military
Buckley Air Force held a Pride 5K and created an LGBT diversity video to celebrate 2014’s Pride Month
“I still, to this day, just can’t wrap my head around the thought process of…
Chapters from all over the country of the American Veterans for Equal Rights will gather in Denver the weekend of Sept. 20 to evaluate LGBT rights and shortfalls for military members.
Open service has a special significance for the U.S. Military’s first post-Don’t Ask Don’t Tell generation – and two out cadets at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs are turning their own past struggles with coming out and current place in military history into a charge to move the banner forward.
They’re co-presidents of the AFA’s first officially-recognized extracurricular LGBT club – Spectrum – which was sanctioned in May 2012 and seeks to forge an infrastructure of support for gay, lesbian, bi and questioning cadets and their allies.
This month marks the one-year anniversary of the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. DAD was first signed into law by President Clinton in 1993. The Servicemembers Legal Defense Network estimated that over the period of 18 years, 14,500 military personnel were discharged because of their sexual orientation. The SLDN also reported the Pentagon spent more than $363 million dollars implementing DADT.
OFC panelists Carlos Martinez, Courtney Gray, Jen LaBarbera and Brandé Micheau weigh in on this week’s question:
OutServe stated that because LGBT servicemembers serving openly is still a contentious issue, marching in uniform at Pride could be seen as an act of protest. “Let’s wait a year, demonstrate our professionalism as we march in civilian clothes, and next year, having proven ourselves, we can work with the Department and gain formal approval to proudly march together as a uniformed contingent for Pride.”
Transgender individuals are still banned from service, and the military still does not recognize same-sex marriages – which means that health, housing and death benefits are not afforded to same-sex partners.
Moreover, many servicemembers discharged under DADT are opting to return to service – and some face bureaucratic hurdles upgrading their discharge status so they can re-enlist.
“Those things still have to be corrected,” said Kelly, “and AVER is an organization that’s looking to help advocate for those changes.”
By Luiza Fritz I learned not long after I joined that there’s much more to…
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP) — A Navy tradition caught up with the repeal of the…
