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Dimitrios Aletras

Dimitrios Aletras, Jr. is a first-generation Greek-American novelist, essayist, and survivor advocate based in Reading, Pennsylvania. His op-ed "America Has Never Kept Its Promise to Gay People" was published April 30, 2026 in the Reading Eagle and syndicated across six additional Pennsylvania newspapers covering all of Southeastern Pennsylvania, in print on Sunday and digitally. He is a certified Resilient Speaker through the Victims Resource Center of Pennsylvania and an ongoing panelist on Governor Josh Shapiro's statewide sexual assault roundtables. His debut literary novel Abstract Faces is currently with literary agents.

The grave marker of gay Vietnam veteran Leonard Matlovich sits in a cemetery on a rainy day, with flowers placed at the base of the headstone

Opinion

What Memorial Day owes queer soldiers

From Revolutionary War hero Baron von Steuben to veteran Leonard Matlovich, this essay argues that queer service members have always been part of the American story—even when the country tried to erase them.

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Dimitrios Aletras

What Memorial Day owes queer soldiers

From Revolutionary War hero Baron von Steuben to veteran Leonard Matlovich, this essay argues that queer service members have always been part of the American story—even when the country tried to erase them.