National
Pentagon unveils ‘Don’t Ask’ repeal plan
Military service secretaries must provide update by March 1
The Pentagon on Friday officially unveiled an implementation plan for “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” that focuses on policy, education and training and communication as the way forward in lifting the military’s gay ban.
In a redacted memorandum dated Feb. 10, Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel & Readiness Clifford Stanley provides the military service secretaries with the repeal plan and pledges to work with them to “solidify the format of progress updates as well as the frequency of leadership meets.”
The four-page memo states that the secretaries have until March 1 to provide their first progress update to Stanley.
Last month, Defense Secretary Robert Gates tasked Stanley with devising a plan by Feb. 4 to “facilitate the timely and orderly realization” of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal.
The plan breaks down the path for “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal into four stages: pre-repeal, certification, implementation and sustainment.
In the pre-repeal phase, activities include Tier 1 and Tier 2 level training of military leadership and reporting to Obama administration officials on the progress of implementation. For example, the undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness must have a monthly meeting and report to the defense secretary and the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on the status of repeal.
To reach the certification phase, the Repeal Implementation Team must provide appropriate documentation to the defense secretary and chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and provide their recommendation to the president.
President Obama signed legislation allowing for “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal on Dec. 22, but the new law won’t take effect until the president, the defense secretary and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff certify the military is ready. Additionally, after certification takes place, a 60-day waiting period must pass before the ban is formally lifted.
Notably, the plan states the previously mentioned idea that Tier 3 training, education of the total force, can be completed after the certification for repeal is issued.
For the implementation phase, Tier 3 training will be completed and the Repeal Implementation Team will provide progress reports every two months to Pentagon leaders.
The sustainment phase involves making policy changes as needed and refining the education and training process.
Eileen Lainez, a Pentagon spokesperson, said the Defense Department intends to issue commanders in the field with the education and training tools on the post-repeal environment.
“The training materials were developed based upon the [Pentagon working group’s] Support Plan for Implementation (SIP), and packaged in such a way to facilitate low bandwidth and non-traditional training settings and include power point slides with narration, scripts, FAQs, vignettes, policy documents, etc.,” she said.
Alex Nicholson, executive director of Servicemembers United, said the repeal implementation plan “lays out a comprehensive and deliberate path forward for implementing this policy change throughout the force.”
“In typical military fashion, the plan is quite thorough and some steps may seem unnecessary or redundant, but overall we believe this plan continues to show a good faith effort on the part of the Department of Defense to swiftly move forward with training, certification, and repeal,” Nicholson said.
Download a copy of the Pentagon plan here.
Federal Government
Trans veterans sue the VA for coverage of surgeries
Case filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
A group of transgender veterans on Thursday sued the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to compel the agency to cover gender affirming surgeries, following verbal assurances that it would begin providing these services.
The lawsuit, filed by the Transgender American Veterans Association, aims to reduce the risk of adverse health outcomes that can result from lack of access to medically necessary healthcare interventions for people with gender dysphoria.
This includes suicides, depression and psychological distress.
In its complaint before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, the group argued gender affirming surgeries are often prohibitively expensive when administered by private doctors.
Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough in 2021 said the agency was engaged in a rule making process to provide these services to trans veterans such that they can “go through the full gender confirmation process with VA by their side.”
The process, he said, would take a few years to “develop capacity to meet the surgical needs.”
National
New data shows nearly a third of Gen Zers identify as LGBTQ
Democratic poised to have significant influence in elections
New data from the Public Religion Research Institute shows 28 percent of Generation Z adults who are between 18-25 identify as LGBTQ.
This significant increase in self-identification among Gen Z highlights a positive shift in the societal acceptance of LGBTQ individuals, setting the stage for a more inclusive and diverse future.
The findings, based on PRRI polling and focus groups conducted between August and September, not only sheds light on the evolving landscape of sexual orientation identification, but also suggests that younger generations are increasingly comfortable and empowered to openly embrace their sexuality and gender identity.
The study reveals that 16 percent of millennials, 7 percent of Generation X, 4 percent of baby boomers and 4 percent of the Silent Generation identify as LGBTQ. This stark generational difference underscores the ongoing positive transformation in societal attitudes toward the LGBTQ community.
Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson emphasized the significance of LGBTQ visibility and Gen Z’s role in fostering change.
“Whether at the polls, in marches and rallies, or online, LGBTQ+ visibility matters and Gen Z is a force for change,” she said.
Robinson further highlighted the political consequences of anti-LGBTQ attacks, noting LGBTQ youth who are turning 18 will influence elections.
With nearly 30 percent of Gen Z adults identifying as LGBTQ, the LGBTQ community is rapidly becoming one of the fastest-growing voting blocs in the country. This demographic shift is poised to reshape the American electoral landscape, with projections indicating that the LGBTQ voting bloc could constitute nearly a fifth of all voters by 2040. This voting bloc is expected to wield substantial influence, permanently transforming and reshaping the political landscape in the United States.
Texas
Groups write to UN over ‘deteriorating human rights’ for LGBTQ Texans
State officials’ rhetoric ‘stigmatizing and labeling LGBTQIA+ persons’
The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, Equality Texas, GLAAD, the Human Rights Campaign and the University of Texas at Austin School of Law Human Rights Clinic wrote to the United Nations on Monday “to raise alarm about the deteriorating human rights situation for LGBTQIA+ persons in the state of Texas.”
Citing hostile rhetoric from and policy by state actors, the groups urged recipients to make inquiries into what they called the backsliding of rights for LGBTQ people in Texas. They also laid blame at the hands of the federal government which, they argued, “has not adopted a proper response” notwithstanding some injunctions from federal courts.
The authors identified seven bills, writing that they, together, constitute “a systemic attack on the fundamental rights, dignities and identities of LGBTQIA+ persons that opens the gates for discrimination by both public and private actors.”
Among these are three that the petitioners argue constitute direct discrimination as proscribed in international law — an anti-transgender sports ban, a healthcare ban for minors and a ban on diversity, equity and inclusion offices on the campuses of public colleges and universities.
Others, the authors argued, will likely be discriminatory in effect, such as, for instance, a bill that would introduce religious chaplains in schools “who may engage in conversion therapy,
may shame students for their sexual or gender identities, or may out students without their consent.”
Moreover, the groups wrote, rhetoric by Texas officials “stigmatizing and labeling LGBTQIA+ persons as unwanted members of the society may amount to public incitement to discrimination, hostility, or violence, prohibited under article 20, paragraph 2” of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights “because promoting harmful stereotypes
about gender and sexuality risks creating wider repercussions such as persecution, violence and discrimination against LGBTQIA+ persons.”
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