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Former Defense Secretary Ash Carter dies

Obama Pentagon chief cleared way for trans servicemembers to serve openly

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Ash Carter speaks at DOD Pride on June 9, 2016. (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)

Former Secretary of Defense Ash Carter, who served under President Barack Obama during the implementation of the repeal of the anti-gay “Don’t Ask-Don’t Tell” policy and who cleared the way for transgender military service, has died.

Carter passed away Monday evening from a “sudden cardiac event” his wife, Stephanie, and his children, Ava and Will, announced in a statement: ā€œIt is with deep and profound sadness that the family of former Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter shares that Secretary Carter passed away Monday evening in Boston after a sudden cardiac event at the age of 68.ā€ 

Carter, in a statement made on Sept. 20, 2016, marking the 5th anniversary of the repeal of the ā€œDonā€™t Ask, Donā€™t Tellā€ law that barred gay men and lesbians from serving openly in the military, noted:

ā€œI am proud to report that five years after the implementation of the repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ our military, drawn from a cross-section of America, is stronger than ever and continues to exemplify the very best that our great nation has to offer,ā€ Carter said. ā€œThe American people can take pride in how the Department of Defense and the men and women of the United States military have implemented this change with the dignity, respect, and excellence expected of the finest fighting force the world has ever known.ā€

He then added:

ā€œAs the memory of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ fades further into the past, and we move forward together to face new challenges,ā€ he said. ā€œWe recognize that openness to diversity and reaching out in a spirit of renewed inclusiveness will strengthen our military and enhance our nation’s security.ā€

In the final years of Obama’s second term, Carter worked to lift the ban on trans people serving openly in the U.S. military. That decision was one of the last remaining barriers to LGBTQ participation in the U.S. armed forces.

In July 2017 after President Donald Trump tweeted he was banning trans people from serving openly in the U.S. military, Carter reacted noting that trans people already serve capably and honorably.

“To choose service members on other grounds than military qualifications is social policy and has no place in our military,” Carter said.

Upon hearing the news of his death, Obama in a statement praised Carter saying his advice and role made the military “stronger, smarter, more humane and more effective.” Then Obama added; “Ashā€™s greatest legacy, however, may be the generations of younger leaders he taught, mentored, and inspired to protect our nation and wield power wisely.” 

Carter’s predecessor, Robert Gates said Carter’s “insights and perspectives will be difficult to replace and his humor and regard for the troops deeply missed.”

The White House on Tuesday released a statement from President Joe Biden who summed up his view of Carter up with the word ‘integrity.’

“Integrity. When I think of Ash Carter, I think of a man of extraordinary integrity. Honest. Principled. Guided by a strong, steady moral compass and a vision of using his life for public purpose.
 
Ash Carter was born a patriot. A physicist and national security leader across decades, he served with immense distinction at every level of civilian leadership at the Department of Defense, including as our nationā€™s 25th secretary of defense.
 
I was vice president at the time, and President Obama and I relied on Ashā€™s fierce intellect and wise counsel to ensure our militaryā€™s readiness, technological edge, and obligation to the women and men of the greatest fighting force in the history of the world.
 
Ash was a leader on all the major national security issues of our times ā€” from nuclear deterrence to proliferation prevention to missile defense to emerging technology challenges to the fight against Al Qaida and ISIS. He opened every field of military service to women and protected the rights of transgender service members.
 
His public contributions were amplified by his many years at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government where he inspired and mentored the next generation of national security leaders. As president, I continued to rely on his expertise through his presence on my Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.
 
Above all, Ash understood the sacred obligation we have to our servicemembers, veterans, and their families. He was relentless in his pursuit of technology solutions for our warfighters, rapidly accelerating delivery of mine resistant vehicles to our troops to protect them from improvised explosive devices in Iraq and Afghanistan. His work saved countless lives and limbs. On many weekends Ash and his beloved wife Stephanie would quietly visit wounded warriors at Walter Reed. He did so out of the spotlight, demonstrating the personal integrity and sense of duty that distinguished him throughout his life. 
 
Jill and I grieve with the entire Carter family, including Stephanie, Will and Ava, and countless friends and colleagues across the world who are mourning this sudden loss of a great American. 
 
Ash Carter was a great American of the utmost integrity.”

Carter led the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government in Cambridge, Mass., and is survived by his wife, Stephanie, and his children, Ava and Will.

President Barack Obama stands with Ash Carter in the Oval Office on Dec. 5, 2014, before the president announces Carter’s nomination for secretary of defense. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
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Federal Government

National Security Council meets with Ugandan LGBTQ activist

Frank Mugisha met with the NSC on Monday

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Frank Mugisha, Gay News, Washington Blade
Sexual Minorities Uganda Executive Director Frank Mugisha (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

The U.S. National Security Council met with Ugandan LGBTQ rights activist Frank Mugisha on Monday, according to a spokesperson who reaffirmed America’s opposition to civil rights abuses against LGBTQ people in the East African country.

Last year, Uganda passed the Anti-Homosexuality Act, a law that criminalizes, with prison sentences, identifying as gay or lesbian and imposes the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality.”

The Biden-Harris administration has repeatedly denounced the legislation and called for its repeal.

“There have been increased reports of evictions, vigilante attacks, and police harassment, abuse, and detainment of individuals who are or are perceived to be LGBTQI+, including reports of the Ugandan police subjecting individuals to forced anal examinations ā€“ an abusive, degrading practice that serves no investigative or public health purpose,” the White House wrote in a December 2023 fact sheet.

In a post on X about the meeting with Mugisha, Adrienne Watson, special assistant to the president and National Security Council senior director for press and spokesperson, wrote that the “United States continues to have zero tolerance for any form of discrimination or harmful activities.”

Mugisha, who is gay, is one of the most prominent LGBTQ advocates in Uganda, winning the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award and Thorolf Rafto Memorial Prize for his work in 2011. He was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize in 2014.

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Federal Government

EXCLUSIVE: USAID LGBTQ coordinator visits Uganda

Jay Gilliam met with activists, community members from Feb. 19-27

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U.S. Agency for International Development Senior LGBTQI+ Coordinator Jay Gilliam (Photo courtesy of USAID)

U.S. Agency for International Development Senior LGBTQI+ Coordinator Jay Gilliam last month traveled to Uganda.

Gilliam was in the country from Feb. 19-27. He visited Kampala, the Ugandan capital, and the nearby city of Jinja.

Gilliam met with LGBTQ activists who discussed the impact of the Anti-Homosexuality Act, a law with a death penalty provision for “aggravated homosexuality” that President Yoweri Museveni signed last May. Gilliam also sat down with USAID staffers.

Gilliam on Wednesday during an exclusive interview with the Washington Blade did not identify the specific activists and organizations with whom he met “out of protection.” 

“I really wanted to meet with community members and understand the impacts on them,” he said.

Consensual same-sex sexual relations in Uganda were already criminalized before Museveni signed the Anti-Homosexuality Act. Gilliam told the Blade he spoke with a person who said authorities arrested them at a community meeting for mental health and psychosocial support “under false pretenses of engaging in same-sex relations and caught in a video that purportedly showed him.” 

The person, according to Gilliam, said authorities outed them and drove them around the town in which they were arrested in order to humiliate them. Gilliam told the Blade that prisoners and guards beat them, subjected them to so-called anal exams and denied them access to antiretroviral drugs.

“They were told that you are not even a human being. From here on you are no longer living, just dead,” recalled Gilliam.

“I just can’t imagine how difficult it is for someone to be able to live through something like that and being released and having ongoing needs for personal security, having to be relocated and getting support for that and lots of other personal issues and trauma,” added Gilliam.

Gilliam said activists shared stories of landlords and hotel owners evicting LGBTQ people and advocacy groups from their properties. Gilliam told the Blade they “purport that they don’t want to run afoul of” the Anti-Homosexuality Act.

“These evictions really exacerbate the needs from the community in terms of relocation and temporary shelter and just the trauma of being kicked out of your home, being kicked out of your village and having to find a place to stay at a moment’s notice, knowing that you’re also trying to escape harm and harassment from neighbors and community members,” he said.

Gilliam also noted the Anti-Homosexuality Act has impacted community members in different ways.

Reported cases of violence and eviction, for example, are higher among gay men and transgender women. Gilliam noted lesbian, bisexual and queer women and trans men face intimate partner violence, are forced into marriages, endure corrective rape and lose custody of their children when they are outed. He said these community members are also unable to inherit land, cannot control their own finances and face employment discrimination because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.Ā Ā 

US sanctioned Ugandan officials over Anti-Homosexuality Act

The U.SĀ imposed visa restrictionsĀ on Ugandan officials shortly after Museveni signed the law. The World Bank Group later announcedĀ the suspension of new loansĀ to Uganda.

The Biden-Harris administration last October issued a business advisory that said the Anti-Homosexuality Act ā€œfurther increases restrictions on human rights, to include restrictions on freedoms of expression and peaceful assembly and exacerbates issues regarding the respect for leases and employment contracts.ā€ The White House has also removed Uganda from a program that allows sub-Saharan African countries to trade duty-free with the U.S. and has issued a business advisory for the country over the Anti-Homosexuality Act. 

Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Dec. 4, 2023, announced sanctions against current and former Ugandan officials who committed human rights abuses against LGBTQ people and other groups. Media reports this week indicate the U.S. denied MP Sarah Achieng Opendi a visa that would have allowed her to travel to New York in order to attend the annual U.N. Commission on the Status of Women.

Museveni, for his part, has criticized the U.S. and other Western countries’ response to the Anti-Homosexuality Act. 

Gilliam noted authorities have arrested and charged Ugandans under the law.Ā 

Two men on motorcycles on Jan. 3 stabbed Steven Kabuye, co-executive director of Coloured Voice Truth to LGBTQ Uganda, outside his home while he was going to work. The incident took place months after Museveni attended Uganda’s National Prayer Breakfast at which U.S. Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.) spoke and defended the Anti-Homosexuality Act.

The State Department condemned the attack that Kabuye blamed on politicians and religious leaders who are stoking anti-LGBTQ sentiments in Uganda. Gilliam did not meet with Ugandan government officials while he was in the country.

“We in the U.S. government have already made it clear our stance with government officials on how we feel about the AHA, as well as broader human rights concerns in country,” said Gilliam. “That’s been communicated from the very highest levels.”

The Uganda’s Constitutional Court last Dec. 18 heard arguments in a lawsuit that challenges the Anti-Homosexuality Act. It is unclear when a ruling in the case will take place, but Gilliam said LGBTQ Ugandans with whom he met described the law “as just one moment.” 

“Obviously there is lots of work that has been done, that continues to be done to respond to this moment,” he told the Blade. “They know that there’s going to be a lot of work that needs to continue to really address a lot of the root causes and to really back humanity to the community.” 

Gilliam further noted it will “take some years to recover from the damage of 2023 and the AHA (Anti-Homosexuality Act) there.” He added activists are “already laying down the groundwork for what that work looks like” in terms of finding MPs, religious leaders, human rights activists and family members who may become allies.

“Those types of allyships are going to be key to building back the community and to continue the resiliency of the movement,” said Gilliam.

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Federal Government

VA expands IVF to cover same-sex couples, single veterans

DoD also broadens IVF access for active-duty troops

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U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough (Screen capture/YouTube)

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs will cover in-vitro fertilization treatments for same-sex couples and single veterans, the agency announced on Monday ā€” a move that comes after lawsuits last year claiming that its policy of only treating legally married partners who could produce their own eggs and sperm was discriminatory.

The department said the change is expected to take effect in coming weeks, with Secretary Denis McDonough pledging to implement the new policy as soon as possible.

ā€œRaising a family is a wonderful thing, and Iā€™m proud that VA will soon help more veterans have that opportunity,ā€ he said. ā€œThis expansion of care has long been a priority for us, and we are working urgently to make sure that eligible unmarried veterans, veterans in same-sex marriages and veterans who need donors will have access to IVF in every part of the country as soon as possible.ā€

Out in National Security, a nonprofit dedicated to serving and empowering queer national security professionals, celebrated the VA’s announcement in a press release proclaiming that “five years of ONS efforts have delivered.”

The group noted that about 2 million LGBTQ veterans are served by the VA, a number that is expected to “substantially increase in this decade.”

Also on Monday, the Defense Department announced its expansion of IVF eligibility requirements, which will now cover assisted reproductive technology for active-duty troops and their spouses, partners, or surrogates.

DoD will allow these service members to “use donor gametes (sperm, egg, or both) and embryos when procured at their own expense.”   

“We continue to identify ways to lean forward as much as we can in support of equity of access to reproductive health care for our service members,” said Kimberly Lahm, a program director in the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs for Health Services Policy and Oversight.

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