Funeral services have been set for Army Sargent Darren Manzella,
the first active duty servicemember to publicly disclose that he was
gay.
Manzella, 36, died Thursday night in a tragic automobile accident
in suburban Rochester, New York.
(Related: Darren
Manzella, gay servicemember who fought DADT, has died.)
His funeral will be held on Tuesday, September 3 at Saint
Dominic's Roman Catholic Church in Brocton at 11 AM. Viewing
services will be held Monday at Morse Funeral Home.
Manzella enlisted in the U.S. Army in
2002 and was twice deployed to the Middle East in support of
Operation Iraqi Freedom. He was awarded the Combat Medical Badge for
providing medical care under fire during the Iraq war.
In 2007, Manzella revealed to 60
Minutes' Leslie Stahl that he had been serving openly. He said
that he acknowledged to superiors investigating him that he was gay
without incident.
After CBS aired the story, the Army
handed down a determination of ineligibility, and Manzella was
discharged under “Don't Ask, Don't Tell” in 2008. The policy,
which prohibited gay troops from serving openly, was repealed three
years later.
He is survived by his husband Javier
Lapeira-Soto and his parents.