Wall to Honor Military Gays by John De Salvio

Photo by Workmaster

One brick honors soldier dismissed for homosexuality during Revolutionary War	While the Pentagon stubbornly insists that almost no gays can be found in the military, two Monte Rio women have launched "The Wall of Restitution" project to allow each and every gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgendered person who has ever served for the U.S. Armed Forces to make their military service known. A seven-foot-high wall made up of "bricks" the size of index cards, each brick represents one person who has ever served in the military. One brick honors Gotthold Enslin, the first soldier to be dismissed from the military for homosexuality, and who served in George Washington's Continental Army. Like the Names Project Quilt which honors AIDS deaths, The Wall of Restitution allows anonymity. There are some gays and lesbians who wish to make the statement to add the factual number, but who still serve and consider it unwise to become public. If the person is still living, only that person can place his or her own brick in The Wall. Deceased veterans are recognized with Memorial bricks provided by families, lovers, or friends.
The sheer numbers that will demonstrate what the Department of Defense chooses to deny	The Wall of Restitution was conceived by Monte Rio residents Lee Miller and Catherine Parker, who had met a woman in the 1993 San Francisco gay pride parade who was capturing the oral history of lesbians in the military. The woman was playwright Lee Jenkins, and the end product of her writing was the play, "A Credit to her Country." During a run of the play -- which relates some harrowing stories -- Miller came up with the idea of the Wall of Restitution. She and Parker erected a makeshift Wall in the theater lobby, and within nine days had 50 bricks. "The restitution part of the project," says Miller, "is in giving service members or veterans the opportunity to put a brick in the wall, thereby finalizing, making peace with, or paying tribute to, themselves." Miller wants the rest of the world to know the trauma that gay and lesbian servicemembers have been through, and to recognize the often heroic but hidden lives they led in order to serve their country as proud Americans. Above all, it will be the sheer numbers that will demonstrate what the Department of Defense chooses to deny. "The importance of each brick -- no matter what the expression, whether it's words, or images, or signatures, or anything symbolic -- is that each brick counts as one person," says Miller.
Potentially 23 miles long	Such an art project poses potential logistic nightmares. The first section of the Wall, containing 150 bricks, is 20 feet long. With more than one million living veterans believed to be eligible, the wall would be almost 23 miles long. Unlike the Quilt, The Wall allows only one brick per military person, alive or dead. To approach this concept in a somewhat orderly fashion, Miller and Parker, along with San Francisco friends and associates, formed The Restitution Project. It now has an executive board as well as an advisory board of notable dignitaries. Guerneville artist and woodworker Leslee Baren designed the physical structure according to Miller's concepts. She devised a textured wall made up of modular sections that hook and hinge together. "She actually figured out the logistics," says Miller. "In fact, the whole concept took form at the River. It was a labor of love on the River that made it happen." The end result is a project that can be assembled and disassembled by two people, and moved in small trucks. The Restitution Project hopes to set up chapters in major cities across the country, so that each area will be able to construct its own sections of the Wall according to plans provided. None of this project has yet been supported with grants, relying instead upon private donations. Miller wants the project not only to pay for itself, but to become a fundraiser for organizations that protect and defend the legal rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered servicemembers and veterans. "In fact, giving money away is built into our charter," Says Miller. Donations go to the cost of creating bricks for those who cannot make their own (no one must pay to have a brick in the Wall), and to sponsor sections. The official unveiling of The Wall of Restitution will take place Saturday, August 17, 7:00 p.m. at the Thomasina Josephine DeMaio Gallery on Highway 116 in Guernewood Park. Honorary chairman Keith Meinhold, who recently retired from the Navy (he had successfully challenged them in the Supreme Court when they discharged him for coming out), will be the celebrity bartender of the event. There will also be a silent auction. The exhibit will last through August 24, and will include works by well-known Bay Area lesbian and gay artists and photographers. For more information about The Wall of Restitution, contact Lee Miller through the Restitution Project voice mail at (415) 675-5672, or at (707) 865-0512.

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