This is a major slap in the face - this is not an event on military property and many of the family representative invited are not even involved in the military.
http://www.taylormarsh.com/2011/04/12/wh-staff-refuse-to-include-gay-military-family-representatives-at-military-families-event/From Servicemembers United, a statement issued today “on the White House’s refusal to allow a civilian representative of gay and lesbian military families to be present at First Lady Michelle Obama’s and Dr. Jill Biden’s ‘Military Families Initiative’ kick-off event at the White House.” SU’s Ex. Director, Alexander Nicholson, said:
“It is rather unfortunate that both East Wing and West Wing staff have refused to allow a representative of gay military families to even be in the room at an event that is supposed to honor their commitment and sacrifice. We have been trying for nearly two weeks to get just one spot for one of our community’s representatives at this event. The First Lady’s office has used the continued enforcement of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ as an excuse to exclude us, even though they know that ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ does not apply to the civilians who work at their advocacy and service organizations. Many straight organizational representatives have been invited to this event, including some with few or no military families in their constituencies. Yet our thousands of gay military families are shut out from being represented today because of nothing but lingering political homophobia. Gay and lesbian military families should not have to fight this hard just to stand in the back of the room in 2011.”
The repeal of DADT process will be completed fairly soon, and at that point, I suppose future events, and the programs the “Military Families Initiative” will provide, will include gay, lesbian and bisexual families (transgender individuals and families are not included in regard to DADT repeal). Discharges under DADT have slowly decreased over the last several months, and even the Marines had to acknowledge in a recent congressional hearing that, in fact, the training was going well. The dire predictions that currently serving heterosexual men and women would stampede to civilian life haven’t come about. They wouldn’t have anyway, in my opinion, but the current job situation would certainly be a discouragement to leaving the military.
The “Military Families Initiative” seems like a very good thing, especially given the multiple deployments, and no real end in sight of that changing.
Interestingly, and something I’ve not seen mentioned in most of the LGBT source stories about this whole thing, the initiative that is getting so much WH attention will be overseen by Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the guy who was relieved from command in Afghanistan after the Rolling Stone interview in which senior civilian leaders were disparaged. The NYTimes posits: “The appointment of General McChrystal, who commanded elite Special Operations units before taking over the mission in Afghanistan, can be seen as an effort to mend any perception of a civilian-military breach following his forced retirement.” (
http://tinyurl.com/65rbfpp )
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