Members of the AVER Georgia Chapter and active duty personnel from Outserve met at the Atlanta VA Medical Center on April 27th for a presentation of Operation S.A.V.E., the VA’s Suicide Prevention Gatekeeper Training program. Carlo Domingo, a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with the VA and the Suicide Prevention Case Manager for the Atlanta VAMC, conducted the training along with other members of the VA staff. Mr. Domingo participated in AVER Georgia’s Pride program last October and expressed his desire to perform S.A.V.E. training to a targeted LGBT audience. Saturday’s program was the result of his collaboration with AVER Georgia in designing a suicide prevention program tailored specifically to LGBT veterans. Continue reading →

Yesterday at a ceremony in Arlington National Cemetery Brigadier General Tammy Smith, US Army, became the first openly LGB general in United States history. General Smith’s wife, Tracey Hepner, co-founder of Military Partners and Families Coalition, pinned her wife’s first star to her shoulder.

You made this happen.

Earlier this year I had the honor of attending the Pentagon’s Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month commemoration. Two years ago they were firing us. Now they are honoring our service.

You made that happen.
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Atlanta, GA (AUG 1, 2012) – As proud veterans who keep our oath to defend the Constitution of the United States, American Veterans for Equal Rights supports Chik-Fil-A COO Dan Cathy’s right to make whatever kind of statement he wishes on his personal beliefs about the nature of marriage as a religious institution. However, AVER upholds as the core American belief the Equal Protection Clause, the statement in the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution which provides that “no state shall … deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” Marriage is a legal contract which defines a specific set of legal protections under the law.

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Atlanta, GA (JUL 9, 2012) – American Veterans For Equal Rights congratulates Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) and OutServe on their planned merger. “When organizations in the LGBTQ military community unite their efforts, our service members and veterans benefit from their combined resources,” said AVER National President Danny Ingram. “AVER is proud to support our sister organizations as they join together, and we remain committed to working with them to ensure that all service members and veterans receive the full benefits, equal treatment, and just respect due them as America’s patriotic warriors. We are confident that this merger will strengthen that mission.”

American Veterans for Equal Rights is the nation’s LGBTQ chapter-based 501(c)(3) Veterans Service Organization, providing a home for proud vets who support our nation’s military and all those who serve to defend our freedom. AVER: Taking care of those who serve. Welcome Home.

Contact: AVER National President Danny Ingram averusa@yahoo.com

(ATLANTA) “AVER is very pleased to hear President Barack Obama express his support for same sex marriage,” said Danny Ingram, National President of American Veterans for Equal Rights, the nation’s LGBT Veterans Service Organization.”Not only does the Commander in Chief help complete the mission of repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, by creating equality in the United States military for LGB service members who otherwise cannot access the same valuable benefits as their married heterosexual comrades, but he also reaffirms his own oath as President, the same oath for which many thousands of honored war dead have given their lives, to defend the Constitution of the United States,” continued Ingram. “The constitution clearly calls for equal protection under the law for every American citizen in the 14th Amendment.” Ingram concluded. “Its about time our political leaders started to take their oath to defend our nation’s freedom as seriously as the men and women in the armed forces who place their lives on the line for it everyday.”

Contact: Denny Meyer, AVER Public Affairs, 718 849-5665
Danny Ingram, AVER President, president@aver.us

Are you or do you know an unemployed Veteran age 35-60?

If so, there is a new Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and Department of Labor’s (DOL) education benefit program that helps train Veterans in high demand occupations.

As a VetSuccess.gov user we would like to share information about our new programs and benefits that are underway due to the enactment of a new law. In an effort to reduce Veteran unemployment, the President signed into law the VOW to Hire Heroes Act of 2011 last November. Included in this new law is the Veterans Retraining Assistance Program (VRAP) for unemployed Veterans, which VA begins accepting applications May 15, 2012.

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