This is part three is a trio of posts about Staff Sgt. Eric Alva, the first soldier injured in the Iraq War who has come out as a gay man and is fighting for the repeal of the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy...

Alva, 36, servied his country for 13 years. In addition to Iraq, he did tours of duty in Somalia and Japan and was awarded the Purple Heart after he lost his right leg in the war. He spoke with "Out In Hollywood" a few days ago about how dismayed he is over the comments made a few weeks ago by General Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chief of Staffs, who said homosexuality is immoral and the military should not support anything immoral.
"It was shocking, it was like a slap in the face, a stab in the back," Alva says. He's a fellow marine and I remember I was excited when he got to be appointed the chairman of the Joint Chief of Staffs because he's the first marine in U.S. history to hold that title. But when he stated that, I couldn't believe it and had lost all respect for him. He was someone I had looked up to."
Alva joined the marines in 1990 before "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and kept his sexuality a secret to all but a select group of close friends in the military. He knows there are an estimated 65,000 gay and lesbian troops who are currently serving and that is why Pace's comments are particularly galling.
"He put himself out there under fire where people are gonna wonder why would you say something especially when thousands serving the armed forces look up to him, the men and women who are serving honorably, very honorably, under the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy. As it is, their voices, their freedom of speech is already shunned because they aren't allowed to say who they are. Here's someone who is in a leadership role getting to express his freedom of speech in a wrongful manner and to show such disrespect. It's not just the estimated 65,000-plus, there are millions of others who may have brothers and sisters who are gay back home or may be being raised by a same-sex couple family. So he disrespected millions."
Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese says Pace's comments, when put side-by-side with Alva's story of dedication to his country and record of service, only illustrates how wrong the policy is.
"So much of this bigoted homophobia is actually based in fear and it's a generational thing. When you see someone like General Pace making these comments, I think the American people see it for what it is, an older generational response that's based in fear. To contrast that with Eric, the face of a new generation and a profile in American courage and the fact that so many young people both in and out of the military either know gay people or know gay people in the military, it's been a wonderful, important contrast."
Alva has heard from plenty of people still active in the military who have been supportive and emails from other people all around the world and says: "The overall response from people has just been tremendous. Twenty years ago, you could not have got something like this. People have really changed their views on life and how we should be treated."
A resident of San Antonio, TX. where he lives with his partner of three years, Darrell Parsons, Alva is now studying to be a social worker to work with people with disabilities.
"There's no reason why in this world we still shun people for something that they're not, what someone else would like them to be," he says. "I'm going to do everything in my power to just enable people to be aware of how we treat people."