Tom Swann-Hernandez
www.swannsalutesjohndalton.com
My efforts are dedicated to the cause of freedom for those who come after me.
You must never give up hope or give in to discrimination.
In 1984 I enrolled in the first federally-funded AIDS medical research project. I was not infected with HIV. In 1990 I seroconverted.
After serving in the Marine Corps and Naval Air Reserve as an E-6, I became a GS-11 civilian employee with a secret clearance at Point Mugu Navy Base in Ventura County, California. In December 1992, I was asked by advisers to the new transition team for President-Elect Bill Clinton to tell my story as a former gay Marine Corps veteran. I did feature interviews in the Los Angeles Times, Oxnard Press Courier, and local TV stations. I wanted to help President-Elect Bill Clinton keep his campaign promise to lift the ban on gays in the military.
The Navy retaliated against me. I received a mutilated alligator doll with a spear in the head and spears in the belly and a broken condom on the tail at work that was made for me because my nickname is Gator. I was born and raised in Florida. The Lance Corporal gave me this mutilated stuffed cloth animal and said to me, "The condom broke you have AIDS and you are going to die like Magic Johnson." Johnson of course was the basketball player who tested for HIV while playing for the Los Angeles Lakers NBA team. This symbol of anti-gay harassment was created by a Marine Lance Corporal at my Navy base. Later, I was assaulted by two Marines at a retirement party for the Colonel at our base. The Navy put me on the unfunded list and tried to end my 11 year career.
The ACLU represented me in several forms of litigation against the Department of the Navy. The New York Times reported that the U.S. Office of Special Counsel conducted an investigation of alleged discrimination at the Navy Base. Our case won a partial victory but I was not satisfied because I wanted sexual orientation added to the Navy's Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Policy.
Our case became a national news story as my color picture was printed in Time Magazine. I wore my Marine Corps uniform at the 1993 March On Washington. I was the second person introduced onstage before one million people. The Commandant of the Marine Corps saw me on C-SPAN TV wearing the Marine Corps uniform and became outraged. The next day he called the Marine Aviation Detachment at Point Mugu Navy Base trying to get me fired.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff late General Colin Powell and I both spoke in person to the editorial board of The Christian Science Monitor newspaper in Boston. I outperformed General Powel. The newspaper agreed with me and published an editorial supporting that the military ban against gays be lifted.
I was placed on unpaid leave for several months and my HIV viral load collapsed to the point that I was near death. I wondered why the White House did nothing to help me. I became very depressed.
The ACLU continued to represent me and we accumulated medical evidence that required the Navy to return me to work and rehabilitate me from my fears and anxiety. This medical evidence proved that LGBTQ are capable of working for the Navy, and that they are not a threat to national security. The Navy hired their own psychiatrist to challenge our evidence. However, the Navy doctor wrote a report agreeing with our evidence. This forced the Navy to enter into settlement discussions with the ACLU to avoid a trial
Navy Secretary John Dalton made the decision in May 1994 to add sexual orientation protection to the Navy's EEO Policy. The Navy told the ACLU that we should file an EEO complaint against the Navy. We did and the Navy agreed that I deserved compensation in May 1994 just days after John Dalton issued the new EEO Policy. I agreed to keep the terms and conditions of my settlement confidential.
I was interviewed by Navy Times newspaper about John Dalton's heroic achievement. John Dalton added sexual orientation protection for Navy civilian workers more than four years before President Bill Clinton signed an Executive Order providing this protection for the other branches of the military service.
In 1996 I was honored as co-grand marshal of the Washington DC LGBTQ Pride Parade.
In 1995 my CD4 count was below 50 and I was having problems with my eyes. I went to see an HMO Ophthalmologist who later told the jury I looked like a pirate because I had an ear ring. He was afraid to touch me and only examined the front of my eyes. He did not lean me back and use his fingers to hold open my eye lids and use a bright light to examine the back of my eyes. He said my eyes were fine. I asked my HMO primary care doctor to send me to a better ophthalmologist and he said I would have to wait until this person retired.
I lost one-half of my vision in my left eye and my doctor told me not to go to the emergency room. I failed a visual field test and the doctor did not prescribe any medicine for me. The HMO sent me to a retina specialist who diagnosed CMV Retinitis. The HMO would not prescribe Ganciclovir because they said it was too expensive. Also, that I had Kaposi Sarcoma and CMV and only had less than six months to live. So, it would be a waste of money.
At that moment in my fragile condition, I reached out to Dr. Gary Holland at the Jules Stein Eye Institute at UCLA Medical Center. Dr. Holland had me enroll in a NIH Ganciclovir - Cytovene drug trial that I believe Dr. Anthony Fauci helped create. Dr. Holland said I had untreated CMV Retinitis for nine months. This NIH drug trial saved my life. Later, this drug trial prescribed protease inhibitors for me and that also saved my life. Dr. Fauci were responsible for\ fast-tracking promising AIDS medications.
My retina detached and Dr. Steven Schwartz at UCLA wanted to do eye surgery. The HMO refused. Dr. Schwartz appealed the decision. Dr. Schwartz told me in person that when my dear mother in Florida would come to California and visit her dying son for the last time to say she loved me before I died, he wanted me to be able to see her face. The surgery was a success and I have written three books and seen every American President since Richard Nixon.
In my book I share the story of placing a wreath for veterans that had died of AIDS at Arlington National Cemetery Tomb of the Unknowns. A young couple from Ohio videotaped our presentation. When they mailed me the VHS tape, it included a prayer card whereby the Marian Helpers would pray every day for one year for me. During that period my CMV went untreated and then I had two retina detachments. Then because of Dr. Fauci's blessed work with protease inhibitors my viral load became undetectable.
I am now legally blind. I have served on the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs HIV Community Advisory Board since 2000. I was appointed by Dr Lawrence "Bopper" Deyton who like Dr. Fauci has had a splendid career.
In 1998 I moved to Rancho Mirage which is near Palm Springs, California. In 1999 I led the effort so. that LGBTQ veterans could march in the Palm Springs Veterans Day Parade. In 2001 I led the effort to dedicate America's first LG BTQ Veterans Memorial in Cathedral City, California. Radio show hosts Michael Reagan and late Rus Limbaugh were critical of our project. This AMVETS Post 66 memorial was dedicated nine years before the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT) This memorial was the third landmark in the United States to honor transgender people. This was a national news story.
In 2018 I asked State Assembly Member Eduardo Garcia to introduce legislation to make our memorial a state memorial. The State Assembly and State Senate passed the historic legislation with a unanimous vote. Governor Jerry Brown signed the legislation into law in 2018. In 2019 AMVETS Post 66 made national news again when we dedicated the California LGBTQ Veterans Memorial. California is the first and only state to have a memorial honoring our brave LGBTQ war dead.
In 2016 my husband Guillermo Hernandez and I held the first same-sex marriage in immigration history. This was an international news story. Guillermo and I are happily married. I am now 66 years old and have lived with HIV for 34 years.
Since becoming legally blind I have published three books. My third book is titled "Don't Let Fear Block Your Vision" The book attempts to inspire people living with HIV and blindness to not be afraid to seek their goals. In the book I write:
"I was afraid to go places especially at night. I feared that there may be a danger ahead of me that I cannot see. Eventually when my eyesight became worse, I began using a white cane with a red tip. This helped me a great deal.
I decided during therapy that I would not let my fear of the uncertainty of life because I am blind block my vision of the many improvements that I wanted to make in our country. I was blind but I was still a precious child of God. One of my favorite songs was "Do Not Be Afraid" where it says Jesus Christ goes before me to lead the way. So, fear because of blindness would not hinder my vision of who I was and who I could eventually become. "
Thanks for reading and sharing with others. Thank you to Bill Kibler for asking me to write something and posting this story. I hope the work I have accomplished while living with HIV and CMV Retinitis will inspire you to have hope and persevere to achieve your dreams and live with joy.
Tom Swann Hernandez
tomswannhernandez@earthlink.net
Veterans Resources
PrEP: Are You Protected from HIV?
Geriatrics and Extended Care > Hospice Care
HIV.gov > Caring for Veterans with HIV
HIV.gov > Veterans: Help end AIDS
Clarification of the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program (RWHAP) Policy on Services Provided to Veterans
PubMed > The Continuum of HIV Care in a Veterans' Affairs Clinic
