About OutServe:
OutServe is the association of actively-serving LGBT military personnel. With over 5,000 members and 50+ chapters worldwide, it is one of the largest LGBT employee resource groups in the world. OutServe works to support a professional network of LGBT military personnel and create an environment of respect in the military with regard to sexual orientation and gender identity.
OutServe, Inc. is a 501(c)3 tax-exempt organization. All contributions are tax-deductible to the extent prescribed by law.
Read the OutServe Statement
History of OutServe:
In October of 2009 an email was sent by an active duty officer to several friends regarding harassment he was receiving under the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. Within a week, the same friends had launched a website, citizensforrepeal.com which focused on sharing personal stories of people affected by the policy. The same group started an online facebook group that was growing by several hundred a day.
In March of 2010, Citizens For Repeal (CFR) began to take some of the stories on the road to speak at colleges and high schools regarding the DADT policy. After these experiences, CFR began to realize there was a serious lack of representation of LGBT active duty in the discussion to repeal DADT. In order to combat this, CFR started using hidden social media to connect LGBT active duty.
In June the Denver Post released a letter from CFR criticizing the Pentagon for the lack of including LGBT active duty in the process (http://www.denverpost.com/commented/ci_15256223?source=commented-news) This letter received national attention and caught the eye of Senator Udall (D-CO). Shortly after, CFR made the front page again of the Denver Post after facilitating active duty to the media to tell their stories. It had then become clear a new national organization was needed to facilitate active duty on the national scene.
In July of 2010, CFR decided to rebrand as OutServe, the underground network of LGBT active duty. OutServe joined the national scene quickly, as it provided LGBT active duty to the media at an unprecedented rate. Within weeks OutServe began working on the Pentagon’s study to repeal DADT as it was the largest facilitator of the RAND study to survey gay servicemembers.
Up to the repeal signing by the President in December, OutServe continued to aggressively push active duty in the media and launching new campaigns such as videos that featured straight service-members deployed speaking on why DADT needed to be repealed. OutServe’s staff was invited to the Presidential signing of the bill in December.
OutServe will continue to grow as a social and professional support organization for LGBT active duty.
In March of 2011 OutServe announce the first publication of its worldwide magazine and in May of 2011 it announced the first ever OutServe Armed Forces Leadership Summit which took place in Las Vegas, Nevada in October 2011.
For general inquiries, contact outserve@outserve.org
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What people are saying about OutServe…
Never before has Congress passed a law that regulates a group of people and then prohibits individuals from identifying themselves as the very targets of that regulation. Patriotic lesbian, gay and bisexual service-members, like those OutServe represents, deserve to speak for themselves on equal terms. We need their service, and we need their voice.
Tobias Barrington Wolff
Professor of Law, University of Pennsylvania Law School
Your voices already have been crucial to the debate, and will only become more important as we get closer to repeal. Thank you OutServe.
Dan Choi
Thank you, OutServe, for completing the Family Circle. It took courage, and pride.
Jeff Petrie
USNA ‘89, Chair, Service Academy Gay and Lesbian Alumni Association
Outserve is doing what we’ve long waited and hoped for: LGBT service-members are courageously organizing and mobilizing on the inside, and speaking for themselves. No outside civilian organization, think tank, Department of Defense survey, or group of retired officers can accurately capture or fairly represent the hypocrisies of the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy and the daily challenges and nightmares of living under it. I am relieved and excited that service-members have finally taken things into their own hands.
Anu Bhagwati
Executive Director of Service Women’s Action Network (SWAN) and former Marine Corps Captain
OutServe has come to the rescue, and not a moment too soon. Finally, we have a powerful network made up exclusively of currently-serving gay troops, who can talk about ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ from a unique perspective. Let’s get to work.
Aaron Belkin
Director, Palm Center
