Pentagon plans to hold Gay Pride month event

[Geee]

TheHill:

The Pentagon is planning to hold an event celebrating Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Pride month.

The move comes less than a year after the Defense Department’s “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy toward gay and lesbian service members was repealed.

 

 

Pentagon spokeswoman Eileen Lainez said the Pentagon is planning its first event for LGBT Pride month, which will be held later in June. Details about the event had yet to be finalized, she said.

The event for Pentagon employees comes after the “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, the 1990s policy wherein gay service members could be kicked out of the military if they disclosed their sexual identity, was repealed last year.

The repeal, passed by Congress in the 2010 lame-duck session, has been implemented thus far with few reported issues from the U.S. military.

The repeal of DADT was one of President Obama’s biggest policy victories for the gay-rights community.

[Draggingtree]

http://www.wjla.com:

 

 

Pentagon marks gay pride month in June

 

June 15, 2012 - 08:55 am

 

WASHINGTON (AP) - Last summer, gays in the military dared not acknowledge their sexual orientation. This summer, the Pentagon will salute them, marking June as gay pride month just as it has marked other celebrations honoring racial or ethnic groups.

In the latest remarkable sign of change since the military repealed the "don't ask, don't tell" policy, the Defense Department will soon hold its first event to recognize gay and lesbian troops. It comes nine months after repeal of the policy that had prohibited gay troops from serving openly and forced more than 13,500 service members out of the armed forces.

Details are still being worked out, but officials say Defense Secretary Leon Panetta wants to honor the contributions of gay service members. Read More http://www.wjla.com/articles/2012/06/pentagon-marks-gay-pride-month-in-june--76993.html

[RandyM]

As a veteran, this makes me so sad I almost want to cry.

 

More focus from the Pentagon on Gay Pride Month than on helping returning wounded combat veterans or honoring the dead who don't return. This country is fast approaching the bottom of the proverbial barrel.