Pam Daniels

Silent Drums Pam Daniels

"Eye-opening, hard-hitting, and an excellent, compelling read; this book will prove hard to put down, cultivating an intense roller coaster of emotions designed to involve readers not just in social or military issues; but in the perspectives of individual lives. Four years before the Stonewall riots, one Bob LeBlanc informed Marine Corps investigators "you have no right to ask" when they asked if he was homosexual. He did so again a year before Stonewall. In 1975, for the first time in American history, a federal judge issued a restraining order against the U. S. Military to halt the court martial of Bob for allegedly being gay. Bob's final legal fights with the Marines in 1975 and 1976 would fuel the fledgling gay rights movement throughout the U. S., which has evolved into today's LGBTQ Civil Rights movement - and yet until the publication of Silent Drums, these facts themselves were buried. It can be said that Bob LeBlanc is the Rosa Parks of today's LGBTQ Civil Rights movement." - Diane Donovan, Midwest Book Review - Winning marriage equality was barely the tip of the iceberg. "Silent Drums: Adapt, Improvise, Overcome!" reminds us of the sacrifices made in the past that we must build on well into the future because LGBTQ people still face often harsh discrimination in many states for employment, housing and medical care. Bob LeBlanc began fighting discrimination in 1965 as a Marine before, during and after 2 Combat tours in Vietnam... now he's also battling terminal cancer caused by his exposure to Agent Orange. Bob's life spans the entire length of the LGBTQ civil rights movement and directly involves U. S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, who in 1975, for the first time in U. S. history as a judge on the 9th circuit court of appeals issued a restraining order that stopped the Marine Corps from dishonorably discharging him for being Gay; but that didn't come close to ending his personal struggle for full equality. Bob's and husband Julio's story will inspire you to fight ignorance and bigotry! Pam Daniels