Frontlines: The Latest from OutServe-SLDN

Kathi Westcott—Legal Eagle

Kathi Wescott and I first met a few months after I had returned from deployment in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. It was the Spring of 2003, and SLDN was conducting one of its first Lobby Days on Capitol Hill. During the training for the event, I ended up in a work group with Kathi that had to role-play meeting Congressional members and staffers. My first impression of Kathi was that she had an incredible level of expertise and command of the issues surrounding “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT). Even though I was familiar with the struggles service members faced under DADT as a reservist and throughout a recent deployment, Kathi ended up educating me on DADT and opened my eyes to the many issues in our fight for repeal. I was specifically impressed and touched by her dedication to making that event a success, even enlisting her own mother to help us lobby on Capitol Hill. Over the years, as I increased my involvement with SLDN and as I got to know Kathi more, I began to rely on her for professional advice as well. As a Judge Advocate General (JAG) with the Army National Guard, I would call on Kathi to help me respond to DADT issues within my own command. The soldiers I worked with were treated with more dignity, respect and fairness because of her advice and involvement. I have also witnessed Kathi’s advocacy and legal skills up close. Kathi’s calm, thoughtful, and expert counsel guides service members through what can be very trying experiences. Service members who rely on her advice are no doubt grateful to Kathi and SLDN’s legal staff for their skill and aplomb in expertly working both the legal and non-legal issues in their cases. Kathi has handled hundreds, if not thousands, of calls for legal assistance and consultation. She has worked tirelessly to advocate for LGBT service members before administrative boards, military commands, the media, on Capitol Hill, at the Pentagon, and in the courts. She has worked quietly behind the scenes for LGBT service members in situations where her ease, grace and subtle touch were as important as her legal expertise in getting as just a result as possible. She has stood firm in high-profile situations where she used her considerable talents as an advocate and spokesperson to influence decision-makers and the public at large. Kathi has done all of this and more for nearly ten years, accumulating one of the deepest institutional knowledge bases and level of proficiency on the fight to repeal DADT of anyone, anywhere. At all levels of SLDN’s organization we are fortunate to have true patriots who fight tirelessly for LGBT service members around the world. Kathi is the epitome of this dedication and the example that Kathi has set for all of us represents a very high bar. Kathi’s influence has made me want to do more to end DADT, to increase my efforts with SLDN, and to reach out proactively to those in need who serve our nation under this oppressive policy. I know she has similarly inspired countless others to do the same. I am humbled by Kathi’s devotion to ending DADT and her service to this ever-important cause. Please join me as I congratulate Kathi on all that she has done and all that I know she will continue to do as she moves into a different role with SLDN. Kathi, I salute your service to LGBT service members and to SLDN and I salute your dedication to continuing this fight. -----

07-03-08