Washington, D.C. — Ahead of Thursday’s confirmation hearings, Equality California called on U.S. senators to ask Secretary of Defense nominee James Mattis about his commitment to existing DoD regulations that protect LGBT service members from discrimination if he is confirmed.
“Throughout U.S. history, LGBT service members have fought and died for our country,” said Rick Zbur, executive director of Equality California. “Secretaries Panetta, Hagel and Carter made profound progress in ending LGBT discrimination in the military, starting with a repeal of Don’t Act Don’t Tell, the addition of sexual orientation to the Human Goals Charter, and the inclusion of legally-married, same-sex couples under DOD’s Family and Medical Leave Act rules. And as of October 2016, transgender service members can serve openly. We call on Mr. Mattis to continue these policies to ensure full LGBT inclusion if he is confirmed.”
In a letter sent to Members of the U.S. Senate, Equality California urged them to press nominee Mattis to commit to ensuring that LGBT service members can continue to fully contribute to greater military readiness and strength by serving openly, and to ask him the following questions:
Does he believe that a fully inclusive military establishment builds a stronger and more ready force? Does he commit to the continued inclusion of open LGBT service members? Does he intend to express this commitment throughout the ranks? In June 2016, Secretary Carter set forth a timetable to fully integrate transgender service members within 24 months, including a nine-month training of the full force, an initial accession policy to begin no later than June 2017, and a full accession standard for transgender service members implemented by June 2018. Is nominee Mattis committed to fully integrating transgender service members as part of this resilient force, and does he intend to adhere to the timetable?
Equality California is making these requests because of the importance of maintaining existing DoD policies that protect LGBT service members and their families and that allow LGBT people to serve our country.
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Equality California is the nation’s largest statewide lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization dedicated to creating a fair and just society. Our mission is to achieve and maintain full and lasting equality, acceptance, and social justice for all people in our diverse LGBT communities, inside and outside of California. Our mission includes advancing the health and well-being of LGBT Californians through direct healthcare service advocacy and education. Through electoral, advocacy, education and mobilization programs, we strive to create a broad and diverse alliance of LGBT people, educators, government officials, communities of color and faith, labor, business, and social justice communities to achieve our goals. www.eqca.org
