About Veterans
How many veterans are there in the United States,
and how many are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender?
There are approximately 25-27 million veterans living
in the United States. Of those, the Urban Institute
estimates that one million are gay or lesbian, based
upon the results of the 2000 Census. Because the census
data is based upon individuals who self-reported living
with a partner of the same-sex in the home, there is
reason to believe that the one million figure is a very
conservative estimate. No study has been conducted that
would be able to effectively estimate the number of
bisexual or transgender veterans. To see the entire
Urban Institute study and understand its methodology,
click here:
What does the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
do?
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, or “VA,”
administers a variety of federal veterans’ benefits,
including health care, pensions, burial benefits, and
other benefits, to veterans, their family members, and
survivors of veterans.
The VA is not subject to “Don’t Ask, Don’t
Tell.” Coming out as a GLBT veteran does not affect
one’s eligibility for the benefits administered
by the VA.
Not all veterans receive VA benefits. Priority is generally
given to those who have service-connected medical conditions
or financial need.
For more details, see http://www.va.gov.
What is a Veterans’ Service Organization?
A VSO is an organization that provides services to
veterans, primarily in the form of assisting veterans
with establishing their entitlement to VA benefits.
Some of the larger VSOs include:
American Legion (http://www.legion.org)
Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) (http://www.vfw.org)
Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA) (http://www.vva.org)
Disabled American Veterans (DAV) (http://www.dav.org)
Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA) (http://www.pva.org).
DAV, in particular, has helped many HIV+ veterans obtain
HIV/AIDS-related health services from VA.
A much larger listing is available on the VA’s
website at http://www1.va.gov/vso/index.cfm?template=view.
Most of these organizations have a chapter-based structure
and fulfill a number of other missions, among them,
camaraderie among veterans within a local area. Many
of them also have a legislative affairs division at
the national level that advocates for increased spending
on VA benefits and various changes to eligibility criteria
for benefits. Some do not limit their mandate to veterans’
issues, advocating as well on various issues regarding
active duty personnel, and even general, cultural issues.
The American Legion, for example, is in favor of a
Constitutional amendment banning flag-burning. Most
of the other VSOs are not quite as culturally conservative
as the American Legion, but many of them came out publicly
against lifting the ban on gays in the military during
the 1993 debates. One organization that was against
lifting the ban in 1993, Jewish War Veterans (http://www.jwv.org),
has recently reversed its stance and now calls for a
repeal of DADT.
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