At 2pm this afternoon, Sgt. Eric Alva appeared in front of a bi partisan congressional group to become an exceptionally strong voice against “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policies in the US military. Alva was the first marine to be injured in the war in Iraq, losing his leg to a landmine.

In an interview with ABC News, Alva recounts that many of his colleagues not only knew that he was gay, but that fact didn’t destroy his unit or put fellow soliders at risk, as those in favor of DADT often argue:

“I told tons of people. A lot of my friends, my buddies, my closest Marines, people I had served in combat with. Straight guys, married, with children and everything, three of them which I have become their sons’ godfather now. Everybody was just respectful and was just like ordinary. ‘That’s it? That’s your big news?’ Being on the front lines and serving with the people who even actually knew that I was gay, you know, that was never a factor. We were there to do a job. We were [there] to do a mission. I don’t think people would have a hard time with it because they know that the person right next to them is going to be there to protect them, in our terms, ‘have their back.’” [via towleroad]

HRC has set up a little minisite about Sgt. Alva that you can check out for more information or read the full story on ABCNews.com

“Do you have any thoughts on whether we should come and picket you as a soul-damning, nation-destroying, filthy, feces-eating sodomite who preys on little children in your project work?”

-Email to James Cappleman, candidate for Chicago’s Board of Alderman, from Timothy Phelps of the Westboro Baptist Church.

Victory has dealt with the Phelps bunch before. In 2005, the hate group picketed the Gay & Lesbian Leadership Conference in Seattle, Washington. Now they’re attacking one of our early candidates this year. James Cappleman, who’s running for a seat on the Chicago Board of Alderman, received an email from a Phelps family member this week threatening to bring the group’s virulent brand of hatred to the streets of Chicago in protest of his candidacy.

If you think about it, this makes sense. What’s more harmful to the cause of anti-gay bigots than having entire communities vote for an openly gay candidate to represent them and their families?