Families on the Frontlines: A Military Mom "Tells" Her Story

PFLAG kicks off our Families on the Frontlines series this morning at HuffingtonPost.com, where we have an exclusive interview with Nancy Manzella (pictured), the mother of former Army medic Darren Manzella.

Darren, who told his story of serving as an openly gay medic inside of Iraq as part of a 2007 story on 60 Minutes, has since been dismissed from the armed forces under "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." But, as Congress gets ready for its first-ever hearings on the law, Nancy is still speaking out and still working to end the ban against lesbian, gay and bisexual troops.

“I don’t believe there is any aspect of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ that is pro-family,” she told PFLAG. “The question is: Pro-family for which families? Certainly this law can’t be ‘for’ the families who have lesbian and gay children who are serving. The law not only discriminates against family members, forcing anguish and fear into their lives, but it tells them that their sons and daughters aren’t good enough to serve our country. Our sons and daughters are over in the war, risking their lives, saving lives and doing a great job for our country. They should be judged on their performance and bravery, not their sexual orientation. Considering all the discrimination the law promotes, it can’t be called ‘pro-family.’ In fact, it reeks of anti-family values, because of the discrimination it inflicts upon so many people."

You can read our full interview with Nancy at HuffingtonPost, and leave thoughts, notes or questions for her here in our comments section. We'll make sure Nancy gets them, and she'll make sure there's s always a true pro-family voice in the fight for the repeal.

Photo by Judy G. Rolfe.