In one Arkansas city, American Legion post plans gay pride fete

American Legion hoping event dispels perceptions

A Batesville American Legion post will celebrate gay pride this week, signaling a shift in the traditionally conservative veterans organization.

Young veterans have been slow to join the Legion, which many Legionnaires in the state attribute to a perceived lack of inclusion. The Batesville post hopes Tuesday's celebration of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community will begin to change perceptions and attract new members.

"People think we're a bunch of small-minded rednecks," said Colin Brown, who is a member of the American Legion in Batesville. "I'm a little pink behind the ears, but we're certainly not small-minded."

The American Legion is a federally chartered organization whose membership rolls include more than 2 million honorably discharged former military service men and women.

Some individual posts open their doors to the public.

Tuesday's celebration is likely the American Legion's first public LGBT endorsement in Arkansas, state spokesman Keith Dover said. Dover, who was appointed public relations chairman in 2003, said he didn't know of any previous pride events.

Nationally, the Legion denounced gay marriage as recently as 2011 -- months after Congress and President Barack Obama opened the armed forces to openly gay and bisexual people.

"The American Legion supports by resolution the proposition that 'marriage is inscribed in human nature and centered on the voluntary union of a man and a woman in a lifelong covenant' and we oppose all efforts to undermine, alter, or otherwise corrupt the institution of marriage," then-national Commander Jimmie Foster wrote in a letter to the president in 2011.

National Legion spokesman John Raughter said all resolutions opposing same-sex marriage have since been rescinded.

"The American Legion has no position on the topic of same-sex marriage," he said in an email.

Though the Legion's national leaders may have become more accepting when it comes to LGBT issues, the organization operates under a decentralized structure, meaning resolutions can vary among states, cities and even individual posts.

Newly elected state Commander J.W. Smith said Arkansas' Legion doesn't discriminate.

"A veteran is a veteran. We don't discriminate based on race, gender or sexual orientation," he said.

Tuesday's event in Batesville starts at noon at the Legion's Jenkins-Henderson Post 114. Food and drinks will be available, and anyone over age 21 may attend.

The celebration coincides with Christopher Street Liberation Day, which commemorates 1968 riots by the New York City LGBT community after a police raid on a gay bar.

The event also comes just two weeks after a man gunned down 49 people at an LGBT nightclub in Orlando, Fla. Brown said Tuesday's celebration wasn't planned in response to the Orlando shootings, but donations will be collected to send to the American Legion post in Orlando to be used at the discretion of Legionnaires there.

Batesville Post 114 Commander James Olsen said he hopes the event will dispel preconceived notions about the post, especially among the younger demographic.

"Getting younger people involved is definitely a challenge," he said. "This is a really good opportunity for us, for business and to make people aware. I'm sure some people won't quite agree, but that comes with everything."

Other veterans groups also have revised their stances on LGBT inclusion after legislative changes in recent years. The Veterans of Foreign Wars, like the American Legion, opposed the inclusion of homosexual people in the military six years ago.

This year, though, the VFW in Arkansas elected Rosalin Cox, a lesbian, as state commander.

"The whole organization has undergone a strategic change," Arkansas VFW adjutant Christine Oldham said. It's "a change of values, like when women were allowed in [the military]."

LGBT groups welcome the changes. Zack Baker, executive director of Central Arkansas Pride, said inclusion by the American Legion and the VFW can have a positive impact on young members of the LGBT community.

"I think as we move forward, a lot of these groups are becoming more accepting," he said, noting a recent gay pride celebration at Little Rock Air Force Base in Jacksonville. "It's important because we'll eventually stop seeing anti-LGBT legislation. It's very encouraging. We're coming a long way."

Metro on 06/26/2016

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