Oliver Sipple

(November 20, 1941 - February 2, 1989) U.S.A.

Hero Oliver "Bill" Sipple was born in Detroit, Michigan. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps during the Vietnam War, where was wounded twice. His friends knew him as Billy. Sipple received an honorable discharge in 1970 as a private first-class, and received a 100% veteran's disability pension for psychological and physical reasons. Sipple moved to San Francisco after the war to begin a new life. He made new friends, and became active in local causes, including the political campaigns of openly gay City Council candidate Harvey Milk. His friends knew something that his family didn't - Billy Sipple was gay. He attended gay rights rallies, worked at a gay bar, and participated in the Imperial Court System. On September 22, 1975, Sipple went to Union Square in the heart of San Francisco to get a glimpse of the President of the United States who was attending an event at the St. Francis Hotel. At 3:30 p.m., President Ford emerged from the hotel and was greeted by a sea of onlookers. Sipple was standing next to Sara Jane Moore when she pulled out a gun and fired it in the President's direction. Before she could fire a second round, Sipple grabbed her arm and prevented her from hitting her target just 35 feet away, and wrestled her to the ground, and prevented her from getting off a second shot by shoving his hand into the firing mechanism. According to Randy Shilts, "Sipple pleaded with the Secret Service not to release his name to the press," though the request was ignored. Upon seeing Sipple's name in the paper, and sensing a chance to fight negative stereotypes about gay men, Harvey Milk told San Francisco Chronicle columnist Herb Caen that Sipple was gay; Caen printed the detail and it made its way into national news. "This," Shilts wrote, "presented a dilemma for President Ford. Normally, a man who saves the life of a President... could expect a Rose Garden invitation and profuse thanks." In the case of a gay man, however, it was only after several weeks that Ford penned a short thank-you note. Sipple's outing also estranged him from his family and it took years for the relationship to mend. He thus received a brief thank-you letter from the president, but when the news media outed him, his family disowned him and he filed a $15 million lawsuit against seven major newspapers (which he lost). Oliver Sipple's life has been devastated. He was abandoned by his family and many of his friends. Did anyone have a right to "out" someone else? He became an alcoholic and died poor and alone is his tiny apartment. His $334 per month apartment near the Tenderloin District of San Francisco was plastered with newspaper clippings of his actions on the fateful September afternoon in 1975. His prized possession was the framed letter from the White House. He was found dead on February 2, 1989, but it was speculated he had been dead for about two weeks before he was found; he was forty-seven. At the time of his death, Sipple weighed more than 300 pounds. Sipple's funeral was attended by about 90 people, but President Ford and his wife did not attend. A short time later, a letter addressed to the friends of Oliver Sipple was displayed at his favorite bar, the New Belle Saloon: "Mrs. Ford and I express our deepest sympathy in this time of sorrow involving your friend's passing... President Gerald Ford, February, 1989". Source: http://lgbt-history-archive.tumblr.com/ - et alii