Mother of gay 9/11 hero eulogized by McCain addresses "very regrettable" opposition to DADT repeal

Friday, Dec 3, 2010 08:01 ET
War Room
9/11 hero's mom to McCain: See the light on DADT
By Justin Elliott

http://www.salon.com/news/dont_ask_dont_tell/index.html?story=/politics/war_room/2010/12/03/mark_bingham_mccain_dadt



The mother of a gay man who was memorably eulogized by Sen. John McCain after his death on Sept. 11, 2001, is now imploring the senator to change what she calls his "very regrettable" opposition to the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell."

"I'd hope that he'd take counsel with his wife and reconsider and realize that it's a new day," Alice Hoagland told Salon Thursday from her home in Los Gatos, California. Hoagland's 31-year-old son, Mark Bingham, was one of the passengers believed to have stormed the cockpit on United Airlines flight 93, which hijackers were apparently hoping to fly into the U.S. Capitol. Instead, it crashed in Southwest Pennsylvania, killing everyone aboard.

Bingham, a public relations executive and rugby enthusiast, had supported McCain's presidential 2000 campaign and kept a picture of himself with the senator displayed in his San Francisco office. Shortly after 9/11, a fatigued McCain made the trip to Berkeley to attend Bingham's memorial service, where he delivered a tearful eulogy that garnered headlines and praise from the gay community.

Noting that Flight 93 seemed bound for the Capitol, McCain said, "I may very well owe my life to Mark and the others who summoned the enormous courage and love necessary to deny those depraved, hateful men their terrible triumph." He continued:

In the Gospel of John it is written "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." Such was the love that Mark and his comrades possessed, as they laid down their lives for others. A love so sublime that only God's love surpasses it.