It’s been a while since I have provided you with a survey of the many diverse exhibitions on show around town. Since it is exhibition turnaround season I thought I would take this opportunity to let you know about what is coming and what is going. Women, War and Industry will be wrapping up its…
A gay military couple has released a one-of-a-kind video citing their journey of love that led to their marriage and covers their euphoric feelings about the historic steps the LGBT Military community has taken in these short three years. The video is titled Jonathan & Dwayne | A Story about love. The video features Jonathan…
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has informed a former Army sergeant and his same-sex partner that it couldn’t guarantee their home loan, because the VA doesn’t count the income of a non-veteran spouse in states like Texas that don’t recognize same-sex marriages Lone Star Q reported that former Army Sgt. Earl Rector and Alan…
Judge Richard Stearns, of the U.S. District Court for Massachusetts, has entered judgment in favor of the same-sex married couples who challenged the laws that discriminated against them in the military. Plaintiffs in the case, McLaughlin v. Hagel, attacked the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act and spousal definitions in three other titles of…
“Readiness and morale of our armed forces will suffer. The impact of a shutdown on the department and the military and civilian families – many of whom live paycheck to paycheck – is simply catastrophic.” – Rep. C.W. “Bill” Young (R-FL) chairman of the House defense appropriations subcommittee, as quoted by the Army Times As…
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…
WASHINGTON – Tomorrow marks the second anniversary of the end of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT), a law that prohibited qualified gay and lesbian Americans from serving openly in the armed forces. Contrary to the arguments made by many who sought to keep the discriminatory policy in place, the evidence suggests that the impact on…
SAN DIEGO —The Department of Veterans Affairs was among the last of the federal government organizations to extend benefits to same-sex couples, but now gay spouses are eligible to receive VA-back home loans, in states where their marriages are legally recognized. The VA Home Loan Centers, which operates as a privately held government loan specialist…
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…
