Category Archives: Action

AVER is about action!

JOIN THE NATION’S FIRST ALL-LGBTQ HONOR FLIGHT!

ATTENTION TO ORDERS: Time to Continue Your Mission
BE A PART OF HISTORY. JOIN THE NATION’S FIRST ALL-LGBTQ HONOR FLIGHT!
Honor Flight South Florida wants to fill their September 23, 2023, flight with as many LGBTQ veterans as possible.
The Pride Center at Equality Park wants to help promote that effort among the communities we serve. We want to thank our veterans for the commitment they made to serve our country.
Attention LGBTQ Veterans: It’s Time to Continue Your Mission
Your one-day mission to Washington DC on Saturday, September 23, 2023, is to visit and reflect at the memorials built in your honor. Honor Flight provides round-trip airfare, deluxe bus transportation throughout our nation’s capital with a police escort, meals, a commemorative T-shirt, and other amenities needed to travel comfortably.
Upon your return, there will be a homecoming at the airport as you disembark.
Honor Flight provides top priority to the most senior defenders of freedom, WWII, Korean War, and Vietnam-era veterans, and those veterans who are terminally ill.
Honor Flight South Florida is a 100% all-volunteer organization, dedicated solely to honoring veterans in Broward, Dade, and Monroe counties by flying these veterans to Washington DC to visit and reflect at the memorials built in their honor. Every veteran flies absolutely free.
Before accepting this mission, please check for compliance with the eligibility and DD214 information below.
Copy this link to Accept Your Mission:
After you have accepted your mission by filling out and submitting the Honor Flight Veteran Application, please contact Paula Lauriano-Stiehm and Shawn White at The Pride Center to identify yourself as an LGBTQ veteran. We want to support Honor Flight’s goal to fill this flight with seventy LGBTQ veterans.
Paula Lauriano-Stiehm
Special Events Coordinator
PLauriano-Stiehm@pridecenterflorida.org
954-463-9005 ext. 301
Shawn White
Active Aging Specialist
SWhite@pridecenterflorida.org
9540463-9005 ext. 114
Eligibilty & DD214 Information
A DD214 form is a certificate of release or discharge from active duty.
Every veteran who has served in the U.S. military is eligible to make an application with Honor Flight. Combat service or foreign deployment is NOT required. The HFSF criteria include 6-months of service in the U.S. military with an honorable discharge, confirmed by the DD214/discharge papers provided by the veteran.
Honor Flight South Florida is currently considering veterans for an honor flight who served between December 7, 1941, and May 7, 1975. Veteran beneficiaries of the Honor Flight program do not pay for any aspect of their Honor Flight trip.
First priority for a trip is given to World War II veterans. Terminally ill veterans of any service period may be given the same priority as WWII veterans (physician statement required.)
Proof of service, such as your DD214 is required. A copy must be submitted one of two ways:
If you have an electronic version (Scan PDF or JPG, etc.) of the DD214, email it to, veterans@honorflightsouthflorida.org
If you prefer to mail in your DD214, mail it to:
• Honor Flight South Florida, Inc.
• PO Box 16821
• Plantation, Florida 33318
If you served between 1941-1975 yet are unable to travel on a flight, we hold periodic “Virtual Honor Flights” where the event is local and around 3 hours in length. To find out more about what Virtual Honor Flight is all about, copy this link:
For information about becoming an Honor Flight Guardian, copy this link:

Letter to President Biden and VP Harris

Joseph Biden
President, United States of America
Kamala Harris
Vice President, United States of America

Re : Congratulations; LGBT military/veterans’ rights

President Biden, Vice President Harris,

American Veterans for Equal Rights (AVER) is our nation’s LGBT veterans’ service organization advocating for the rights and benefits of our veterans, reservists, and active service members. On behalf of our members and National board, I would like to heartily congratulate you on becoming America’s President and Vice President. As a woman of Hispanic heritage , and as a veteran, I am both inspired and hopeful for our country. AVER stands ready to support the new administration in its effort to lead and unify the nation towards a more equitable future for all Americans.

In the previous Obama-Biden administration, Congressional legislation repealing the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy, ensured the right of Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Americans to serve our country in freedom and equality. Executive orders went a long way to ensuring the same rights for Transgender American patriots who have served our nation valiantly since the Civil War, in great personal peril to themselves.

We were greatly heartened by your new administration’s statements on your first day in office, assuring us regarding your intention to give equal rights to Transgender Americans and those who want to serve in our armed forces. We urge you to guarantee full equal rights and benefits to Transgender volunteers to serve openly and proudly, including full medical benefits. We wish to remind you that our Transgender veterans are still denied benefits such as sexual reassignment surgery provided by the Veterans Administration. We urge you to rectify these discriminatory policies first by Executive Order followed by Congressional legislation.

Thank you again for boldly stepping forward to lead our nation.

Sincerely,
Julz Carey, Chief Petty Officer (Ret), United States Coast Guard
President, American Veterans For Equal Rights AVER.us

Download PDF version of letter here: AVER Congratulatory letter to the new administration

Kristin Beck to Receive Matlovich Medal

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 10, 2018
RE: Kristin Beck to Receive Matlovich Medal

Contact:  AVER Public Affairs, Denny Meyer 718.849.5665 publicaffairs@aver.us
AVER President, Steve Loomis, LTC, USA, (Ret) 505.301.1737

San Antonio, TX “Military City USA” (AUG 10, 2018)

American Veterans For Equal Rights (AVER) will present its highest honor, the Leonard Matlovich Medal for Distinguished Service, to United States Navy Senior Chief Special Warfare Operator Kristin Beck.

Senior Chief Petty Officer Beck served 20 years in the Navy, taking part in 13 deployments, including seven combat deployments. Her many decorations include a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star with Valor device. Kristin Beck, who came out as a trans woman in 2013, has become one of the nation’s most prominent leaders in the fight for Transgender Service in the United States Military.

The medal is named in honor of USAF TechSgt Leonard Matlovich who was one of the first gay service members to purposely out himself to the military to fight the ban on LGBT service members. His service in Vietnam earned him a Purple Heart and Bronze Star. He was involuntarily discharged following his public gay declaration. The battle he bravely began ended 37 years later with the ban on gay service was lifted in 2011. Past recipients of the Matlovich Medal include President Barack Obama, Admiral Mike Mullen, Colonel Margarethe Cammermeyer, and gay activist PFC, Dr. Frank Kameny, a World War II veteran and founder of the modern LGBT civil rights movement.

American Veterans For Equal Rights, founded in 1990, is the nation’s LGBT veterans’ service organization advocating for the rights and benefits of LGBT service members and veterans. AVER’s Matlovich Medal will be presented to Senior Chief Beck at the AVER national convention to be held September 20-23, 2018, in Chicago.

For more information on the 2018 AVER convention please visit the website located at https://www.averchicago.org/national-convention/

Trump Tweets Ban Transgender Service

AMERICAN VETERANS FOR EQUAL RIGHTS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 26, 2017

RE: Trump Tweets Ban Transgender Service

Contact:

AVER Public Affairs, Denny Meyer 718.849.5665 publicaffairs@aver.us

AVER President, Steve Loomis, LTC, USA, (Ret) 505.301.1737

Atlanta, GA (JUL 26, 2017) – American Veterans for Equal Rights (AVER) is astonished by President Trump’s statements this morning prohibiting transgender Americans from serving our country in the US military. On the very anniversary, July 26, 1948, that President Harry S. Truman issued Executive Order 9981 to end racial segregation in our US military, President Donald J. Trump issues tweets to bar transgender service members from serving in our same US armed forces. Such an incredible twist of fate in history! One opens doors to liberty. One slams them shut.

“The President’s unilateral action concerning transgender service members is insulting to some of our most capable service members and disrespectful to the leadership of our military. Without full consultation, a President who never served our country has taken an action that discriminates without factual foundation. Transgender members are already and have always been part of some of our most combat ready units without difficulty for decades and will continue to be in the future. As long as any soldier, sailor, marine, airman or coast guards man has the physical and mental ability, they must be allowed to serve in the defense of our country.”

Current policies require that transgender recruits must complete gender transition before they can enter the military. Mr. Trump is simply denying entry into the military to capable male and female volunteers no different from any other man or woman. The citizens of the United States require a military governed by carefully considered policies and not by early morning tweet storms from a President who neither understands the current policy nor cares about the human cost of defending our nation’s liberty. We defend transgender service members right to serve!

USAF Master Sargent Leah Messer (left with US flag), a 15-year transgender veteran of the United States Air Force, would lose her job if Donald Trump’s tweets become policy.

 

Letter to Membership

November 20, 2016

Fellow Veterans, Service Members, Families and Allies,  

Our nation has experienced a contentious and divisive election. American Veterans for Equal Rights shares your concern that the rights we fought for and won must now be defended.

AVER fought for the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell which ended the nearly century old ban against open Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual service. LGBT Americans gained national marriage equality, a freedom only dreamed of a decade ago. Our United States military opened combat positions to women, and in only the past month we saw the ban against Transgender service lifted.

AVER shares your concern that these victories are in jeopardy under a new administration hostile to our community. Those who have endured the investigations and disgrace of being discharged from our careers, who have survived the tragedy of AIDS, who have endured the denial of our relationships and the dishonoring of our families and our service, share your fears. We share a common resolve that, WE ARE NOT GOING BACK. 

Last week AVER reached out to the Trump Administration to offer our services as the nation’s LGBT Veterans Service Organization. Like many of you, we are deeply wary of this change, but we must live, and where necessary, fight in this new world. We have a Constitutional obligation to respect the office of President and a moral obligation to ensure the holder of that office is the leader of and for all Americans, not just a few.

We will continue our vigilance. We resolve never to rest as long as our rights are threatened. Our vigilance is not unfounded. Only last week the VA reversed its promise to provide gender correction surgery to heal our transgender veterans.   Our fear is real. Our fight is not over. We have come this far together. Together, we will defend the liberties we hold so precious, and we will strive to secure them for future generations of LGBT Americans. AVER, locally and nationally, will remain a safe, respectful and supportive place for all of us.

Your service, your skills, and your support, are needed today in this critical mission. Stand with us, and defend our freedoms for our fellow veterans and heroes yet to come. The need is as great now as it has ever been. Thank you for your continued support and alliance. 

On behalf of your National Board, 

Veterans Proudly serving since Valley Forge! 

 

Steve Loomis                                                                                                                                    LTC, EN, U.S. Army (Retired)                                                                                                                 National President                                                                                                                     American Veterans for Equal Rights                                                                                                  Email: president@aver.us                                                                                                                    Website: www.aver.us                                                                                                                        Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AVER/

Pentagon Announces Open Transgender Service

Pentagon Announces Open Transgender Service

June 30, 2016

On the final day of Pride Month 2016, The United States Department of Defense announced the long anticipated news that patriotic Transgender Americans will now be able to openly choose to volunteer to serve their country. Transgender Americans are twice as likely to volunteer to serve as any other group of Americans, many are currently serving. Now, finally, they will be able to serve without having to hide who they are, in pride of serving our nation.

Nearly all of our allied nations have allowed their transgender citizens to serve starting in the mid-1990s when their bans were lifted on the service of lesbian, gay and bisexual patriots. Israel was the first to lift restrictions and limitations on the service their LGBT citizens, nearly all of whom have always been required to serve, regardless of sexual orientation or gender variance. Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and European nations all included transgender service allowance along with lesbian, gay and bisexual service during the 1990s. Now, America, which taught democracy and equality to much of the world following WWII, has caught up with the wave of full equality for all those who want to courageously step forward to be among our bravest citizens.

Steve Loomis, LTC, US Army Retired, President of American Veterans For Equal Rights, said, “AVER has long supported and encouraged the right of transgender men and women to serve their country openly and with the honor they deserve.   We strongly support Secretary Carter and his plan for implementing Transgender service while ensuring the ability of our military to effectively perform its mission.”

Evan Young, Major US Army retired, President of Transgender American Veterans Association, said, “This is a historic day in the United States Military. Our nation’s military has stepped up and joined other nations in allowing transgender service members to serve openly. I am proud of the Department of Defense for allowing everyone who meets the standards to serve. We should all be judged on our merits and not on our gender identity.”

We look forward to working with DoD to assist in developing policies and regulations regarding the service and equal benefits of our patriotic volunteers.

See Secretary Carter’s Statement:  http://www.defense.gov/Video?videoid=472601

Contact: Steve Loomis, AVER President, sloomis@swcp.com or                                                      Denny Meyer, PAO AVER/TAVA 718 849-5665

Steve Loomis

LTC, EN, U.S. Army (Retired)

National President

American Veterans for Equal Rights

505-301-1737

Website www.aver.us

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/AVER/