THE ADVOCATE: Patrick Murphy, the Iraq War veteran and two-term congressman from Pennsylvania who “don’t ask, don’t tell” repeal activist Lt. Col. Victor Fehrenbach recently called “the right man at the right time to take on this battle,” has not given up politics despite a narrow loss in the 2010 election. (He was one of 63 House Democrats to lose their seats.) The former West Point constitutional law professor and current partner in the Philadelphia law firm Fox Rothschild is vying to become the first Democratic attorney general in the state in three decades. Murphy is one of several key figures in the repeal featured in the HBO documentary The Strange History of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” that premiers tonight.
THE ADVOCATE: What was the most challenging point in the [DADT] congressional repeal battle for you?
PATRICK MURPHY: The death threats against my family. As someone who has a wife and two little kids — Maggie and Jack — I was, what it is the right word? It was infuriating. But it made me work that much harder. MORE