Winding its way along Harbor Drive’s waterfront Nov. 11, San Diego’s annual Veteran’s Day parade once again included a contingent of gay veterans, drawing attention to the contributions of gay, lesbian and bisexual service members who are still not allowed to serve openly in the military. With the American and rainbow flags flapping in the breeze, members of AVER San Diego received a favorable welcome from the crowd, who applauded continuously as veterans from numerous wars and all branches of the military passed by amid marching bands and ROTC groups.

“This was the first year we’ve actually carried a rainbow flag, to test the waters,” said AVER San Diego’s chapter president, Ben Gomez, who is also AVER’s national secretary. “We got a great reception from that. We had an old man stand up from a lawn chair and salute us. We saw a lesbian couple, they were screaming and crying, ‘Thanks for being here!’ It was worth it.”

Four other California cities’ Veteran’s Day parades had gay, lesbian and bisexual contingents march this year: Palm Springs, West Hollywood, Oakland and Sacramento, many of which were led by AVER contingents. AVER is a chapter-based association of active, reserve and veteran service members seeking equal rights and equitable treatment for current and former U.S. service members. Bob Lehman, one of Bourbon Street’s prior owners, originally organized San Diego’s AVER chapter, and served as its president until earlier this year. This is the chapter’s fourth year participating in the Vet’s Day parade.

“I still remember the first time we went, it was very nerve-racking,” Gomez said. “We didn’t know what to expect… When we got down the parade route, we got a lot of applause. I remember Boy Scouts saluting us and a little girl gave us roses and we were all crying. But I do remember one [person] just looking and sneering, like, ‘Why the F are you guys here?’ and stuff like that, but the majority gave us a welcome reception.”

Jim Maloney, director of the Military Education Initiative, said that a Gallup/CNN poll taken in December 2003 showed 79 percent of Americans favor allowing gays, lesbians and bisexuals to serve openly in the military; a FOX News survey that year found 64 percent in favor. This year, the University of Pennsylvania’s National Annenberg Election Survey reported that 67 percent of civilians support allowing gay, lesbian and bisexual service members to serve openly, and 50 percent of junior enlisted service members said that gays, lesbians and bisexuals should be allowed to serve openly in the military. That number is substantially higher than a 1992 survey of only male service members that showed 16 percent approved.

“We’re trying to get the word out about GLBT issues and the military, specifically the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy, and the caustic effect it is having on members of the GLBT community,” Gomez said.

It is estimated that nearly 1 million gay, lesbian and bisexual service members have served in the armed forces since the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy was instated, and a recently released study by the Urban Institute and the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network estimates there are 65,000 such service members on active duty. California has the highest number of gay, lesbian and bisexual service members, with 136,000 on active duty; along with Los Angeles, San Diego has one of the highest populations of active-duty gay, lesbian and bisexual service members in the nation.

Gomez said it is hard to gauge if attitudes in the military towards gay, lesbian and bisexual service members have gotten better or worse since “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” was established.

“Since I’ve left, I know there have been some people who feel they’ve been witch hunted still, but it depends on who they work with,” said Gomez, who served in the Navy 1987-98. “…I do get letters and emails on occasion from people in Iraq thanking me for what we’re doing out here.”

Log Cabin Republicans are taking on the military’s antigay policy known as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) in a lawsuit filed on Oct. 12 in Los Angeles. Log Cabin Republicans v. USA claims that the policy is unconstitutional in light of the Supreme Court’s Lawrence v. Texas decision last year striking down state sodomy laws. The suit states the policy violates the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment, and is a violation of free speech and expression as guaranteed under the First Amendment.

The Pentagon fires two to three men and women a day for being gay, SLDN’s events manager J.R. Brandon Bayton said in a press release prior to Veteran’s Day.

“We’re doing all that we can, but we were hoping to have a new administration this year,” Gomez laughed. “But we’ll just have to continue our battle for four more years; so we’re using different strategies to point out to especially the Republicans that this [‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’] is costing a lot of taxpayer money to hire these people, train them, and then fire them because they find out that they’re gay. It’s wasting a lot of money.”

AVER’s national convention takes place July 4 in Los Angeles.