Plainville, Il, Jan. 30, 2008
Fourteen years ago this week, on January 29th, 1994, the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy was enacted into effect, having been signed into law the previous year on Nov. 30th 1993. In a twisted logic, that only a politician could be proud of, the so-called Congressional compromise allowed gay Americans to serve in our armed forces provided that they never ever told anyone that they were gay nor engaged in homosexuality; marrying a same sex partner was also forbidden, even though that was not legally possible anywhere at the time. Violating the rules requires immediate discharge from the armed forces.
Category Archives: Press Releases
AVER 2007 National Convention
OPERATION: LIFT THE BAN V
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AVER would like to thank everyone who attended and/or contributed to making the 2007 National Convention a wonderful experience for all.
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If you need a sponsorship proposal letter to present
to your business or organization, you may download
the Sponsorship Letter HERE. [Adobe PDF]
We “officially” kick off the convention on Thursday 19 April with our Opening Reception, with a special VIP welcome, and plenty of time to meet and greet some of the movers and shakers in the fight to lift the ban on open and honest service for LGBT Americans.
Friday night will feature a Soda Fountain Ice Cream Social followed immediately by the Cleveland Premier showings of two movies:
“Courage Doesn’t Ask” by Zaydoe Films, and “Tell” by T.Joe Murray.
Both films will not only be enjoying their Cleveland premier, but both directors will also be on site with us for post-screening discussion.
Saturday night will feature an LGBT Military Ball with WWII Era Big Band music. This is a memorial event, so both service members and veterans are authorized to wear Class A, Dress Blue, or Mess Dress uniforms. Attendees not in uniform: Black Tie or Dress Leather. Service members with valid military ID receive a special discount rate. Attendence at AVER events in no way suggests or implies sexual orientation.
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Anyone wishing to become a Convention sponsor can click on the “thermometer” at the top right to donate online or mail donations to: NEOAVER / POBox 1895 / Stow, OH 44224. All Convention sponsors will be listed in the Convention program unless they request to remain anonymous. Sponsors will have the option of placing an ad in the Convention program, in addition to being listed in our sponsors pages. Sponsors will also be listed here on the AVER website, with links where appropriate. For the Sponsorship schedule, please follow the link below.
Anyone wishing to donate to AVER’s Silent Auction, for the sake of expedience, please contact Convention Chair, Marie Bohusch, either by email or by phone at 330.247.4102, to arrange pick-up or delivery of donated items. All donations to AVER are fully tax deductable. Donors will be listed in the Summer 2007 issue of AVER’s quarterly national journal – The Forward Observer, and on the 2007 Convention “In-Kind” donation section of the AVER Sponsors page until Oct 2008, with web links where appropriate.
Are you a Leather Veteran? Kick off your Spring vacation with the AVER Convention, nowhere else will you find a nationwide VSO sponsored LGBT Military Ball or so many Out and Proud LGBT Veterans all in one place. Continue your vacation with CLAW – the Cleveland Leather Awareness Weekend, winner of the 2006 Pantheon of Leather “Best Large Event” Award, no contests, just Leather Family fun and philanthropy. Both the AVER National Convention and CLAW will be hosted at the Cleveland Wyndham Playhouse Square.
AVER is proud to host its second Convention with the Wyndham. Wyndham is a partner of the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC).
from the Wyndham Worldwide website: The National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce is the largest Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) business development and economic advocacy organization in the world. The NGLCC represents the interests of more than 800,000 LGBT businesses and entrepreneurs and is committed to forming a broad-based coalition of LGBT owned and friendly businesses, professionals and students of business for the purpose of promoting economic growth and prosperity of its members. As a funding partner, Wyndham Worldwide was awarded “Corporation of the Year” for its leadership in promoting and recognizing the value of diversity.
Second Thoughts on Gays in the Military
General Shalikashvili Says Gays Should be Able to Serve Openly
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEContact:
AVER Public Affairs Officer 718 849-5665
publicaffairs@aver.us
On Tuesday January 2nd, General John M. Shalikashvili, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, stated in a New York Times op-ed that he now supports gays serving openly in America’s armed forces.
American Veterans For Equal Rights, a national veterans association, applauds General Shalikashvili for his leadership in endorsing opening service in America’s armed forces to all patriotic volunteers regardless of sexual orientation.
A J Rogue, President of American Veterans For Equal Rights (AVER), said, “General Shalikashvili’s recent statement regarding his support of ending the ban of gays in the military sends a clear message to those who oppose having us serve our country: Don’t Ask Don’t Tell has no clear purpose other than to deprive our nation of true patriotic men and woman who desire nothing more than to serve their Country openly and honorably. The idea that the Pentagon is considering changing its policy of immigrants serving in our Armed Forces, while at the same time depriving true citizens from serving, merely adds ammunition to our cause. Let those of us who wish to serve do so openly, without prejudice or discrimination.”
Dave Guy-Gainer, Vice President of AVER, said, “General John Shalikashvili, retired Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, stated in a January 2nd, 2007 op-ed for the New York Times that in 1993 he supported the policy of banning the service of gay and lesbian patriots because he believed then that “implementing a change in the rules at that time would have been too burdensome for our troops and our commanders. The compromise that became to be known as DADT thus was a useful speed bump that allowed temperatures to cool for a period of time while the culture continued to evolve.” Boldly in his article, General Shalikashvili states, “I now believe that if gay men and lesbians served openly in the United States military, they would not undermine the efficacy of the armed forces. Our military has been stretched thin by our deployments in the Middle East, and we must welcome the service of any American who is willing and able to do the job.”
If the General were a politician, his change of position may be referred to as a flip flop. But, as any Veteran knows, one mark of a true leader is their ability to recognize situational change and inspire his or her forces to adapt. General Shalikashvili employed another tool of a leader when he did not direct but instead challenged today’s military leaders by saying “By taking a measured, prudent approach to change, political and military leaders can focus on the nation’s most pressing problems while remaining genuinely open to the eventual and inevitable lifting of the ban.”
Unfortunately, bold remarks and a change in stance by one General will not end the harmful and damaging policy of DADT. It took his willingness to listen and the boldness of a small cadre of gay and lesbian veterans and their supporters to show this one General that the military has changed and that gay and lesbian patriots can be accepted by their peers. The General did not allude to the lifting of the ban as occurring overnight but instead said, “When that day comes…”
Rear Admiral Al Steinman said it well in a follow on article in the Gay Military Times – “we must redouble our effort.” I would modify that to “we must redouble our successes.” There are hundreds more Generals and hundreds more politicians to enlighten.
We need the one million gay and lesbian veterans to stand with us now! We need those who have fallen from the ranks to return now! We need those who have lost energy in the battle to find it and return now! We need the 11,000 whose lives were destroyed to stand proudly with us now! We need our straight and religious alliances to stand with us now! We must be even bolder than the 65,000 gay and lesbian patriots who put on their uniforms each day and serve.
We must accelerate the arrival of General Shalikashvili’s forecasted time of – “When that day comes, gay men and lesbians will no longer have to conceal who they are, and the military will no longer need to sacrifice those whose service it cannot afford to lose.”
Keywords:
Shalikashvili, Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, American Veterans For Equal Rights
Second Thoughts on Gays in the Military
quoted from:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/02/opinion/02shalikashvili.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
January 2, 2007
Op-Ed Contributor
By JOHN M. SHALIKASHVILI
Steilacoom, Wash.
TWO weeks ago, President Bush called for a long-term plan to increase the size of the armed forces. As our leaders consider various options for carrying out Mr. Bush’s vision, one issue likely to generate fierce debate is “don’t ask, don’t tell,” the policy that bars openly gay service members from the military. Indeed, leaders in the new Congress are planning to re-introduce a bill to repeal the policy next year.
As was the case in 1993 — the last time the American people thoroughly debated the question of whether openly gay men and lesbians should serve in the military — the issue will give rise to passionate feelings on both sides. The debate must be conducted with sensitivity, but it must also consider the evidence that has emerged over the last 14 years.
When I was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, I supported the current policy because I believed that implementing a change in the rules at that time would have been too burdensome for our troops and commanders. I still believe that to have been true. The concern among many in the military was that given the longstanding view that homosexuality was incompatible with service, letting people who were openly gay serve would lower morale, harm recruitment and undermine unit cohesion.
In the early 1990s, large numbers of military personnel were opposed to letting openly gay men and lesbians serve. President Bill Clinton, who promised to lift the ban during his campaign, was overwhelmed by the strength of the opposition, which threatened to overturn any executive action he might take. The compromise that came to be known as “don’t ask, don’t tell” was thus a useful speed bump that allowed temperatures to cool for a period of time while the culture continued to evolve.
The question before us now is whether enough time has gone by to give this policy serious reconsideration. Much evidence suggests that it has.
Last year I held a number of meetings with gay soldiers and marines, including some with combat experience in Iraq, and an openly gay senior sailor who was serving effectively as a member of a nuclear submarine crew. These conversations showed me just how much the military has changed, and that gays and lesbians can be accepted by their peers.
This perception is supported by a new Zogby poll of more than 500 service members returning from Afghanistan and Iraq, three quarters of whom said they were comfortable interacting with gay people. And 24 foreign nations, including Israel, Britain and other allies in the fight against terrorism, let gays serve openly, with none reporting morale or recruitment problems.
I now believe that if gay men and lesbians served openly in the United States military, they would not undermine the efficacy of the armed forces. Our military has been stretched thin by our deployments in the Middle East, and we must welcome the service of any American who is willing and able to do the job.
But if America is ready for a military policy of nondiscrimination based on sexual orientation, the timing of the change should be carefully considered. As the 110th Congress opens for business, some of its most urgent priorities, like developing a more effective strategy in Iraq, share widespread support that spans political affiliations. Addressing such issues could help heal the divisions that cleave our country. Fighting early in this Congress to lift the ban on openly gay service members is not likely to add to that healing, and it risks alienating people whose support is needed to get this country on the right track.
By taking a measured, prudent approach to change, political and military leaders can focus on solving the nation’s most pressing problems while remaining genuinely open to the eventual and inevitable lifting of the ban. When that day comes, gay men and lesbians will no longer have to conceal who they are, and the military will no longer need to sacrifice those whose service it cannot afford to lose.
John M. Shalikashvili, a retired army general, was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1993 to 1997.
Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell vs. Stop-Loss
AVER Press Release
A.J. Rogue
National President, American Veterans for Equal Rights
March 25, 2005
president@aver.us
Should the decline in these discharge numbers be taken as a good sign? Does this mean that perhaps our Armed Forces, like the rest of American Society, have begun to adopt a more lenient approach toward its GLBT personnel?
Surprisingly, the answer to that question appears to be yes. Although it is true that, during a time of war or conflict, an administrative order called a stop-loss order is issued, the order does not apply to gays and lesbians facing discharge from the military. According to attorney Sharon Alexander, a staff attorney with Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, gay discharges are explicitly carved out from the stop loss order. Meaning the military must continue to carry out discharges of gays and lesbians, and would do so regardless of whether the stop-loss order is in effect.
According to Alexander, SLDN is in fact interpreting the drop in discharge numbers as a sign of increased acceptance of gays in the military. As a lawyer who handles dozens of such cases a day, she admits to seeing a notable number of cases each month in which commanders are refusing to discharge folks who state they are gay. Whether or not it’s just to keep them for a deployment, or to fill manpower quotas, no one can really be sure. Perhaps it truly is because the military is beginning to buy less and less into the idea of the law. In Alexander’s opinion, more and more commanders appear willing to look the other way in order to avoid having to enforce Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.
Whatever the number of discharges is, the number is still far too many. The drop in numbers has no bearing on the fact that gays and lesbians are still being discriminated against, their value only recognized when it’s vital to our national security. Once the war in Iraq is over, the persecution of these individuals will continue, and the number of discharges will climb once again.
As if being discharged—or fired, as is really the case—weren’t enough, many of these individuals face additional problems in the future. Widespread cases of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD, something normally common among combat veterans, are beginning to crop up among the estimated 1 million GLBT veterans in the U.S. Medical experts attribute this to the environment under which GLBT military individuals are forced to endure; the constant fear of being exposed and fired, or worse, as in the not too distant murders of Pfc. Barry Winchell and Seaman Allen Schindler. Both were murdered at the hands of fellow comrades in the military.
The real tragedy remains the fact that qualified—and sometimes overqualified—men and women are still being kicked out simply for who they love. With no regard given to performance or at what cost was spent to train that particular individual. The military, solely because of sexual orientation, is firing thousands of vital people such as doctors and foreign language experts, during a critical time in our nation’s history; at a time when terrorism has become an ugly cloud we’ve been forced to live under, something that is unlikely to change soon.
What is truly ironic is the fact that, while gays and lesbians struggle to stay in, homosexuality has been used in the past to avoid service. Something which undoubtedly would happen again should the draft be reinstated, a definite possibility if the war in Iraq continues much longer, or if things with Iran continue to heat up. Already the military has begun tapping into the Inactive Ready Reserves; men and women ranging anywhere from 20 years of age and up. For some of the older men and women, it’s been decades since they’ve worn a uniform or received any sort of military training. Yet they’re being called to active duty.
The message the U.S. is delivering to its estimated 65,000 active duty GLBT servicemembers is even less flattering. The truth of the matter is, and this is something our military is hard-pressed to accept, any form of discrimination against individuals in the military should not be allowed to exist, period. These people should be allowed to serve. Not just allowed, they should be acknowledged with as much praise and recognition as their straight counterparts. Hallowed as the patriotic American heroes they are, whose only desire is to serve their country, while at the same time remaining true to themselves.
Why is this so important? Does one’s sexuality really have relevance on the field of battle? You bet it does. Imagine being one of the 65,000 aforementioned individuals, stationed in Iraq. Imagine having a lover, husband/wife or significant other back home and being unable to share your feelings of loneliness with the others around you; or if you do, having to swap pronouns—he for she, or vice-versa. Even writing letters home can put an individual at risk since, because of security reasons, mail is susceptible to being opened and read. The same is true for telephone calls, which are routinely monitored as a matter of security.
While it may indeed be a good sign, the decrease in the numbers of gays and lesbians being discharged post 9/11 is but a drop in the bucket compared to the countless lives that have already been ruined by the discriminatory policies that have existed within our military services; discriminatory policies that existed long before DADT. Our goal should not only be to abolish DADT. We need to make sure that nothing can ever take its place. Discrimination has no place in today’s U.S. Armed Forces.
May 2004 Convention News Page
National News Write-ups resulting from Convention and Lobby Days 2004:
All links will open in a new window. To return to the AVER site, please close the new window.
- 17 May 2004
- 22 May 2004
- 27 May 2004
- 28 May 2004
- Human Rights Campaign OP-ED – Fighting for Freedom
- Cybercast News ServiceActivists Urge Congress to Repeal Military’s ‘Gay Ban’ – although SLDN is mentioned and AVER is not – a remarkable percentage of the lobbyists were and are AVER members.
- 29 May 2004
- Chicago Tribune – Gay veterans wage new battle at home – this is an Archival link.
- 04 June 2004
- PlanetOut.com – Military’s hypocrisy finally hits home – Letters from LGBT Service Members about their own service experiences.
GLBVA Convention 2001 Report
Gay, Lesbian & Bisexual Veterans of America, Inc.
The Seventh Annual National Convention of GLBVA
“Raising the Colors for Our Inclusion”
GLBT Veterans from around the country converged on Denver, Colorado March 29, 2001, for the seventh annual convention of Gay, Lesbian & Bisexual Veterans of America. Speaker after speaker, from Washington D.C. to San Francisco, CA reiterated the same message – The ban against gay, lesbian and bisexual servicemembers openly serving in the military has to be lifted. No American should have to hide just to serve his or her country. The “Don”t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy has proven to be a dismal failure since its inception in 1993. More than 6000 patriotic Americans have been fired just because of who they are. The price for this flawed policy has caused American taxpayers millions of dollars. The brain drain to the military services can never been replaced. The damage to thousands of American citizens is unforgivable.
The lineup of stellar speakers at the convention included Aaron Belkin, Director for the Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military, University of Southern California at Santa Barbara, Jeff Cleghorn, Staff Attorney for Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, and renowned author and activist Patricia Nell Warren.
Never give up, never give in – we speak for those who cannot speak for themselves – if we don’t do it, who will – over and over, members of GLBVA were reminded of the tasks that lie ahead. Too many others have given up on this issue. As American veterans who have already been there we cannot afford that luxury.
In addition to our speakers, a variety of informational and hands-on workshops were presented by members and officers of GLBVA. The organization is growing at a rapid rate with the addition of new chapters and members. The time is now to put the pressure on the new administration. The first salvo, the Denver Declaration, has already been launched. Copies have been mailed out to all 535 members of Congress, and to other members of the administration, to let them know who we are and what we want.
The Convention ended on a high note. All participants agreed that – We are patriotic American veterans. We’ve been there. We’ve already proudly serve our country. We have the right to expect our elected officials to honor the Constitution and the Pledge of Allegiance. That “with liberty and justice for all” includes gay lesbian, bisexual and transgendered Americans, too. All members left enthusiastic about our next Convention in San Diego in April, 2002.
Jim Darby National Secretary
Click to read the National President’s Convention Address