California lawmakers have created the country's first special day of recognition for LGBT veterans.
The first statewide observance of California LGBT Veterans Day will take place June 11, 2015. The date was picked due to June being Pride Month and November 11 being Veterans Day.
But unlike the official recognition, both nationally and at the state level, that Veterans Day receives each year as a federal holiday, the day for LGBT vets will not be an official state holiday in California.
Rather, it will be a day of special significance in the Golden State recognized by the state Legislature.
The state Senate adopted Assembly Concurrent Resolution 153, which created the LGBT vet day and was introduced by Assemblyman Roger Dickinson (D-Sacramento), August 4 on a 25-1 vote. The Assembly had adopted the resolution June 9 in order for it to proclaim June 11, 2014 as "California LGBT Veterans Day."
As the resolution states, "the Legislature hereby declares June 11, 2014, and June 11 of each subsequent year, California LGBT Veterans Day, to be celebrated statewide."
Dickinson held an event on the State Capitol's south steps in Sacramento June 10 to celebrate the Assembly's unanimous support of the resolution. In attendance were Brigadier General Matthew Beevers , deputy adjutant general of the California Military Department, and Mirtha Villareal-Younger, deputy secretary of minority veterans for the California Department of Veterans Affairs.
This month, in response to the resolution's passage in the Legislature's upper house, Dickinson issued a statement explaining that the special day is meant to provide Californians a way to honor the contributions made by LGBT veterans.
"It is essential that Californians take the time to appreciate and honor the contributions of California's lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender veterans to our country," stated Dickinson. "The veterans of the LGBT community served to protect the freedom of speech for their fellow Americans, while they sacrificed their own freedom of speech, in service to our country."
He was referring to the military's anti-gay policy known as "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," that forbade lesbian, gay, and bisexual service members from openly declaring their sexual orientation. The homophobic policy was enacted in 1994. Congress voted to repeal it in 2010 and that went into effect in 2011.
Transgender people are barred from serving in the armed forces under a different policy that remains in affect.
Equality California, the statewide LGBT rights group, praised the California resolution.
"We are proud of the achievements and sacrifices that LGBT veterans and current service members have made for our country," said Rick Zbur, EQCA's incoming executive director. "In spite of discrimination, they have served faithfully and with distinction, and this resolution is a way to demonstrate the respect and appreciation they deserve."
Out veterans in San Francisco, contacted by the Bay Area Reporter last week, hailed the creation of California LGBT Veterans Day.
"I think it is awesome. It is a well-deserved recognition," said lesbian retired Navy Reserve Commander Zoe Dunning , who is on the executive committee of the California Democratic Party's Veterans Caucus. "I think it would be great if San Francisco also recognized it."
Mario Benfield, commander of the Alexander Hamilton Post 448 of the American Legion, said the lawmakers' backing of the resolution "was a splendid decision to make."
The primarily gay American Legion post is planning to hold a flagpole dedication ceremony next June 11 at the Harvey Milk Center for the Recreational Arts in San Francisco's Duboce Park to mark the occasion.
"I am working with the city now getting that flagpole straightened away," said Benfield, a gay man who served in the Marine Corps.
John Caldera, with the Bob Basker Post 315 of the American Legion, an LGBT-focused charter post within the American Legion, said he was taken by the overwhelming support for the resolution in the state Senate.
"What I think is the strongest statement of this action is the vote itself of 25-to-1, that to me speaks volumes," said Caldera, a gay Navy veteran.
He said the creation of the LGBT vet day is another sign of how far the LGBT community has come toward achieving greater equality and acceptance within his lifetime.
"When I was on active duty, and we were in the barracks, we would sometimes get barracks inspections," recalled Caldera. "I remember one guy got caught with a dress. He was kind of publicly embarrassed for it back then; this was in 1983. Now to have come to where LGBT vets can be celebrated and appreciated for what they did ..."
The next step, said Caldera, is to have California LGBT Veterans Day be recognized as an unofficial state holiday, similar to how the state observes Harvey Milk Day each May 22 in honor of the first out person to win elective office in California. Each year the governor issues a proclamation proclaiming that day, which was the San Francisco supervisor's birthday, as Harvey Milk Day.
It is not a paid state holiday; therefore public schools and government buildings do not close that day. Unlike with Harvey Milk Day, the governor is not required to proclaim June 11 each year as California LGBT Veterans Day.
"I think things are totally headed in that direction," said Caldera.
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