JANUARY 1981
GUERNEVILLE, CALIFORNIA

WATCHING THE SKY and the river in the hills of rural Sonoma County was a particular responsibility of Cliff Anchor, the owner of KRJB-FM radio, which transmitted the clearest signal for miles around and therefore played a central role in alerting locals to potentially dangerous weather conditions. In the first weeks of 1981, as clouds drifted darkly toward Guerneville from the north, Cliff Anchor had this and former Air Force Sergeant Leonard P. Matlovich on his mind. Though Anchor’s interest in politics had lent his broadcasting a discernible political edge in the twenty years since he had first approached a radio microphone in San Francisco, he lived a discreet life in terms of his sexuality. Local meddlers might gossip that the local radio station’s owner was “light in the loafers,” but Cliff had not come out in public. He was deeply afraid that something dreadful might happen to him if he declared the words publicly. He struggled with this fear, and perhaps this was what made his attraction to Leonard Matlovich so strong. Cliff had enormous respect for Lenny’s courage in standing up to the government and challenging the military’s discrimination. They had met two years earlier in San Francisco shortly after Cliff had accepted a commission as a major in the California State Military Reserve. Cliff had never heard of Lenny, but, by the end of the evening, Anchor felt he had found a soul mate. They saw each other in San Francisco when Cliff could get away from the station, which was rare because he was the station’s announcer, newscaster, programmer, and repairman, as well as the owner. When Lenny finally said he was moving to Guerneville to open a pizza parlor, Cliff saw their futures running together into one stream at last.

From Conduct Unbecoming: Gays and Lesbians in the U.S. Military. Written by Randy Shilts