Ford Death Rekindles Memories Of Gay Man Who Thwarted Assassination Attempt

[William769]

(Washington) Former President Gerald Ford died Tuesday night in California. He was 93.

Ford was the country's 38th president succeeding Richard Nixon who left the White House in disgrace in 1974 after the Watergate scandal.

He served until 1977 when he was defeated by Jimmy Carter.

In office only 895 days Ford survived two assassination attempts. The first came in September 1975 when Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, a 26-year-old follower of Charles Manson, aimed a semiautomatic pistol at Ford in Sacramento, Calif.

A Secret Service agent grabbed her and Ford was unhurt.

http://www.365gay.com/Newscon06/12/122706ford.htm

[keopeli]

1. Oliver Sipple, ex-Marine and Vietnam purple heart, was outed by the SF papers.

Seventeen days later in San Francisco Sara Jane Moore, a 45-year-old political activist, was arrested after she fired a gun at the president.

The shot missed, and before she could get off a second shot Oliver Sipple who had been in the crowd beside Moore grabbed her arm.

Ford again was unhurt but the event and the media flurry that followed changed Sipple's life forever.

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Basically, he was outed in the SF Chronicle as having helped elect Harvey Milk. His mom, unaware he was gay, subsequently disowned him. He sued the SF Chronicle for libel, but the case was dismissed 5 years later. He became an alcoholic and died alone in 1989. 30 people attended his funeral.

I'm happy to say that times have changed.

[patricia92243]

2. His mom disowned him - disgraceful. This makes me angry and makes me want to cry - both at the

same time.

:(

[pitohui]

4. chist i'd forgotten that story

no good deed goes unpunished

[kevinbgoode]

5. I'm not sure the times have changed that much. . .

there are still plenty of gay people whose parents have "disowned" them. . .and that behavior is encouraged by the right wing, evangenital cabal of tantrum-throwing pretend "Christian" zealots and their daily fear-and-smear campaign against gay Americans.

[keopeli]

3. kick

:kick: