A nonbinary San Francisco Navy veteran who was "other than honorably" discharged before "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" — but who recently got their discharge upgraded — is the recipient of the Profile in Courage Award from Swords to Plowshares for the nonprofit's Veterans Day celebrations. "'Profiles in Courage' is a book written by [former president, and sailor] John F.
Kennedy and in the book he talked about people who had the courage to champion a minority opinion for the greater good," Stephan Steffanides explained to the Bay Area Reporter last week. "He talks about senators, but here we're talking about vets who were discharged under the old policy — 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell,' or older policies — as I was." Steffanides, 53, joined the United