Born to Holocaust refugees at the close of WWII when Truman was President, Denny began a lifetime of activism at the age of 13 when he joined a NAACP picket line. Since then he has battled for Gay rights, Women’s rights, Transgender rights, and LGBT veterans rights. During the Vietnam Era he left college and volunteered to serve his country, joining the Navy (either for love of the sea or for the dress blue bell bottom 13 button uniform). In less than 4 years he was a Petty Officer Second Class. Later he worked for the Army Reserves as a civilian administrator and, after joining his reserve unit, rose to Sergeant First Class. After AIDS took the life of his love of 20 years, Denny became inspired to found the New York Chapter of AVER – AVERNY, he served as Region 1 VP for a number of years, and currently serves as both the AVER national Public Affairs Officer and Vice President of Veterans Affairs.