In 2013, The Department of Defense (DoD) designated June as an annual celebration of LGBT Pride. “The Department of Defense and the Office of Diversity Management have added LGBT Pride Month as an annual observance to be celebrated by military and civilian members of the Armed Forces,” wrote the DoD in an article promulgated by…
Monday, the Department of Defense (DoD) released a new DoD Human Goals Charter, signed by Secretary of Defense Hagel. The last iteration of that document was released in 1998, and included mention of equal equality based on sexual orientation for civilian employees, but not for military servicemembers. The new iteration includes a language based on…
As the military services are moving each day in the direction of better supporting LGB dependents (spouses, children, etc.), there are Ts in the military family that the DoD is failing to adequately support. We don’t hear much about these Ts in the military family, but within the military family there is no question that…
Marriage equality is currently an issue for military couples with trans spouses, highlighting a Department of Defense (DoD) cultural competence issue. If a spouse changes his or her gender after being married and entered into the Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System (DEERS) as a particular gender, then one is that gender until one goes through…
In a somewhat similar way to Pvt. Chelsea Manning’s choice to willfully violate the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) for what she hoped would be for a greater good, I know what it’s like to willfully violate the UCMJ for what I hoped would be for a greater good. Our choices too were similar…
Today, the Department of Defense (DOD) announced its plan to extend benefits to same-sex spouses of uniformed service members and Department of Defense civilian employees. The announcement stated: After a review of the department’s benefit policies following the Supreme Court’s ruling that Section Three of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is unconstitutional, and in…
During the past few years I’ve been changing my documented gender at various government agencies. I’ve obtained a court ordered change of documented gender with the state of California and used that court order to obtain a new birth certificate indicating I was born female. I also have provided required documents and followed specified procedures…
BY L. KOVE The Waite family has been together for 11 years. They live in Germany where they married. Thomas is an American veteran and Marko is German. DOMA prevents them from being seen as a family by the American government. Germany views them as a family. Both were working at the Department of Defense’s…
Congressional Republicans are calling upon Defense Secretary Leon Panetta to provide explanation on why the Department of Defense (DOD) allowed uniformed military personnel to march in last weekend’s San Diego Pride parade. Jim Inhofe (R-Ok.) referenced a department rule Tuesday that prohibits active service members from participating in political activities in uniform and referred to…
Despite the repeal of DADT, occurrences of alleged anti-LGBT hate crimes/incidents within the Department of Defense (DOD) has continued according to the LGBT nonprofit DOD FED GLOBE. As part of a campaign to highlight this problem, DOD FED GLOBE is looking for volunteers to tell their stories of harassment as past and/or present employees of…
