E1542 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — Extensions of Remarks July 17, 2007 TRIBUTE TO NEW VETERANS AND sin’s Hate Crimes Act, which was upheld than refusing to live out the regime’s man- PURPLE HEART RECIPIENTS ME- unanimously by the U.S. Supreme Court. He dated propaganda. For his supposed ‘‘crime’’ MORIAL sponsored a Bill of Rights for people with Mr. Herna´ndez Reyes was maliciously ‘‘sen- AIDS and HIV infection. And, in 1983, he au- tenced’’ to one year in the totalitarian gulag. HON. thored the Consenting Adults Act, legalizing all I remind my colleagues that, under the OF WEST VIRGINIA sexual activity between consenting adults in Cuban totalitarian regime, any freedom of ex- IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES private, thus repealing the state’s sodomy pro- pression or effort to display truth or opinion hibitions. He has served as a consultant and that is not in step with the regime’s mandated Tuesday, July 17, 2007 mentor to openly gay and candidates lies, is met with swift and violent repression. Mrs. CAPITO. Madam Speaker, I rise today throughout the country. Upon his ‘‘sentencing’’ Mr. Herna´ndez Reyes to pay tribute to a new memorial in my district Bringing together his vast experience in pol- was moved by mule to the Tres Veredas con- that honors our veterans and Purple Heart re- icy development, legislative relations, and centration camp in Guantanamo, Cuba. cipients. grassroots organizing, on February 3, 1981, Madam Speaker, Tres Veredas is an infernal The new memorial was unveiled July 9, then State Representative David dungeon where men are herded and treated 2007 at the Veterans Affairs Hospital in Mar- Clarenbach introduced Assembly Bill 70 to in- as animals, with little if any contact with the tinsburg, WV. The ceremony was officiated by clude discrimination based on sexual orienta- outside world, the camp being a three to four the Martinsburg Chapter 646 of the Military tion in the state’s prohibition on discrimination hour walk from the nearest town and almost Order of the Purple Heart. in employment, housing, and public accom- only reachable by mule. The Purple Heart and Veterans Memorial is modations. At the time only 41 municipalities Madam Speaker, Mr. Herna´ndez Reyes lan- 1 of 2 in West Virginia and 1 of 110 through- and 8 counties in the United States offered guishes in an unventilated, dank, and rancid out the whole Nation to honor our military men limited protections against discrimination smelling room without water, electricity, or and women. Former Martinsburg VA Director based on sexual orientation. In explaining the sunlight. Recently, Mr. Herna´ndez Reyes was Fernando Rivera came up with the idea after bill, Representative Clarenbach stated that able to communicate to human rights activist he visited a similar memorial in the neigh- ‘‘the right of private sexual preference among Francisco Herna´ndez Gomez that there was a boring State of Maryland. The Martinsburg adults should be considered inherent . . . he rampant outbreak of diarrhea among the pris- Chapter 646 of the Military Order of the Purple or she should be guaranteed the basic human oners. No one bothered to investigate the Heart worked with the VA center to build the right to live without harassment or discrimina- source of their illness or make the minimal ef- memorial at the main entrance of the facility. tion.’’ The bill was endorsed by a broad coali- fort of transporting prisoners to a hospital or Cy Kammeier, commander of the Martins- tion of clergy, religious denominations, and clinic for diagnosis. Instead they were ‘‘treat- burg Chapter 646 of the Military Order of the medical and professional groups. ed’’ by a nurse at the facility itself without ac- Purple Heart, dedicated the memorial to In October 1981, Assembly Bill 70 was ap- cess even to electricity. ‘‘those who gave some, and for the next of proved by the by a Madam Speaker, this is only one episode of kin, those who gave all.’’ vote of 50 to 46, and in February 1982, the the criminally abhorrent injustices continually As this year brings the 75th anniversary of Wisconsin State Senate approved the pro- carried out on countless innocent Cubans just the revival of the Purple Heart, it gives me a posal by a vote of 19 to 13. Later that month, 90 miles from our shores. And yet, though the great privilege to recognize those who helped Republican Governor Lee Sherman Dreyfus tyranny has attempted to destroy Mr. make this memorial a success. I am honored signed Assembly Bill 70 into law, making Wis- Herna´ndez Reyes, he will never cease in his to serve the citizens of the Second District of consin the first in the Nation to enact a civil commitment to freedom for Cuba. My Col- West Virginia, many of whom continue to rights statute covering sexual orientation. leagues, we must demand the immediate re- proudly represent our State in the Armed For his tenacity, his skills, and most of all, lease of Carlos Manuel Herna´ndez Reyes and Forces. Memorials like the one in Martinsburg his courage, I join with all of Wisconsin in sa- all prisoners of conscience in totalitarian Cuba. are a reminder of the sacrifices that so many luting . f men and women have made in order to pro- f tect our freedoms and liberties throughout our HONORING SERGEANT NICHOLAS Nation’s history. FREEDOM FOR CARLOS MANUEL WALSH HERNA´ NDEZ REYES f HON. MARILYN N. MUSGRAVE HONORING DAVID CLARENBACH HON. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART OF COLORADO OF FLORIDA IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES HON. TAMMY BALDWIN IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Tuesday, July 17, 2007 OF WISCONSIN Tuesday, July 17, 2007 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Mrs. MUSGRAVE. Madam Speaker, I rise Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida. today to honor the life of SGT Nicholas Walsh Tuesday, July 17, 2007 Madam Speaker, I rise today to speak about and pay tribute to his patriotic service to our Ms. BALDWIN. Madam Speaker, as the Carlos Manuel Herna´ndez Reyes, a political Nation. State of Wisconsin celebrates the 25th anni- prisoner in totalitarian Cuba. As a team leader with Charlie Company, 1st versary of the Nation’s first Gay and Lesbian Mr. Carlos Manuel Herna´ndez Reyes is a Reconnaissance Battalion, 1st Marine Divi- Civil Rights Act, I rise today to honor the cou- member of the John Paul II Peace and Justice sion, Sergeant Walsh bravely led fellow Ma- rageous individual who authored this historic Movement and a member of the Pedro Luis rines on special operations missions in Iraq’s legislation, David Clarenbach. Boitel Civic Resistance Movement, an organi- Al Anbar Province. On May 26, while on a David Clarenbach is a seasoned veteran of zation named for a legendary, heroic Cuban mission in Fallujah, Sergeant Walsh tragically local, state, and national politics. He won his political figure who died in a hunger strike in lost his life. first term as a Dane County Supervisor at the 1972. The primary objective of the movement After graduating from John Carroll High age of 18, and was elected to the Madison is to urge the Cuban tyranny to grant amnesty School in Birmingham, Alabama, Nicholas Common Council in 1974. He served in the to all prisoners of conscience and to abolish Walsh followed in the footsteps of a number of Wisconsin State Assembly from 1975 to 1993, ‘‘political’’ crimes in totalitarian Cuba. Because his family members and joined the Marines. and was Speaker pro tem from 1983 to 1993. of Mr. Herna´ndez Reyes’ steadfast belief in Sergeant Walsh served four years before leav- In 1992 David was a Democratic Congres- human liberty and his dream of freedom for ing the Marines. He married his wife Julie and sional candidate from Wisconsin’s Second the people of Cuba, who have for too long started a family. Two years after leaving the District. been enslaved by the nightmare that is the to- Marines, Sergeant Walsh re-enlisted in the Throughout his career, David Clarenbach talitarian regime, he has been a constant tar- Corps he loved so much. has been intimately involved in the growth and get of the tyranny’s repressive machinery. Like so many of our brave men and women development of the LGBT civil rights move- Because of his belief in inalienable rights in uniform, Sergeant Walsh often demurred at ment. During his tenure in the Wisconsin Leg- and his dream that the people of Cuba de- being identified as a hero. When asked if he islature he wrote the Gay and Lesbian Civil serve freedom and democracy, Mr. Herna´ndez would like to be buried at Arlington he re- Rights Act of 1982, the first in the Nation to in- Reyes was arrested by state security thugs on sponded: ‘‘No way; that place is for people clude gay and lesbian people in statewide March 15, 2007 on grotesque charges of ‘‘dis- better than me. That place is for heroes.’’ anti-discrimination laws. He authored Wiscon- respect,’’ which amounted to nothing more Madam Speaker, Sergeant Walsh is a hero.

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