Thursday, July 10, 2014

Dear Military Mental Health Project Supporters, Since our inception, the Military Mental Health Project have received an overwhelming amount of requests to give our position on Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual and Transgender personnel serving in the military. Until this point in time we have never addressed this issue with any official statement. On behalf of the Military Mental Health Project, in conjunction with our Board of Directors, Advisory Board and Staff, I believe that if you serve this country in uniform, you deserve the benefits, services and respect due all our service members, regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation or gender identity. It is imperative that we as an organization lead by example and continue to fight for the services and benefits that were promised to service members and their families. We stand with and support our LGBT brothers and sisters in their fight to serve openly without fear of repercussion. We also fight for the needed legal changes to statute and regulation that will remove the inequalities that exist with in the policies of the Veterans Administration and Tri-Care services. Things like Title 38 are legal barriers that are utilized to deny services to veterans and their families, which in our opinion is unacceptable. Furthermore, when it comes to the inclusion of Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual and Transgendered individuals in terms of recruiting and enlistment. We believe that if you want to serve in the military that you should be given every opportunity to do so, provided you meet the necessary qualifications. However we do realize that there are many factors that come into play such as special accommodations and other individually specific issues. Should these issues arise it is our job to research and implement best practices to ensure they do not become a barrier to military service.

Our mission is to support, advocate and ensure that every service member and military family has access to affordable and high quality mental health services. This is our commitment to everyone; it is also my personal commitment to every veteran, service member and military family.

In closing, this letter serves as a reminder to our LGBT military community that we are

here for you and will fight to ensure equal treatment as well as to make it clear where we stand as an organization on this issue. To all veterans, active military and their families, thank you for your service. Sincerely,

Jacob Hayward Angel Founder & Executive Director Military Mental Health Project