<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div><span></span></div><div><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div>Courtesy of today's (June 10, 2015) Spokesman-Review.</div><div><br></div><div>--------------------------------------</div><div><h1 style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; clear: both; overflow: visible !important; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; line-height: 1.2; font-size: 28px; font-family: Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif;">Pentagon adopts rules against gay discrimination in military</h1><p style="margin-bottom: 21px; overflow: visible !important;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">WASHINGTON – Gay and lesbian service members in the U.S. military will be given protection from discrimination under the military’s equal opportunity policy, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter announced Tuesday, although transgender soldiers are still barred.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 21px; overflow: visible !important;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">For the first time in its straight-laced history, the Pentagon will treat discrimination based on sexual orientation the same as it considers race, religion, color, sex, age and national origin when investigating complaints, Carter said.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 21px; overflow: visible !important;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“Recognizing that our openness to diversity is one of the things that (has) allowed us to be the best in the world, we must ensure that everyone who’s able and willing to serve has the full and equal opportunity to do so,” he said. “And we must start from a position of inclusivity, not exclusivity.”</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 21px; overflow: visible !important;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The shift came as the Pentagon celebrated Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Pride Month at a ceremony that was broadcast on an internal TV network to U.S. military bases around the world.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 21px; overflow: visible !important;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The move came nearly four years after the formal end of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” a 17-year-old law that barred gays and lesbians from serving openly in the military. If they revealed their sexual orientation, they could be kicked out, according to the law.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 21px; overflow: visible !important;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Over the years, thousands of men and women in uniform were expelled. Openly gay civilian employees at the Defense Department faced similar discrimination until 1995 because they often could not obtain security clearances needed to work in national security agencies.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 21px; overflow: visible !important;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“Young Americans today are more diverse, open and tolerant than past generations,” Carter said. “If we’re going to attract the best and brightest among them to contribute to our mission of national defense, we have to ourselves be more open, diverse and tolerant, too.”</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 21px; overflow: visible !important;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">LGBT groups applauded the Pentagon for broadening its anti-discrimination policy, but called on military leaders to extend the protection to transgender soldiers.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 21px; overflow: visible !important;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The Pentagon bans transgender troops from openly serving, and policy dictates that they be kicked out if discovered.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 21px; overflow: visible !important;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">David Stacy, government affairs director with Human Rights Campaign, an LGBT rights group based in Washington, said those restrictions should be lifted to ensure “full LGBT equality in the military.”</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 21px; overflow: visible !important;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Both the Army and the Air Force have worked to be more flexible by requiring senior officials to approve service members’ discharges on a case-by-case basis.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 21px; overflow: visible !important;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The American Military Partner Association, an organization of LGBT military families, said thousands of transgender service members are unable to serve openly due to the regulations.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 21px; overflow: visible !important;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“It’s incredibly important to note that we absolutely cannot leave our transgender service members behind,” Ashley Broadway-Mack, the group’s president, said in a statement. “We again urge Secretary Carter to also order a full and comprehensive review to update the outdated regulations that prevent transgender service members from serving.”</span></p></div><div>--------------------------------------<br><br><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Seeya at the Wingding, Moscow, because . . .</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"Moscow Cares" (the most fun you can have with your pants on)</span></div><div><a href="http://www.moscowcares.com/" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><font color="#000000">http://www.MoscowCares.com</font></a></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> </span></div><div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Tom Hansen</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Moscow, Idaho</span></div></div><div> </div></div></div></body></html>