Today we remember.

There are so many heroes whose names deserve to be spoken on this day, but I want to focus on one in particular: Mark Bingham.

Mark was a gay man who, along with other passengers and crew members aboard United Airlines Flight 93, fought back against the hijackers who had taken control of their airplane. Their actions ended in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where everyone aboard lost their lives. But because they fought back, the plane never reached its intended target.

Before I go any further, I want to explain why I believe it is important to mention that Mark Bingham was gay.

For those thinking, Oh no, here we go again, this article probably isn’t for you.

This is for the people who have spent part of their lives believing they needed to live in the shadows, transparent to the world around them by necessity, not by choice. It is for the young person who wonders whether anyone like them has ever done something important, courageous or extraordinary.

It is about visibility.

Growing up, I felt alone in the world. What I didn’t know was that LGBTQ+ people were all around me. But many of them were invisible except to the precious few people they trusted.

I wouldn’t understand that until much later in my life.

Visibility would have made my childhood different.

I believe it would have made it better.

Mark Bingham woke up on the morning of September 11, 2001, with no way of knowing that he would never see the afternoon. He certainly could not have known that before that terrible morning was over, his name would become forever associated with one of the most courageous acts of September 11.

And for generations of LGBTQ+ young people who came after him, his story would offer something else:

Proof that someone like them could be a hero.

Twenty-five years ago today, America experienced a morning none of us could have imagined.

It is difficult for me to comprehend that a quarter of a century has passed. I will remember that morning, and the days and weeks that followed, for as long as I live. Like so many Americans, I remember where I was, what I was doing and the disbelief I felt as we watched something unfold that none of us could fully comprehend.

Thousands of people from every walk of life deserve to be remembered for what they did, what they endured and what they lost that day.

But today, I want you to know about Mark.

Mark Bingham was born May 22, 1970. He grew up in Florida and California and eventually settled in the San Francisco Bay Area.

He became an imposing figure, standing 6 feet 4 inches tall, but there was much more to Mark than his physical presence. He was an athlete, a rugby player, a businessman and an aspiring filmmaker. He owned a public relations firm in California and had plans to expand his business to New York.

And he was openly gay.

That does not define the courage he demonstrated on September 11.

But it is an important part of his story because it reminds us that courage has never belonged to one type of person. Heroes come from every race, every religion, every background and every part of the American family.

Including the LGBTQ+ community.

On the morning of September 11, Mark was running late for his flight. He raced through the airport and was among the last passengers to board United Airlines Flight 93, traveling from Newark, New Jersey, to San Francisco.

He almost missed the plane.

History would make what happened next impossible to forget.

Flight 93 was hijacked after takeoff and turned toward Washington, D.C. As passengers and crew members began making telephone calls to people on the ground, they learned the horrifying truth: two hijacked airplanes had already struck the World Trade Center in New York, and another had struck the Pentagon.

The people aboard Flight 93 suddenly understood something terrifying.

Their airplane was probably intended to become another weapon.

And they may have been the only people who could stop it.

Mark Bingham, Todd Beamer, Tom Burnett and Jeremy Glick are among the passengers most often associated with the decision to fight back. Others aboard the aircraft also participated in the effort, including Lou Nacke, Rich Guadagno, Alan Beaven, Honor Elizabeth Wainio, Linda Gronlund and William Cashman, along with flight attendants Sandra Bradshaw and CeeCee Lyles.

They knew what had already happened in New York and Washington.

They understood what was probably going to happen to them.

And with that knowledge, ordinary people made an extraordinary decision.

They would fight back.

The cockpit voice recorder later captured evidence of the struggle during the final minutes of the flight. As passengers attempted to reach the cockpit, the hijackers realized they were in danger of losing control of the aircraft.

Flight 93 crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

Everyone aboard lost their life.

But the plane never reached Washington.

We will never know exactly how many lives may have been saved because the passengers and crew members aboard Flight 93 refused to surrender to what seemed inevitable.

Mark’s longtime partner, Paul Holm, later described the man he knew:

“If he knew that lives were at stake, I’m convinced with every bone in my body that he would have jumped into action.”

There is something in those words that gets to the heart of heroism.

Heroes do not always wear uniforms.

They do not necessarily wake up in the morning knowing that this will be the day they are asked to do something extraordinary.

Sometimes ordinary people are simply confronted with an unimaginable moment and given a choice.

Mark Bingham and the other passengers and crew members aboard Flight 93 made theirs.

Today, twenty-five years later, we honor everyone who died on September 11, 2001.

And today, I choose to tell you about one of them.

His name was Mark Bingham.

He was 31 years old.

And he was a gay man.

For a young LGBTQ+ person who feels invisible today, I hope there is something powerful in knowing that.

Someone like you became part of American history.

On September 11, 2001, when an unimaginable moment demanded extraordinary courage, Mark Bingham was a hero.

Twenty-five years later, we still say his name.

We remember Mark.

We remember all of them.

And we never forget.