reserve and joined the 84th Training Division. In 1975, she read the cover story ofTime magazine's interview withLeonard Matlovich, aVietnam War Air Force veteran who decided tocome out ofthe closet as a homosexual and was fighting his discharge. Although Ben-Shalom was out to her commander, the commander made no move to dismiss her until, after graduating from drill sergeant's school, she appeared on local television and outed herself aslesbian. Her commander filed discharge proceedings against her, and she was honorably discharged in 1976.
Ben-Shalom took the Army to court to overturn her dismissal, and in 1980 JudgeTerence Evans of the U.S. District Court in Chicago ruled that her dismissal violated theFirst,Fifth andNinth Amendments of theU.S. Constitution based upon testimony that she was only dismissed because of her statement to the press. The Army refused to comply with the ruling, and the case dragged on until 1987 when the U.S. Court of Appeals in Chicago confirmed the previous ruling and forced the Army to comply with the ruling by threatening contempt of court fines. Ben-Shalom reenlisted in September 1988, but the Army appealed the decision and finally won an August 1989 decision from JudgeHarlington Wood, Jr. that ruled against Ben-Shalom by ruling her statement to the press as an admission of guilt in violating military policy. TheU.S. Supreme Court declined to hear her appeal of the case on February 26, 1990, and Ben-Shalom's military career ended.
Ben-Shalom returned to Waukesha and was one of six LGBT veterans who founded the Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Veterans of America (GLBVA), today known as theAmerican Veterans for Equal Rights.
She continued to participate in a number of protests against the military policy excluding homosexuals from service and in 1993 protested the military's new "Don't ask, don't tell" (DADT) policy by joiningDavid Mixner in chaining herself to theWhite House fence. After a long period of work as a teacher, she returned to direct action and was arrested on November 15, 2010, in uniform after chaining herself to the White House fence along with other participants, includingDan Choi.
She is a member of the New England Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Veterans and of the California Alexander Hamilton American Legion Post 448. A resident of Milwaukee with herlife partner, Karen Weiss[4] also serves as a full-time tenured instructor of English with theMilwaukee Area Technical College.
In 2015, she was named byEquality Forum as one of their 31 Icons of the 2015LGBT History Month.[5]
In 2016, Ben-Shalom was invited to be the Grand Marshall of theMilwaukeePride Parade. Shortly after the invitation was made, the Board of Directors of the non-profit organization behind the parade became aware of comments about transgender women on herFacebook page that were considered to betransphobic.[6] They rescinded the invitation[7] in an email letter to Ben-Shalom that she made public in a Facebook post:
The Bylaws of the Milwaukee Pride Parade include our mission statement, "To provide an outlet to the citizens of South Eastern Wisconsin in which GLBT individuals and groups can participate in a parade to show their pride." We are an inclusive organization that seeks to be free of intolerance, and seeks to promote the equality of all members of the community. As such, we feel that we cannot have a Grand Marshal who has publically [sic] and repeatedly denigrated transwomen.[8]
In March 2017, she testified before theTexas Senate Committee on State Affairs in support of Senate Bill 6, which would require transgender people to use the bathroom or changing facility of thesex stated on a person's birth certificate rather than of theirgender self-identification.[9][10][11]
Ben-Shalom has also availed herself of the support offered by conservative media outlets and organizations. In 2017, she co-founded theHands Across the Aisle Coalition, anonpartisan coalition[12] of "radical feminists, lesbians, Christians and conservatives" who oppose "gender identity legislation".[13] That same year, she appeared in the "Biology Isn't Bigotry: Why Sex Matters in the Age of Gender Identity" panel sponsored byThe Heritage Foundation.[14] In February 2018, she was a speaker at the "Gender and Sex Conference" inMadrid, sponsored by HazteOir/CitizenGo.[15][16]
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)[permanent dead link]