Danny Ingram, a former US Army Sergeant who was among the first to be discharged in 1994 under the “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” (DADT) law, was elected president of American Veterans For Equal Rights (AVER) at its convention in Ft. Lauderdale 15-18 Oct. Sgt Ingram, of Atlanta, will lead the largest national veteran service organization dedicated to serving the needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender vets, and advocating the repeal of the law banning open service of gay military personnel.
Category Archives: News
Introducing: AVER West Tennessee
reprinted from the Gay Military Signal:
In 1647, Oliver Cromwell’s soldiers addressed the English Parliament. A line from their address stands out to me as a former Marine and gay man: “On becoming soldiers, we have not ceased to be citizens.”
Indeed, the backbone of this country has been and will always be its “Citizen Soldier.”
AVER 2009 National Convention
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Oct. 14-18, 2009 – Ft. Lauderdale
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The Florida Gold Coast Chapter of American Veterans of Equal Rights (AVER) is hosting a national convention for LGBT Veterans from October 14th through October 18th in Fort Lauderdale/Wilton Manors. AVER is the nation’s only VA-recognized LGBT Veterans Service Organization and serves our nation’s most vulnerable and neglected veteran population.
Margo Moon interviews COL Grethe Cammermeyer
Interview by Margo Moon originally posted at “Do Ask, I’ll Tell,” reprinted with permission.
Most of us have a degree of control over how and when we come out as gay or lesbian. Not Grethe Cammermeyer. In 1989, an ambitious Col. Cammermeyer had applied to the War College and was in the middle of an interview for top-secret clearance when she had to decide between making the truthful statement that she was a lesbian or denying that truth and advancing toward her dream of promotion to general.
Nancy Russell seated on AVER Board
On Friday July 17, 2009, AVER President James Donovan announced that former AVER president Nancy Russell will resume her place on the AVER Board of Directors as AVER Past President. Miss Russell had been removed as president at a former board hearing in 2004.
According to Chief Donovan, “It gives me great pleasure to announce that LTC Nancy Russell is taking her place on the Board of Directors as Past President. At the request of some members, the case against Nancy was reopened, investigated and discussed in full by the board, and it was determined that her hearing was, in the opinion of the board, flawed. Therefore, it was the unanimous decision of the board to exonerate Nancy of all charges and to welcome her back as Past President.”
AVER supports Rep. Murphy and the 60/60 Initiative
Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-PA) has taken over the helm of MREA2009 – the Military Readiness Enhancement Act (H.R.1283). This bill will repeal the ban on open and honest service by patriotic LGBT Americans. MREA has already surpassed 160 co-sponsors, leaving less than 60 to go to hit the simply majority milestone. In full support of Rep. Murphy’s renewed push to bring more co-sponsors on board, AVER agrees with SLDN‘s 60/60 Initiative — 60 new co-sponsors in the next 60 days.
More information about this bill, how to find out if your Representative has signed on as a co-sponsor yet, and how to contact your Representative, plus a regularly-updated map to track the bill at a glance, is always available at the AVER Action Alerts page.