Oliver_Sipple--Gerald_Rudolph_Ford

Oliver Wellington "Billy" Sipple (November 20, 1941 – late January 1989) was an American man known for intervening to prevent an assassination attempt against U.S. President Gerald Ford on September 22, 1975. A decorated U.S. Marine and disabled Vietnam War veteran, he grappled with Sara Jane Moore as she fired a pistol at Ford in San Francisco, causing her to miss. The subsequent public revelation that Sipple was gay turned the news story into a cause célèbre for LGBT rights activists, leading Sipple to sue — unsuccessfully — several publishers for invasion of privacy, and causing his estrangement from his parents.