SURVIVING THE SILENCE: THE UNTOLD STORY OF TWO WOMEN IN LOVE WHO HELPED CHANGE MILITARY POLICY
Cindy L. Abel, 2020, USA, 79 min.
In this monumental coming-out-story, Colonel Patsy Thompson and her wife Barbara Brass reveal how they had to keep their relationship secret for years in order to preserve her military career (from speaking in code over the telephone to building secret doorways connecting their bedrooms). The greatest challenge came in 1992 when Patsy was forced to preside over the review board to discharge a lesbian war hero, Colonel Margarethe Cammermeyer. Walking an emotional tightrope, Patsy found a way to document the case that would help Margarethe become re-instated in the future via a federal court, and thus chart a course towards overturning the ban on gays and lesbians in the military.