American Veterans for Equal Rights is proud to join with the Human Rights Campaign and Servicemembers Legal Defense Network in recognizing the contributions of all GLBT veterans by sharing our stories.

Every story is important in educating members of Congress, the Administration, and the public on the valuable contributions made by LGBT people who served in the Armed Forces of our great country.

American Veterans for Equal Rights is in full support of this effort. Please show your support by sharing your story with us. Click the link above, and Thank You for serving our Country!

If you served in the U.S. Armed Forces during a period of war, you are eligible for a special program that will allow your personal history and record of service to be stored in the permanent archives of the U.S. Library of Congress. AVER is an official partner to the Library of Congress Veterans History Project, which was created by the U.S. Congress in 2000 to collect videotaped and tape-recorded oral histories of veterans and civilians who contributed to the nation's defense during World War I, World War II, and the Korean, Vietnam, and Persian Gulf Wars. More information about this project is available through the link above.

It is absolutely vital that the contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) veterans be recorded and archived for future generations of historical researchers. Our partnership with this project provides us with a unique opportunity to educate the American public on the contributions of LGBT servicemembers. All AVER officers and all eligible veterans are called upon to facilitate this effort.

The first monument specifically dedicated to the memory of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered veterans was dedicated on Memorial Day, 27 May, 2001, through the cooperative efforts of AMVETS Post 66 and Palm Springs Gay Veterans. Click to see the dedicatory program for the Palm Springs Memorial and Pictures from the dedication.

Thanks to the efforts of the Arizona Rainbow Veterans, the first memorial that includes gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered veterans has been placed in a National Cemetery. The officials in the National Cemetery Association accepted the design and authorized the donation of this memorial for GLBT Veterans of the US Armed Forces. This memorial is now located in the National Cemetery in Phoenix, Arizona. The boulder-shaped monument of rainbow granite bears the original GLBVA logo. Dedication of the monument took place on Veterans' Day, 11 November, 2000.

Dedicatory Program Welcome and Convocation Address by the President of Arizona Rainbow Veterans "The Charge of Remembrance", an address by the National President of AVER. The text of the Reverend Patrick Stout's Dedication Address is available here by his kind permission.