Frontlines: The Latest from OutServe-SLDN

The Trans Woman Who Is Taking on the Military

Decorated Army veteran Allyson Robinson has some major plans for the country’s only organization dedicated to serving LGBT people in uniform.

BY SUNNIVIE BRYDUM

Allyson Robinson is a decorated veteran, a wife, a mother, an ordained Baptist minister, and the executive director of the recently combined advocacy organization for LGBT people in uniform, OutServe-Servicemembers Legal Defense Network. The Army veteran was tapped to lead the 6,000-member organization in October, and her appointment is noteworthy not only because she is one of the few women leading a military group but also because she is the first transgender person to lead a national LGBT organization.

Robinson’s appointment is anything but an affirmative-action hire, said retired Navy captain April Heinze, cochair of OutServe-SLDN’s Board of Directors in a statement announcing the hire. “Allyson Robinson is exactly the right person at the right time to be our leader and voice in Washington in the fight to achieve full LGBT equality in the military,” said Heinze.

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01-25-13 Comment (0)

LGBT Groups Fight Back Against Military Policies That Exclude Same-Sex Spouses

LGBT Groups Fight Back Against Military Policies That Exclude Same-Sex Spouses

OutServe-SLDN seeks records of Fort Bragg leaders' discussions regarding the spouses group that meets at the base. The Human Rights Campaign is asking Defense Secretary Panetta for action now to help address the situation.

Chris Geidner, BuzzFeed Staff

WASHINGTON — The Army leadership at Fort Bragg is facing a public records request from the leading LGBT military group, seeking information on whether the military leaders are "working for them or against them," following BuzzFeed's Tuesday report that the Army would not stop a spouses group from meeting on the military base there despite the group's policy against allowing the same-sex partner of officers.

In a letter dated Wednesday, the legal director of OutServe-SLDN submitted a Freedom of Information Act request seeking communications over the past six months relating to the membership policies of the Association of Bragg Officers' Spouses, which denied membership to Ashley Broadway. Broadway is married to Army Lt. Col. Heather Mack.

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01-16-13 Comment (0)

Marines Lead, Ft. Bragg Lags and Hagel Waits

My military career began in the summer of 1990 when I reported for duty at West Point to begin "Beast Barracks" -- six weeks of hard-core military indoctrination that begin the long, arduous process of molding high schoolers into leaders of character to serve the nation. As part of that process, new cadets -- or plebes, as they are known -- must commit to memory a book full of what our upper class instructors called "knowledge," but that seemed more like trivia -- from facts about military customs and courtesies, to the number of gallons of water in the post reservoir, to quotes from famous and not-so-famous generals. At the time it seemed like just another excuse for our cadre to harass us; only in hindsight did the purpose become clear.

One item of plebe knowledge that has stuck with me was an excerpt from the standing orders given by Army General William Worth to the battalion he commanded in the War of 1812. Worth states, in part, "An officer on duty knows no one -- to be partial is to dishonor both himself and the object of his ill-advised favor." At a time when cronyism and corruption were rife in America's Army, Worth argued for impartiality as the hallmark of effective leadership -- a principle that served me well during my own time commanding troops.

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01-10-13 Comment (0)

About the ACLU Settlement on DADT Separation Pay

You may have seen the exciting news yesterday that the ACLU and the Department of Defense reached a settlement in the case of Collins v. United States, a class-action suit for military separation pay. The suit challenged the Defense Department’s policy of only paying half the separation pay that service members’ separated for homosexual conduct would have otherwise received. The settlement announced yesterday covers:

“All United States service members who at any time from November 10, 2004 through the present were involuntarily separated from the military and were, pursuant to 10 U.S.C. § 1174, entitled to full separation pay, but were deemed to be not fully qualified for retention and denied reenlistment or continuation because of homosexuality and therefore had their separation pay reduced by one-half.”

A number of people have asked if they fall into this group. Based on the settlement agreement, it appears that in order to qualify service members:

• Must have been discharged on or after November 10, 2004;
• Must have been discharged solely for homosexuality or homosexual conduct; and
• Must have been eligible for and received half separation pay when they were discharged.

If a service member falls into this class, the settlement agreement specifies that the Department of Defense must attempt to notify the service member at their last known address to inform them that they can opt-in to the class. A sample notification letter is included in the settlement agreement.

If you have any questions about whether you qualify for this class or should qualify for this class, please contact the ACLU.

Read the ACLU’s statement on the settlement here: http://www.aclu.org/lgbt-rights/former-gay-and-lesbian-service-members-subject-discriminatory-policy-receive-full

Read the settlement agreement here: http://www.aclu.org/lgbt-rights/collins-v-united-states-settlement-agreement

01-08-13 By David McKean, OutServe-SLDN Legal Director | Comment (0)