Out Spotlight

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Today's Out Spotlight is not the hero's tale you expect, it is about heroic actions, struggles and ethical questions.

Today's Out Spotlight is Billy Sipple. His story is long forgotten, but he performed a heroic act and saved a life. Just ask Gerald Ford.

Oliver "Billy" W. Sipple ) was a decorated US Marine and Vietnam War veteran widely known for saving the life of US President Gerald Ford during an assassination attempt in San Francisco on September 22, 1975. The subsequent public revelation that Sipple was gay turned the news story into a "cause célèbre" for gay activists.

Sipple was born in Detroit, Michigan November 20, 1941. He served in the United States Marine Corps and saw action with a tour in Vietnam. His wounds suffered in December 1968 caused him to finish out his tour of duty in a Philadelphia veterans hospital, from which he was released in March 1970. He later spent six months in San Francisco's VA hospital, and was in and out of the hospital from 1970 to 1975, the year he saved the President's life.

Listed as being totally disabled on psychological grounds, (which now would be referred to as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) he was unable to hold a job and received disability pay. He shared a fourth-floor walk-up apartment located in San Francisco's Mission District lived with a roommate who served as merchant seaman. Sipple was active in local causes and politics, including the campaign of Harvey Milk, an openly gay candidate for San Francisco city supervisor.

On September 22, 1975, Sipple was part of a crowd of about 3,000 people who had gathered outside San Francisco's St. Francis Hotel to see President Ford as exited the hotel.

As President Ford emerged, he noticed the woman standing next to him raising a .38-caliber pistol at the President. Instinctively, Sipple lunged at the woman, just as she was squeezing the trigger, deflecting her aim as she fired the pistol. The bullet missed the President by five feet striking local cab driver, John Ludwig who survived. Police arrested the woman, Sara Jane Moore, who received a life sentence for the assassination attempt. Moore, part of the group of followers of Charles Manson one of two made attempts on Ford's life.

The police and the Secret Service immediately commended Sipple for his action at the scene. President Ford thanked him with a letter, and the news media portrayed Sipple as a hero.

Though he was known to be gay among members of the gay community, and had even participated in Gay Pride events, his sexual orientation was a secret from his family. He asked the press to keep his sexuality off the record, making it clear that neither his mother nor his employer had knowledge of his orientation; however, his request was not complied with.

The national spotlight was on him immediately, and Harvey Milk responded. While discussing whether the truth about Sipple's sexuality should be disclosed, Milk told a friend: "It's too good an opportunity. For once we can show that gays do heroic things, not just all that ca-ca about molesting children and hanging out in bathrooms." Milk contacted The San Francisco Chronicle.

Several days later legendary Chronicle columnist Herb Caen wrote about Sipple, including his sexual orientation. Several newspapers across the country picked up the story, and the news reached his Michigan-based family, who were unaware of Sipple's orientation. He was besieged by reporters, as was his family. His mother, a staunch Baptist in Detroit, disowned him and cut off all contact for a number of years.He was disowned by his family, with even his own mother refusing to talk to him. When she died in 1979, his ``father made it clear that he was not welcome. He could go to the funeral home or the cemetery, but not when his father was there,'' the Los Angeles Times reported. Sipple, an intensely private man, was devastated.

Sipple filed a $15 million invasion of privacy suit against Caen, seven named newspapers, and a number of unnamed publishers, for publishing the disclosures. The Superior Court in San Francisco dismissed the suit, and Sipple continued his legal battle until May 1984, when a state court of appeals held that Sipple had indeed become news, and that his sexual orientation was part of the story.

Despite the story of not being able to attend his mother's funeral, according to a 2006 article in The Washington Post, although there was a period of estrangement with his parents, the family later reconciled with his sexual orientation. Sipple's brother, George, told the newspaper, "[Our parents] accepted it. That was all. They didn't like it, but they still accepted. He was welcomed. Only thing was: Don't bring a lot of your friend.

He held no ill will toward Milk, and remained in contact with him. But the incident brought him so much attention that, later in life, while drinking, he would express regret towards grabbing Moore's gun.

Sipple's mental and physical health sharply declined over the years. Unable to deal with the stress of life post-Vietnam and publicity of after saving Ford's life, he drank heavily.Became paranoid and suicidal. He gained weight to tip 300 lb (140 kg), was fitted with a pacemaker. On February 2, 1989, he was found dead in his bed, at the age of forty-seven.

His $334 per month apartment near San Francisco's Tenderloin District was found with many newspaper clippings of his actions on the fateful September afternoon in 1975. His most prized possession was the framed letter from the White House.

Sipple's funeral was attended by 30 people, and he was buried in Golden Gate National Cemetery in San Bruno, California.

A letter addressed to the friends of Oliver Sipple was on display for a short period after his death at one of his favorite hangouts, the New Belle Saloon from President Gerald Ford.

"Mrs. Ford and I express our deepest sympathy in this time of sorrow involving your friend's passing..." He also added "I strongly regretted the problems that developed for him following this incident."

At the time of the incident President Ford's letter of thanks to Sipple, no commendation or trip to the White House. Milk suggested that Sipple's sexual orientation was the reason he received only a note, rather than the invitation. In a 2001 interview, Ford disputed the claim that Sipple was treated differently because of his sexual orientation, saying, "As far as I was concerned, I had done the right thing and the matter was ended. I didn't learn until sometime later — I can't remember when — he was gay. I don't know where anyone got the crazy idea I was prejudiced and wanted to exclude gays."

According to his brother, "There were a lot of times he wished he had never saved the President's life, for all the anguish it caused him."

Sipple's is a sad story, and it is often used as a case study on the "ethics of outing" in journalism school.

The Sipple incident has been referred to, in passing, in a major motion picture and in a prime-time television program. Several law review articles and more than a dozen books and commentary pieces have also discussed the ethical dimensions of the case.

"My sexual orientation has nothing at all to do with saving the President's life, just as the color of my eyes or my race has nothing to do with what happened in front of the St. Francis Hotel." - Oliver "Billy" Sipple