(CNN) — CNN.com readers snapped to attention at Wednesday afternoon’s announcement that the Pentagon was planning to open combat roles to women. Commenters who identified themselves as male and as veterans overwhelmingly — but certainly not unanimously — opposed the change. The story’s very first comment raised the question of pregnancy’s effect on battle readiness…
Following the uproar of The Association of Bragg Officers’ Spouses (ABOS) not allowing a lesbian wife of an Army officer stationed at Fort Bragg, the association has now offered that spouse, Ashley Broadway, a “guest membership” in the group. BuzzFeed reports that the group’s president, Mary Ring, is offering guest membership to Broadway “while our…
(CNN) — A group of former service members who left the military because of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy will get the full separation pay they were denied, according to a recent $2.4 million court settlement. The settlement was announced this week by the American Civil Liberties Union who sued the U.S. government on…
(CNN) — It apparently takes more than a few good men, according to the U.S. Marine Corps. It takes all kinds of people to support military families, including same-sex spouses of service members. San Diego LGBT Weekly published a story this week about a woman married to a female lieutenant colonel at North Carolina’s Fort…
(CNN) — For 15 years, Ashley Broadway has devoted her life to the military and to her spouse, an Army lieutenant colonel. The former schoolteacher found a new job and made new friends each time she had to relocate bases, including a move to South Korea. When a deployment to the Middle East separated the…
WASHINGTON (CNN) — If he becomes defense secretary, former Sen. Chuck Hagel will bring Vietnam battlefield experience, criticism of U.S. policy in Afghanistan and tensions with his own Republican Party to the Pentagon. President Barack Obama’s announcement of Hagel’s nomination to the defense post will occur around 1 p.m. Monday, along with the nomination of…
Nov. 2 2012 I received a letter from the California Department of Public Health, Vital Records. In that letter came proof that I was “born again.” I was born female. You see, the gender listed on my original birth certificate was male, and my name was my given, male name. The gender listed on the…
WASHINGTON (CNN) – A year ago, President Barack Obama was under fire. Today, he is being feted. In just 12 months, the 51-year-old lawyer and former U.S. senator raised by a single mother went from a beleaguered candidate for re-election — his record and signature health care law under daily attack by Republican rivals —…
For most people, an invitation to sing the national anthem at a San Diego Padres baseball game would be the thrill of a lifetime. Not so for Bobby Thompson. In 2007, with retirement from the U.S. Navy just a few years away, singing publicly with the San Diego Gay Men’s Chorus meant he could be…
A letter of Christmas thanks, to a diverse LGBT community Dear Editor, As we approach the looming day, the Supreme Court will be deciding the fate of decades of work for the gay community. In times like these, as I think about the meaning of this Christmas season, what unites us is more, what divides…
