LGBT History Month :: Tammy Smith and David Bowie

Each year, along with the help of Equality Forum and LGBT HistoryMonth.com, Hotspots celebrates LGBT History Month by honoring members of the community who are advancing our rights, fighting for visibility, and who help move us forward towards a life where everyone feels free to live life as who they really are.

This week, we honor Tammy Smith, the first out lesbian General in the U.S. Army and David Bowie, one of the most famous musicians of the 20th century.

Tammy Smith
Born 1963

Tammy Smith is the first out lesbian general in the U.S. Army. She was named a brigadier general in 2012 and formally promoted during a ceremony at the Women's Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery. She became the commanding general of the 98th Training Division.

Born in Oakland, Oregon, Smith began her military career when she received a four-year Reserve Officer Training Corps scholarship. She graduated from the University of Oregon in 1986 and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Quartermaster Corps.

During her 30-year military career Smith has served as a platoon leader in Panama, a logistic support detachment commander in Costa Rica and a company commander in South Carolina. She was stationed in Afghanistan, where she was chief of Army Reserve affairs during Operation Enduring Freedom.

Smith holds a Doctor of Management in Organizational Leadership from the University of Phoenix and received an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Lincoln University. She has been decorated with numerous medals and awards and is in the ROTC's Hall of Fame.

Smith married Tracey Hepner in 2012. The ceremony, held at the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, was officiated by a military chaplain just two years after same-sex marriage was legalized in the nation's capital.

"For me it's really been transitional," Smith said in an interview, "to go from being 100 percent in the closet to being globally gay." She continued, "She [Tracey] has been so wonderful in helping me cut loose the shackles of those 26 years in the military, of having to hide a part of myself. I don't live a double life anymore."

Hepner founded the Military Partners and Families Coalition, a national military advocacy organization that provides support, education and resources for LGBT military members and their families. Smith has become active in LGBT events and advocacy and has been honored by many LGBT organizations and publications. She served as grand marshal of the 2013 Gay Pride Parade in Washington.

David Bowie
January 8, 1947- January 10, 2016

Born David Robert Jones in London, David Bowie was a singer, songwriter, actor and record producer. He is among the best-selling recording artists in the world.

Bowie first splashed onto the music charts in 1969 with "Space Oddity." The song became one of his best known and among three of his recordings to be included in The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll. Bowie went on to experiment with a variety of musical styles that came to define him as an innovator.

With his first album, "The Man Who Sold the World," Bowie helped usher in the era of glam rock, a style known for its androgynous-looking performers, make-up and flamboyant costumes.

Bowie followed his debut with a string of musical successes, notably "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars." The 1972 concept album featured his gender-bending alter-ego, Ziggy Stardust, an alien rock star. The same year, in an interview with Melody Maker magazine, Bowie came out as gay. He later told Playboy he was bisexual.

In 1976 Bowie starred in "The Man Who Fell to Earth," the first of his many film roles. He experimented with highly theatrical live shows and narrated "Peter and the Wolf" with the Philadelphia Orchestra-the first of his many children's projects. He made his Broadway debut in "The Elephant Man." In addition to music, film and theater, Bowie was also an accomplished artist whose work was shown at international galleries.

Bowie produced important albums for Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, and Mott the Hoople, and collaborated with artists such as John Lennon, the band Queen, and Mick Jagger, with whom he had been romantically linked.

In 1993 he told Rolling Stone magazine that declaring his bisexuality was "the biggest mistake" he ever made. He would later say he had "no problem with people knowing I was bisexual. But I had no inclination to hold any banners nor be a representative of any group of people."

In 1996 Bowie was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and became the first musician to release a song for download. His 30th and final studio album, "Blackstar," was released just two days before he died of cancer.
Bowie was married twice to women, the second time to the model Iman (his widow). He was the father of a son and a daughter.