Dec. 11 marked the official launch of the Military Education Initiative, an Atlanta-based, national non-profit project that seeks to open a dialogue with hundreds of veterans service and military organizations on the military’s “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. MEI will also work with state and local organizations around the country to support GLBT military and veterans’ rights, including the San Diego chapter of American Veterans for Equal Rights.

The project launch date corresponds with the tenth anniversary of President Clinton’s signing of the “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.

MEI’s mission is “to promote the study of gays, lesbians and other sexual minorities in the armed forces.” The project is part of the Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military, an official research unit of the University of California, Santa Barbara. Its board of advisors consists of officers and enlisted veterans from every military branch.

“MEI will reach out to veterans and military groups on the national, state and local levels, offering to provide speakers at their chapter meetings and national conventions, engaging in an honest and candid discussion on the most contentious aspects of the military’s gay policy,” former Army Major and Atlanta attorney Jeff Cleghorn, director of MEI, said in press release.

The initiative will distribute a special resource guide that provides detailed responses to 64 frequently asked questions involving the military service of GLBTs, including privacy issues, unit cohesion and the experiences of openly GLBT service members in foreign militaries. A survey designed to gather information from veterans who would like to participate is available on their website.

There are over 27 million military veterans in the United States. MEI helps raise awareness and network within the veterans community across the nation to help pass legislation such as AB 1520, an initiative currently before the State Assembly that would allow for state-commissioned memorials dedicated to individual groups of veterans in California, including GLBTs.

“MEI helps local groups around the country work with larger groups like the VFW and the American Legion, to get the word out for different fights around the country, to get the word out for support,” said Bob Lehman, president of the San Diego chapter of the AVER and the first openly gay veteran to be appointed to the San Diego County Veterans Advisory Board. “Groups like AVER and MEI are very new. Politicians are used to hearing from groups like the VFW and the American Legion. When we try to go for legislation, it’s a lot easier to get backing from Congress if we can have backing from groups like the VFW and the American Legion, and also no opposition from them.”

AVER is a veterans’ social and advocacy group that fights anti-GLBT discrimination in the Armed Forces, speaking regularly to student and church groups, veterans organizations and GLBT organizations on behalf of GLBT rights, and participating in local parades and events. AVER also assists active duty personnel with legal referrals and supports pro-GLBT military and veterans legislation, such as AB 1520.

Lehman, who has been chosen to be on MEI’s advisory board, said that AVER and similar veterans and GLBT rights organizations around the country will work with MEI to gather information to help the cause.

“In San Diego we’ve been very lucky and successful so far,” Lehman said. “Thanks to Ron Roberts appointing me onto [the San Diego County Veterans Advisory Board], the board has got to see somebody who is an out gay man fighting for veterans’ rights. Sometimes it’s hard to hate somebody when you see who they are. It’s just like in the military — when a guy or girl finds out that the person they’ve been working with the last six months or five years, or have been in the trenches with, is gay or lesbian, it doesn’t seem to be important anymore. MEI is going to try to work especially in areas that don’t have gay people that are appointed, like myself.”

MEI will be coming to the San Diego area in February to talk to the leaders of groups like the VFW and the American Legion about GLBTs in the military. A large VFW leadership conference is being held at that time north of San Diego, which MEI plans to attend.

“This is still pretty new, and we can work with these different groups like the VFW and the American Legion that are very religious-based,” Lehman said. “If you look at their creeds and pamphlets that they put out, they’re not exactly pro-gay, though a lot of the members aren’t anti-gay either, it’s just that a lot of times it’s not an issue for them.”

Lehman cites retirement, medical benefits and cemeteries as some of the major issues discussed in the veterans community.

“The gay issue is a very new thing to them, and it needs to be approached on an educated level so they can see where we’re coming from,” he said. “In the same respect that they do to us — it’s hard for them to just go and see a gay and lesbian parade and identify with gay veterans, but when they see somebody they have served with them, somebody who’s been in combat and has spent time fighting for other issues that don’t necessarily affect them at all, they realize that we’re not just one-issue people, but this is an important issue to us.”

For more information about the MEI project or to participate in the online survey, visit www.gaylesbiantimes.com and click on this article for a link to their website.