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Inside the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago, visitors will see the names of two San Antonio veterans recognized for their service and activism in the movement to end military policies that barred gay service members from serving openly.
Among the many activists who worked to repeal the policy were Danny Ingram and his husband, Eric Alva. Alva is a San Antonio native. Ingram moved from Atlanta to San Antonio after the couple married.
Ingram was among the first service members discharged under the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy in 1994. Sixteen years later, President Obama signed legislation repealing the policy. An armband Ingram wore while advocating for an end to the military's ban on gay service members is now featured in the museum.
Alva was the first U.S. service member wounded in the Iraq War in 2003. His recovery and military service made him a frequent subject of national news coverage about the war. In 2007, he publicly came out as gay and became a spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign. The museum includes photographs of Alva during key moments in the effort to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," including the legislation's passage in the U.S. House of Representatives.
When Alva and Ingram met in Washington, D.C., in 2010, their military careers were already behind them. Both had become advocates for the rights of gay veterans, and although they had never met, they had long been working toward the same goal.
“While people were getting discharged under 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell,' we were fighting two wars, and we were firing valuable, valuable, professional, skilled people while wars were going on,” Alva said.
Before the museum opened on Juneteenth, Alva and Ingram were invited to a private tour in early June in recognition of their contributions.
The repeal
Before President Bill Clinton signed the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy into law in 1993, the military's restrictions on gay service members were governed by a complex series of Defense Department directives and regulations.
"Don't Ask, Don't Tell" replaced those policies by allowing gay men and lesbians to serve in the military, but only if they did not disclose their sexual orientation. Service members who publicly identified as gay or whose sexual orientation became known could face discharge proceedings.
“The day that the president signed the repeal of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' was one of the happiest days of my life. We had worked so very long to see the ban get lifted,” Ingram said.
When President Obama signed the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" during a ceremony at the Department of the Interior, Ingram watched from the audience while Alva stood on the stage behind the president. The two had met only months earlier while lobbying Congress for the policy's repeal.
“I was invited by the White House on December 22, 2010, to stand behind our commander in chief, President Obama. I stood right behind his right shoulder, and I got to literally lean over, and see him put his name to changing the law in America,” Alva said.
In the official White House photo of the signing, Alva stands next to then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, with then-Vice President Joe Biden positioned just behind them.
According to the Department of Defense, 32,800 service members were separated from the military under policies banning homosexual conduct dating back to 1980. Before "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," 19,365 service members were discharged, and during the policy, 13,472 were discharged.
The armband
“Several years ago, the Obama Foundation contacted me through American Veterans for Equal Rights, looking for a specific item, and it was an armband, a black armband that said, 'Lift the ban,’ and I had one, so they asked if they could have it,” Ingram said.
Ingram joined the Army in 1988 in Atlanta.
That armband was one he bought in 1990 and wore to pride parades.
“I was not going to be completely invisible during the time that I was serving in the military, and when it came time to speak up about the ban, I really wanted people to see we were already there. We were already defending the Constitution, and I wanted to be visible,” Ingram said.
Ingram said he marched while wearing glasses, a hat and other clothing to conceal his identity.
“I was photographed, and the photo made it into the newspaper, and the caption under the newspaper was a ‘veteran expresses her opinion’. So they thought that I was a woman, which is cool, but I did march incognito during those times when I was still actively serving in the military,” he said.
In 1990, Ingram began privately volunteering with American Veterans for Equal Rights, a nonprofit serving LGBT veterans.
When then-Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton campaigned for president in 1992, he promised to lift the ban on gays serving in the military if elected.
That gave Ingram a push to tell his commanding officers he was gay.
“I mostly wanted people to know that we were already there, and there was really nothing to be afraid of,” he said. “So I wrote a letter to my commanding officer, and sometime later they started discharge proceedings against me. “
Those discharge proceedings were paused as the law that would become "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" was debated in Congress. It passed in 1993. Ingram recalls being called in 1994 for discharge. His commanding officers were Black and Latino.
““The commander looked at me and said, ‘Sergeant Ingram, my granddaddy had to get his ass kicked so that I could serve as an officer in the United States Army.’ And he looked over at the first sergeant, and he said, ‘The first sergeant’s daddy had to get his ass kicked so the first sergeant could serve in an integrated military that we have today.’’ Ingram said. “And then he looked at me, and he said, ‘And now, Sergeant Ingram, you are going to get your ass kicked so that your people can someday serve in the United States Army.’”
Ingram, who was an E-5 (a sergeant-level enlisted rank in the U.S. Army) at the time, received an honorable discharge when he was removed from the service. He later became president of American Veterans for Equal Rights and currently serves as treasurer and public affairs director. The organization has about 400 members nationwide.
The first service member injured in Iraq
Eric Alva joined the Marine Corps in 1990, ultimately reaching the rank of staff sergeant. At the time, enlistment paperwork included direct questions about sexual orientation.
"And, of course I put ‘no’ to say that I didn't have any relationships or any feelings towards someone with the same sex,” he said.
For the next 13 years, Alva served as a Marine stationed in places including Okinawa and Somalia while keeping his sexuality hidden from all but close friends.
“I think, as a human race I don't want to say we're intrusive, we're just curious, so people always wondered, why is he always in the barracks on a Friday night? Why doesn't he have a girlfriend? Why doesn't he ever get married? And I would, I would jokingly say, I'm married to the Marine Corps,” Alva said.
In March 2003, Alva was severely injured by a landmine shortly after arriving in Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom. He had been in the country for less than 24 hours. He lost his right leg.
“My right arm was broken with severe nerve damage, which I have partial feeling in my right hand, and my fingers kind of look mangled, my left leg was broken in the blast,” he said.
Upon returning home, Alva said he received a “hero’s welcome.” Later that month, he was awarded a Purple Heart. He spent nine months at Walter Reed Medical Center and then continued his recovery in San Antonio.
After his injury, Alva remained on what is known as the Temporary Disability Retirement List. During that time, he came out publicly.
Alva was later asked by the Human Rights Campaign to serve as a supporter of the Military Readiness Enhancement Act, which would have repealed "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."
“I was told 'you need to come back to Washington, D.C. (where) Congressman Martin Meehan is going to introduce the bill, and we would love for you to sit next to him,' and, and they're like, 'we would love for you to tell your story.' And my story hadn't been out yet, as far as me being out publicly,” he said.
Alva consulted with his family, worried this attention would put them in the spotlight as well. They supported his decision. He later did an interview with Jake Tapper.
“On February 28 of 2007, Good Morning America broke the story. And if I hadn't been in the news before, forget it,” he said. “The Chicago Tribune, The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, The LA Times, I mean, everybody was just like, oh my god." So that's when I offered my voice to help the Human Rights Campaign to work to repeal 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell.'"
He said friends warned him he could be discharged under "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." However, that discharge never happened. He retired from the Marine Corps in April 2008.
He testified before congressional subcommittees on legislation to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." The Military Readiness Enhancement Act ultimately did not pass; however, separate legislation — the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act" — was approved.
In the Obama museum, Alva is featured in a photo with Joe Solmonese, who was president of the Human Rights Campaign. The photo was taken in September 2010, when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi signed the version of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" repeal legislation passed by the House.
Marriage
After meeting in 2010, Ingram and Alva later developed a long-distance relationship. Ingram was living in Atlanta before moving to San Antonio around 2017, when the couple married at the Bexar County Courthouse.
The work continues
In the fight to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," Ingram and Alva said they wish one thing had gone differently.
“We have this saying, and everyone knows this in the military, where you say ‘no man left behind.’ Well, now we say ‘no one left behind,’ and I continuously make that apology, because when we repealed ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ we left our transgender brothers and sisters behind,” Alva said.
Ingram said he believes civil rights for Americans made significant progress under the Obama administration but that recent developments have been setbacks.
“Under Obama, freedom was expanded to groups of people who did not have it before. Personally, seeing transgender people now being removed from the military, that’s a step backward, and it’s personal to me because I worked on that for so long. For me, we are less free today than we were under Obama,” Ingram said.
Under the Trump administration, transgender people are banned from enlisting in the military under a directive issued last year. However, a three-judge federal panel in Washington, D.C., ruled this month that the ban is illegal but allowed it to remain in effect while litigation continues.
