Cpl Andrew Wilfahrt

I wrote about Andrew Wilfahrt, the gay soldier who died in Afghanistan six weeks ago- the victim of an IED.

Now his father, Jeff Wilfahrt, is continuing the brave tradition of serving his country by speaking out on behalf of halting discrimination:

“I have no authority for what I am about to say. My only claim to fame is that I am the father of a fallen Minnesota soldier, the eighteenth to die in Afghanistan since 2007.

To all of you here in attendance and to all of those who serve in the Capitol of the great State of Minnesota I tender these following remarks.

Each of you here today are, first and foremost, a human being, you are in all likelihood an American, and you are in all likelihood a Minnesotan.

Each and every one of you can be described by height, by weight, by eye color, by hair color, by ethnicity, by gender and by sexuality. You were born with these things, not a
single descriptor I’ve stated is a choice.

Each of you has chosen a life arc. You choose with whom to associate, you choose your creed, you choose your politics; you choose your work life. These choices each of us
make as humans, as Americans and as Minnesotans.

We had a son. He was gay, he didn’t choose it. But he did choose as his life arc to serve in the Army with the 552nd MP Company. He died in Kandahar just six weeks ago. It was death by IED while on foot patrol.”

Powerful stuff.  Story and video here.