It seems that I write a blog on this subject about once a year. This would be appropriate since I am in North Carolina, a state with one of the highest concentration of military establishments and business. We have two major bases in our state: Camp LeJeune for Marines and Fort Bragg for the Army. In fact in 2011, when the US Figure Skating Nationals were held in Greenboro, NC, Men’s Champion Ryan Bradley,
Ryan Bradley wowed the NC crowd at the Greenboro Coliseum with his spectacular “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy” short program enroute to winning the 2011 US Figure Skating championship
In early 2011, I wrote a two piece blog about the demise of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (aka DADT) that Congress passed in late December, 2010. In Part 1 (link), I wrote about why this move was good for the US Military and in the long run would result in a more effective military with the very best of diverse talent. In Part 2 (link) I wrote about the training and work needed ahead to implement a military consistent with the new inclusion policy. Then at the end of 2011, I revisited this issue and wrote a blog on the overall positive impact in the first year after the removal of this discriminatory ban.
Now it is two years later. There have been many positive and heartwarming stories of how the US military has adjusted well to the inclusion of same gender couples. Many of us saw and celebrated over the beautiful article (link) and photo
US Marine Corps Capt Matthew Phelps proposed to his boyfriend Ben Schock in the Grand Foyer of the White House (Credit: Mike Tapscott, American Military Partner Assoc.)
However, even with the positive progress, negative episodes occasionally crop up. One recent example (link to article) happened here in North Carolina when a military spouses group denied membership to the wife of a female Army lieutenant colonel.
Ashley Broadway (left) with her wife Lt. Col. Heather Mack
Diversity and Inclusion across all sectors of society has a compelling positive rationale and business case, so let’s all continue to push for this same inclusion and the accompanying benefits in the US military.
