The Nation is hearing the power of youth - Right to Serve Campaign grows
Media coverage is getting bigger and bigger on the Soulforce Right to Serve Campaign (see official site, official GSO site & localized Right to Serve info on MattHillNC.com) as can be seen by a simple search of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” on Google News.
Like I’ve told you all here on this blog and wherever I talk about this since I first started talking about it, this Campaign truly is going to make a difference in the debate on Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and its place in American government.
I have found two video reports from the same news station (video/playlist opttions on left) on the enlistment in Austin, Texas, on Tuesday (Chicago also went on Tuesday) as well as news stories (KOTV, Oklahoma and KTEN, Tennesse) on the attempted enlistment which occurred in Oklahoma City on Wednesday.
365gay.com News did a national news piece on Austin, Chicago and Oklahoma City.
Here is the press release concerning all three cities from Soulforce and the Right to Serve Campaign:
Young Gay Americans Denied the Right to Serve Their Country with Openness and Dignity
******************************************
SOULFORCE PRESS RELEASE: August 22, 2006
For Immediate Release
Contact: Jacob Reitan, 952-212-8311, jake@soulforce.org
Haven Herrin, 469-867-5725, haven@soulforce.org******************************************
(Austin, Chicago, Oklahoma City) — This Tuesday and Wednesday, in cities across the nation, gay youth are attempting to enlist in the military without lying about who they are or whom they love.
These young leaders are part of the nationally-coordinated Right to Serve campaign, which aims to call attention to the injustice — as well as the human and administrative costs — of the federal government’s thirteen-year-old “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy.
Eighteen-year-old Rebecca Solomon feels this injustice keenly. Solomon’s family has a long tradition of military service that includes her father, uncle, grandfather, and great-grandfather. Rebecca recently graduated from a college preparatory high school in Houston and scored above the 95th percentile on the SAT. When Rebecca met with an Army recruiter in Austin, Texas on Tuesday, she was initially warmly received — until she informed the officer that she is a lesbian. After Rebecca shared the truth about her identity, the officer promptly terminated the interview.
According to Solomon, she and her fellow Right to Serve campaigners understand that they will likely be barred from enlisting, but “we feel it is important for people to understand that there are perfectly qualified candidates who are being denied the right to serve.” A recent study conducted by the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network concluded that the U.S. military could attract as many as 41,000 new recruits if gays and lesbians in the military were able to be open about their sexual orientation.
As Solomon was attempting to enlist in Texas, three other young gay Americans, Rob Fojtik, Kelsey Pacha, and Rachelle Faroul, were attempting to enlist in Chicago. Each of the young adults met briefly with Army Reserve recruiting officers but could not be processed due to the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Policy.”
On Wednesday in Oklahoma City, Michael Cich will attempt to enlist along with his brother, Robert Cich. Robert, who is heterosexual, has long wanted to serve his country, but he will only enlist as long as his brother, who is gay, is afforded the same opportunity.
Although openly gay youth have not yet been successful in their attempts to enlist, this is not the end of the road. For Solomon and others, the next step is to ask their congresspeople to sign on as sponsors of the Military Readiness Enhancement Act. If requests to meet with their Representatives are denied, Right to Serve campaigners are also planning to rally local youth — gay and straight — for sit-ins at the military recruiting centers they visited today. According to Kelsey Pacha, the campaign’s actions are meant to “call attention to the fact that ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ is discrimination. We feel it is time for America to join the 29 other countries world-wide that have integrated their militaries.”
The Right to Serve campaign is sponsored by Soulforce, a national nonviolent organization dedicated to ending political and religious oppression of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender persons.
For more information on the Right to Serve campaign, please go to www.righttoserve.org.
Again, organizing in Greensboro just keeps getting better and better. We are going through some major planning right now and the plans seem to just change everyday, especially after talking with the national organizers tonight.
BUT… still expect that Greensboro will be doing its events during the third week of September right around the time (as previously stated) as Phoenix. There should be another city going sometime around both Greensboro and Phoenix. I might be able to get some more details out here later, but not right now.
If you live in Greensboro or anywhere in North Carolina and you are interested in finding out how you can get involved in an effort to bring focus to the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy this fall, check out the Right to Serve Campaign at the official website, http://www.righttoserve.org/ as well as MattHillNC.com’s Soulforce Youth page (you can also make a donation to the Greensboro Campaign event via the Right to Serve Greensboro site)
Technorati Tags: Soulforce, Right to Serve Campaign, Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Greensboro, North Carolina, Austin, Chicago, Oklahoma City, Phoenix, Army, Military, LGBT
Matt, 22, is an LGBT journalist, activist and youth advocate currently living and working in Charlotte, N.C., where he serves as the Editor of Q-Notes, the Carolinas' LGBT news source. A native of Winston-Salem, N.C., Matt attended the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and is still continuing to pursue his bachelors degree. He is the Owner & Editor of InterstateQ.com and has been active in LGBT advocacy work since the age of 14.
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