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Defense chief Lloyd Austin to keynote Pentagon event for LGBTQ Pride Month

Biden official to resume practice abandoned in Trump years

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Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is set to deliver the keynote address for an upcoming event at the Pentagon recognizing Pride Month, the Washington Blade has learned.

The event, which is scheduled to take place in the Pentagon auditorium on June 9, is coordinated by DOD Pride, the affinity group for LGBTQ civilian and military employees at the Defense Department.

A defense official familiar with the event said Austin will deliver the keynote address at the event. Lisa Lawrence, a Pentagon spokesperson, confirmed via email to the Washington Blade the secretary will be there.

Austin’s name appears as an attendee on an advance copy of the announcement for the event obtained by the Washington Blade, which also indicates the theme for this year’s event is ā€œRespect, Dignity, and Service.ā€ The event will be closed to the press due to coronavirus restrictions, the announcement says.

ā€œThis event is held each June during National Pride Month to celebrate the contributions LGBT service members and civilians make to our national security each and every day,ā€ the announcement says. ā€œEvents like these are crucial to ensuring continued LGBT visibility as we continue to work toward greater equality in the workplace.”

DOD Pride has continually held official events at the Pentagon recognizing Pride Month every year beginning in 2012 since the repeal of ā€œDon’t Ask, Don’t Tellā€ was certified, with the exception of last year when the event was nixed at the height of the coronavirus pandemic.

Austin’s appearance at the event resumes the practice of the defense secretary taking part in the event to recognize Pride Month after the officials in that role during the Trump administration had ignored it. Although the event continued during the first three years of the Trump administration, other senior officials attended other than the defense secretary.

In the Obama years, former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta made a video for the event and former defense secretaries Chuck Hagel and Ashton Carter made live appearances.

Austin’s appearance at the event is also significant because it comes after the Pentagon has fully reversed President Trump’s transgender military ban, which had hung over the Pride events as a cloud during the previous administration. The event also takes place after the Pentagon for the first time enacted a policy allowing transgender people to enlist in the armed forces, which was planned but never implemented during the Obama administration.

Other attendees listed on the advance copy of the announcement for the event are Major Gen. Leah Lauderback, director of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance for the headquarters of the U.S. Space Force; and Lt. Kris Moore of the Surface Warfare Office at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis.

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National

LGBTQ media ā€˜excited’ about Press Forward national media funds

Coalition of donors pledges $500 million for local news

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Members of News Is Out, a collaborative of six leading LGBTQ media organizations across the country, have expressed support and excitement about the newly announced national Press Forward effort to support local media in the United States. News Is Out members represent more than 200 years of LGBTQ news and culture coverage, with two member papers starting more than 50 years ago.

ā€œThis new effort from foundations, including MacArthur Foundation and Knight Foundation, truly will be a game-changer in the local media space,ā€ said Tracy Baim, co-founder of Windy City Times, which is part of a Chicago collaborative that is also advocating for local funding in that city. ā€œLocal media are critical to covering issues across the country, from LGBTQ+ and environmental issues to education and criminal justice reform. Philanthropy can provide an important complement to other needed revenues to help local media survive and thrive.ā€

In the U.S., 7.1 percent of adults, or 18 million people, identify as LGBTQ, according to Gallup. About 21 percent of Gen Z identifies as LGBTQ. The media serving this community has been life-saving, resource sharing and an integral part of the movement for LGBTQ equality, News Is Out members said, adding that this media continues to fill a vital information need.

According to the Press Forward announcement, ā€œA coalition of 22 donors announced Press Forward, a national initiative to strengthen communities and democracy by supporting local news and information with an infusion of more than a half-billion dollars over the next five years.

ā€œPress Forward will enhance local journalism at an unprecedented level to re-center local news as a force for community cohesion; support new models and solutions that are ready to scale; and close longstanding inequities in journalism coverage and practice.ā€

The Knight Foundation and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation have been leading the Press Forward effort.

News Is Out is supported in part by a technology grant from the Knight Foundation. The program is called the Queer Media Sustainability Lab

News Is Out is a nearly two-year-old alliance created launched by the Local Media Association, with initial funding from Google News Initiative. The members are Bay Area Reporter, Dallas Voice, Philadelphia Gay News, Washington Blade, Windy City Times and TAGG, a national queer women’s magazine.

News Is Out members have collaborated on editorial, business and fundraising opportunities.

ā€œLGBTQ media have always played a critical role in covering and informing our communities,ā€ said Lynne Brown, publisher of the Washington Blade. ā€œWhile we have lost dozens of LGBTQ news media outlets in recent years, those of us who have survived are thriving in 2023. We have done so because we have innovated and sought new forms of revenue. The News Is Out Collaborative has assisted with support that propels us forward.ā€

ā€œLGBTQ+ media is needed now more than ever, as our communities face a backlash across this country,ā€ said Leo Cusimano, publisher of the Dallas Voice. ā€œBy working together in News Is Out, we have formed a strong alliance to help our members in technology training, editorial collaborations and much more. New funds into this ecosystem will be vital to strengthening the network of local LGBTQ+ media in this country.ā€

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Federal Government

Census Bureau asks White House to test questions on sexual orientation, gender identity

Data would be included in annual American Community Survey

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U.S. Census Bureau (Photo credit: GSA)

The U.S. Census Bureau on Tuesday asked the Biden administration to sign off on plans to test questions on sexual orientation and gender identity for respondents aged 15 and older on the agency’s annual American Community Survey.

Data on these metrics will help inform civil rights and equal employment enforcement, the Census Bureau said in a notice published on the Federal Register.

Testing will help the agency determine wording, response categories and placementĀ of the questions on the survey — its most comprehensive, covering 3.5 million households each year.

A key unknown will be how answers will be provided by proxies such as parents, spouses or others in a household who isn’t the person about whom the question is asked.

“Younger LGBT people might not yet be out to their parents or others who are answering these questions as a proxy reporter, so the quality of the data might not be as good for younger people,ā€ M. V. Lee Badgett, an economics professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, told PBS News.

Currently, the Census Bureau and its annual American Community Survey only ask questions about same-sex couples who are married or cohabitating.

ā€œWe anticipate having much more info about the LGBT people than is currently available — including about the demographic and socioeconomic status of LGBT people who aren’t in same-sex couple households, including occupational status, industry and wages, and about LGBT people who were born outside the U.S. and LGBT people with disabilities, and their families,ā€ Kerith Conron, research director of the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law, told the Associated Press.

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Federal Government

Pentagon to restore honor to veterans kicked out over their sexual orientation

Legislation seeks accountability for DoD

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U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin (screen capture/YouTube/CNN)

The U.S. Department of Defense announced plans to restore honor to service members who were kicked out of the military over their sexual orientation, the agency announced on Wednesday, the 12th anniversary of the repeal of ā€œDon’t Ask, Don’t Tell.ā€

“Over the past decade, we’ve tried to make it easier for service members discharged based on their sexual orientation to obtain corrective relief,” U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said in a statement.

“While this process can be difficult to navigate, we are working to make it more accessible and efficient,” he said, adding, “in the coming weeks, we will be initiating new outreach campaigns to encourage all service members and veterans who believe they have suffered an error or injustice to seek correction to their military records.”

The move follows a class action lawsuit filed last month by LGBTQ veterans against the Pentagon for allegedly failing to remedy ā€œongoing discrimination,ā€ including biased language in the discharge papers of LGBTQ veterans.

CBS News has investigated the Pentagon’s handling of service records of veterans who were kicked out of the military because of their sexual orientation, revealing the broad scope of discrimination experienced by these LGBTQ veterans — finding, for instance, that more than 29,000 were denied honorable discharges.

Also on Wednesday, U.S. Reps. Mark Takano (D-Calif.) and Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.), along with U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) re-introduced a bill that would establish “a commission to investigate the historic and ongoing impacts of discriminatory military policies on LGBTQ service members and veterans.”

“This commission would study the impact of these bigoted rules” barring LGBTQ troops from serving “and forge a more welcoming future in the military and at the VA,” said Takano, who serves as ranking member of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs and co-chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus.

ā€œOur country has never made amends for official discriminatory policies like ā€˜Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ and the transgender military ban – and that failure still haunts today’s service members and veterans,” said Jacobs.

“That’s why I’m so proud to co-lead this bicameral legislation that will right these historic wrongs, investigate the past and present impact of anti-LGBTQ+ policies, and help us move forward to build and sustain a diverse, inclusive, strong, and welcoming military.ā€  

ā€œThis commission would be an important step to understand the full scope of the harms caused by policies like Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, and to ensure a more equitable future for all who serve our country in uniform,” Blumenthal said.

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