OutServe-SLDN Applauds Supreme Court Decision on Marriage Equality

OutServe-SLDN Calls on VA Secretary to begin immediately providing benefits to LGB veterans and their families

WASHINGTON (June 26, 2015) – OutServe-SLDN Interim Executive Director Matt Thorn issued the following statement in response to today's Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, which will require states to license a marriage between two people of the same sex:"Today, our community was told by the Supreme Court of the United States that you are an American, and a citizen of the United States. Your relationship, your marriage and your family matters to our community as a country and must be respected and treated fairly under the law.

"The absence of marriage equality has cast a long shadow on families and been an attack on the very foundations of our Republic. Today, the Supreme Court has reaffirmed our founders' beliefs and the promise of our Declaration and Constitution. Today we are again a city upon a hill, leading the world to a brighter future. "Without the leadership and persistence by the many plaintiffs, attorneys, many advocates and organizations over the years this day may not have come as soon as today. Today, the OutServe-SLDN urges all of our members, all advocates and allies, to celebrate this earth-shattering opinion by the Supreme Court. "While we take pleasure in this decision by SCOTUS, there is still much work to do. We need open transgender military service, gender identity inclusion as a protected class in the Military Equality Opportunity Program, a comprehensive Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), a comprehensive immigration plan for LGBT couples and families, a renewed focus toward domestic HIV care and support, a plan to address LGBT homelessness, to name a few, but today we celebrate this victory and join together as a community in the goals and achievements that we have been able to accomplish in the last five decades.

"OutServe-SLDN also calls on the United States Department of Veterans Affairs to begin immediately providing benefits to our LGB veterans and their families to ensure that all have access to their earned VA benefits, regardless of their state of residence. This is a critical step that will ensure that every member of the United States military and their families have the same access to the benefits that they have so rightfully earned in their service and sacrifice to our country. The climate of the era has changed definitively with the decision of the Supreme Court. We implore the VA to give our military families the respect, dignity and protections that they have earned. Our LGB veterans should not be denied these benefits because of the state they live in or because of their sexual orientation. They should be given these benefits because it is the right thing to do. It is the American thing to do." You may read an advance copy of our letter to Secretary of Veteran's Affairs Robert McDonald here.

OutServe-SLDN (OS-SLDN) is a non-partisan, non-profit, legal services and policy organization dedicated to bringing about full LGBT equality to America's military and ending all forms of discrimination and harassment of military personnel on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. With more than fifty chapters and 60,000 subscribers around the world, OS-SLDN supports a professional network of LGBT military personnel and strives to create an environment of respect in the military with regard to sexual orientation and gender identity. OS-SLDN provides free and direct legal assistance to service members and veterans affected by the repealed "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" law and the prior regulatory ban on open service, as well as those currently serving who may experience harassment or discrimination. For more information, visit www.outserve-sldn.org.