My annual visit of DADT and LGBT Diversity in the US Armed Forces

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

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

who is always known for choosing numbers that resonate with the home state crowd wherever he competes, skated his winning short program to “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy” dressed in appropriate attire (see photo).

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.)

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.)

of a male US Marine proposing to his boyfriend at the US White House at the conclusion of his tour of duty. Personally, seeing a loving couple positively glowing in the love for one another warms my heart no matter what the gender mix (man and woman, man and man, woman and woman). Other articles and studies have shown that the much ballyhooed possible morale decline never incurred; in fact studies point to a more effective military. (Link to Hoffington Post article.)

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

Ashley Broadway (left) with her wife Lt. Col. Heather Mack

This illustrates that continued diversity and sensitivity training is required, especially for enterprises associated with and providing services and supplies to the US military. We certainly do not need the hard feelings, negative publicity and public outcry that occurs from these episodes. Fortunately, a later report (link) indicated that so far at least the US Marine Corps has quickly addressed this issue.

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.

A focus on Supplier Diversity – Part 2 of 2

Last week I published part 1 (link) of this two part series by summarizing an online SHRM (Society for Human Resource Management) article in which I was one of a handful of industry experts extensively quoted. In the article, “Diverse Suppliers Can Lead to Diverse Talent” by Rebecca R. Hastings, the main theme was that supplier diversity initiatives do have a strong connection to similar efforts to recruit and retain the best employees via the widest possible diverse pool of candidates.

In this follow on blog, I am providing links (underlined bolded titles) to a few more resources and articles on this supplier diversity topic.

ARTICLE 1: “How to Engage LGBT ERGs in Supplier Diversity” by Consultant Jennifer Brown (Jennifer Brown Consulting.) Jennifer, also extensively quoted in the SHRM article mentioned above, authored this article where she summarizes feedback she had received from several Fortune 500 companies on how they leverage their LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) Employee Resource Groups to assist with their LGBT supplier diversity execution. These learnings are easily transportable to other diversity constituencies such as women-owned and black-owned businesses.

Carla Traci Preston, Director of Supplier Diversity Development, Ford Motor Company

Carla Traci Preston, Director of Supplier Diversity Development, Ford Motor Company


ARTICLE 2: “Ford Puts Supplier Diversity Into Overdrive” by Jeffrey Cattel. This article provides an in depth discussion with Carla Traci Preston, director of supplier diversity development at Ford Motor Company. Ms. Preston discusses the important link to economic development of historically under-utilized minority businesses and the leadership role that large corporations like Ford have in helping fuel wide-spread economic growth. She also shares some of her own personal story of how she got involved in supplier diversity, some specific execution points from Ford, and suggestions for other companies wanting to expand their supplier diversity efforts.

ARTICLE 3: “First Ever US Federal Government Procurement Fair for LGBT Business.” This was a blog I published in December, 2012 after being a participant in this historic event held in November at the US Department of Commerce Building in Washington, DC. In addition to interacting with about a dozen procurement representatives from various government agencies, we also heard the compelling logic for this move by the US administration from Acting Secretary of Commerce Dr. Rebecca Blank and Gautum Raghaven, White House Liaison to the LGBT Community.

Continue to look for additional development in 2013 around supplier diversity and its importance to helping grow the economy across all sectors.