Military News.
The Gay and Lesbian Veterans in our midst
by John Roeder, president and co-founder of Columbus GLBVA
Until now, most news about Gay men and Lesbians in the military seemed very distant from Gay life here in Columbus. Most Gay veterans seldom discuss their military experience or feelings with the rest of us because such matters do not seem relevant to our present lives and identities as Gay men and Lesbians. But in the short time since Operation Desert Storm, Gay veterans groups have sprung up across the US, and now total some 24 chapters! On June 28th, this trend will hit us directly at home during our 1992 Gay/Lesbian Freedom March and GayFest.
The featured speaker at GayFest will be the nationally known and highly respected activist Miriam Ben-Shalom. Ben-Shalom is a Lesbian veteran of the US Army Reserve and is founder and national chairperson of the Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Veterans of America. GLBVA, founded in the spring of 1990, works on a national level as an umbrella organization of Gay veterans' groups. It is also a member of a still larger umbrella organization, the Gay and Lesbian Military Freedom Project, whose members include the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, the Human Rights Campaign Fund, the National Organization for Women, and the Military Task Force of the National Lawyers Guild, to name a few. The GLBVA itself is dedicated to fighting the homphobic policies of the Department of Defense and the various branches of the Armed Services.
We in Columbus have started a chapter of GLBVA, which meets on the first Tuesday of the month, 7 PM, at the Stonewall Community Center. The group will have a booth at GayFest this June 28th.
Why are we vets important to the overall Gay community? Why is this issue significant to those who were not in the military.
We veterans are among you in most every facet of Gay and Lesbian life in the bars and out of the bars. Yet to be a Gay/Lesbian vet today is to be part of a "sleeping giant" in Gay history. On my personal level, it is a bitter memory of persecution. To other vets, it is a hidden desire to be honored and recognized without necessarily agreeing with the policies of the federal government. And then there is another feeling: that the overall Gay community should respect and listen to their veterans and the feelings and experiences that we vets lived through, both good and hellish.
For you who are the Gay and Lesbian veterans in the Columbus area, let me share a vision of a new identity and feeling of belonging. We can build the Columbus chapter of the GLBVA as a source of support, camaraderie, social and fun activities as well as projects for the national organization. In other words, while we cannot single-handedly halt the homophobia of the Pentagon, we can give ourselves new respect and dignity that no government or force can ever take away! It is true for that your military experiences have shaped your feelings and lives in various degrees, but each of you must look at what you are today as a Gay or Lesbian vet; your identity as a vet is more important in the Columbus Gay community that you think!
Your dignity as a vet need not hinge upon the corrupt, anti-Gay policies of the military establishment. You are a living part of recent Gay history. Your stories, your talents, your knowledge and personality are valuable and are unlike any other Gay group in Columbus. Let those thoughts challenge the way each of you think about yourselves. If you will join us in whatever way you can, we can help each other as Gay/ Lesbian veterans, and educate and enrich the overall Lesbian/Gay community in ways never before seen in the history of this city. It is time for you to wake up!
Those of you who didn't serve in the military, let me challenge each of you with this thought: although you cannot always necessarily understand the feelings and attitudes of Gay vets, you can take time to listen to them for the unique experiences they have endured. I believe that the coming together of the vets in our midst can potentially be as great a force historically as any other Gay-oriented group in this city, be it social or activist. Even after the 1992 GayFest becomes a dim memory, we vets will still be in your midst. We tend some of your bars, wait on your table, are the familiar faces in the crowd each time you go out on the weekends. But the vets around you are a "hidden treasure" in the week-to-week Gay life of Columbus, not to mention a rapidly growing "new chapter" in the history of our struggle against homophobia. Events nationwide are occurring more rapidly in the Gay military struggle than I can recount them to you. As president and co-founder of the Columbus Chapter of the GLBVA, I urge all of you to lend your support and hospitality to Miriam Ben-Shalom in this season of Lesbian and Gay Pride. And by all means, please visit our GLBVA booth at the 1992 GayFest on Sunday, June 28th.
Stonewall Union
presents
Miriam Ben-Shalom
Executive Director of the Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual Veteran's of America
&
Kevin Berrill
Former NGLTF Anti-violence Project Coordinator
June 27, 1992
Stonewall Union Community Center 47 West Fifth Avenue
"Hey, Queer!" workshop (Berrill): 4:00pm Lecture (Ben-Shalom): 5:30pm Reception: 6:00pm
$5 per person
For additional info please call Stonewall at 299-7764.
Travel
Plex
R
RSVP AND OLIVIA CRUISES!
EAST
YOUR FULL SERVICE TRAVEL AGENCY Airline Ticketing
•
Cruises
•
Hotel Reservations
• Car Rentals
•
Specialized Tour Packages
No Fee
for Our Services
----
555 OffiCenter Place, Suite 100 Gahanna, Ohio 43230
(614) 337-3155
Pride in Print.
GAYBEAT
Ohio's Gay Newspaper
We Work for Gay Pride Every Day.
772 North High St., Suite 105, Columbus 43215
(614) 297-1500