Minnesota Public Radio reports that Cpl. Andrew Wilfahrt of Rosemount died in a bomb attack in Afghanistan on Feb. 27. Lori Wilfahrt, Andrew’s mom, spoke with MPR’s Cathy Wurzer about her son and his experiences being gay in the military. The family has made OutFront Minnesota a beneficiary of memorials made in his honor.

Cpl. Andrew Wilfahrt is the first gay or lesbian known to have been killed in Afghanistan. Here’s a portion of Lori Wilfahrt’s interview about her son:

Wurzer: He was also gay. How much did that concern you knowing he was joining the military?

Wilfahrt: It did a lot. I think it concerned him as well. He spent a lot of time thinking about it and he came to terms with it. He knew he would have to go back in the closet, that he would have to keep that to himself. And he did, for at least part of his stay in the Army. But when I talked to him (or when he wrote maybe) when he was in Afghanistan, he said nobody cares. He said, ‘Everybody knows, nobody cares.’ He said, ‘Even the really conservative, religious types, they didn’t care either.’ He said it’s about something else.

OutFront Minnesota offered this statement on its Facebook page. “Our hearts go out to the family of CPL Wilfahrt. We’re humbled that they’ve directed memorials in his name to support the work of OutFront Minnesota. We will strive to honor his memory.”