VA Commitment to Minority
Vets:
Why Not Us?
Danny Ingram
President,
American
Veterans For Equal Rights |
|
The United States
Department of Veterans Affairs, the “VA”, maintains a
Center for Minority Veterans (CMV), which employs
Minority Veterans Program Coordinators (MVPC) and
Minority Veterans Liaisons at both the national and
local level to coordinate outreach for designated
veteran minority groups. According to the CMV’s website,
their “vision” states “dignity and
an acceptable quality of life are the products we seek
to deliver to ALL [their emphasis] veterans no matter
what their circumstance.” In addition, the CMV’s
”outreach” section includes “CMV is
charged with identifying barriers to service and health
care access, as well as increasing local awareness of
minority veteran related issues by developing strategies
for improving minority participation in existing VA
benefit programs,” and “supporting and initiating
activities that educate and sensitize internal staff to
the unique needs of minority
veterans.”
According to the
CMV’s site, Public Law 103-446, sec 510, November 2,
1994, created an Advisory Committee on Minority Veterans
which would consist of, among others, “representatives
of veterans who are minority group members.” The
committee reports directly to the Secretary of Veterans
Affairs, and the law mandates that the Secretary will
prepare an annual report to Congress that will include
“an assessment of the needs of veterans who are minority
group members with respect to compensation, health care,
rehabilitation, outreach, and other benefits and
programs administered by the Department.” Currently the
term “minority group member” is specifically defined as
“Asian Americans, Black, Hispanic, Native Americans
(including American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native
Hawaiian) or Pacific-Islander American.” The Center’s
Vision Statement says the CMV will “ensure
all veterans receive equal service regardless of race,
origin, religion, or gender”, even though these
characteristics are clearly not covered in the
“minority group member” classification. In a section
entitled “Who We Serve”, the CMV further states “first
and foremost our staff is dedicated to serving all
veterans regardless of race or ethnicity.” Again, a
statement well beyond the designated “minority
group member” classification.
Why would the VA create and maintain the Center for
Minority Veterans? Without saying as much, clearly there
have been problems with “minority” veterans receiving
benefits from the VA. These problems could include lack
of access to information, regional isolation, or
prejudice against these groups by employees of the VA.
The CMV has also been successful in identifying
opportunities for non-traditional approaches to minority
veteran healthcare, such as the use of Native American
“mind-body-spirit” healing practices (meditation, fire
ceremonies, drumming sessions and sweat-lodge
purification ceremonies), building relationships with
Native Tribal Health Organizations, identifying minority
“at-risk” groups for drug and alcohol abuse, ensuring
that VA staff reflect the diversity of the populations
they serve, mandating local town hall meetings to listen
to the needs of minority veterans, and the development
of diversity and inclusion strategic plans at the
highest levels of the VA. Reading between the lines,
there are a host of reasons why the CMV was created to
ensure that minority veterans receive full access,
sensitivity, respect, and outreach. The Center’s website
states
“we acknowledge the diversity of our veterans and
profoundly value the strength and unique character this
diversity has contributed to our great Nation.” Why
then, a lack of the obvious? Why does the CMV not have
an official
Minority Veterans Liaison
for the group that has been and continues to be the most
disenfranchised and ostracized group in the history of
the US military: LGBT veterans?
In June, 2009, out of the blue, I received an invitation
as AVER Regional VP to attend the 10th
biennial
Minority Veterans Program Coordinators conference in
Atlanta. I was invited to attend the conference by
Dwayne E. Campbell, at the time the Veterans Outreach
Coordinator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid
Services, and now the CMV’s Veteran Liaison for Hispanic
American veterans. I still don’t know how Mr. Campbell
knew about AVER, but his invitation was an important
recognition that the VA was preparing to reach out to
LGBT veterans before the DADT ban was repealed. The
conference included MVPCs from all over the nation, as
well as representatives from numerous Veterans Service
Organizations. I attended a group discussion that
included national staff from the CMV. When I introduced
myself and explained AVER’s mission I received a large
applause from the attendees. In attendance was Lucretia
McClenney, then Director of the CMV. I asked her how a
minority group became one of the official groups
recognized by the CMV. The Director responded that “it
would take an act of Congress.” Literally.
Two
years ago I wrote an article following my attendance at
a meeting of the Pentagon’s DADT Repeal Implementation
Team concerning the DOD’s strategy not to include LGB
service members as a “protected class” in the Military
Equal Opportunity (MEO) Program. For a number of reasons
the DOD felt that gay, lesbian, and bisexual service
members did not need the protection of the MEO, which “seeks
to eliminate unlawful discrimination and sexual
harassment against military members, family members, and
retirees based on race, color, sex, national origin, or
religion.” While this decision by the DOD has its own
dire consequences on the ability of active duty LGB
service members to seek protection against
discrimination, it also affects the VA. At the Repeal
meeting a representative of the VA clearly stated that
the VA "would be following the DOD's lead" on this
issue. In other words, no “minority” designation for LGB
veterans by the VA. And certainly not for Transgender
service members, who still cannot serve openly in the US
military. The Coast Guard, which is under the Department
of Homeland Security and not the DOD, does include LGB
service members as a designated class in its
non-discrimination and minority protection policies.
The
VA is working to develop outreach to LGBT vets.
Patient Care Services, which oversees clinical programs
that support and improve Veterans' health care, now
includes two part-time Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and
Transgender (LGBT) Program Coordinators. These LGBT
Program Coordinators lead clinical training efforts on
LGBT health care, respond to queries from the field of
VA providers on LGBT clinical issues, and advise Patient
Care Services on policies and procedures relevant to VHA
in providing high, quality and culturally-competent
clinical care to LGBT Veterans. The LGBT Program
Coordinators also work with other VA Offices such as
Health Equity and the Employee Education System.
Patient Care Services is not
associated with the Center for Minority Veterans, and
does not perform outreach to LGBT prior service members
within the veteran community outside the VA. The
Atlanta VA Medical Center has designated two individuals
as LGBT/A [Allies] Special Emphasis Program Co-Managers,
but neither of these individuals is devoted full time to
the support of LGBT vets.
Is
there a need within the VA to designate direct support
services to LGBT veterans? Absolutely. Many veterans who
were discharged prior to DADT for any reason related to
“homosexuality” were usually given a Less Than Honorable
(LTH) discharge. Most discharges under DADT were
Honorable, but in some cases if the discharge involved
“conduct” the service member may have received a Less
Than Honorable discharge. These discharges prevent
veterans from accessing VA healthcare services. LTH
discharges involving LGBT service members can now be
upgraded to allow access to the VA, but this process can
be lengthy and expensive. The Discharge Review Boards
that are responsible for this action are part of the
DOD, and not the VA, but the VA could certainly be
active in helping vets get their discharges upgraded and
could begin offering services to vets while the upgrade
is in process.
Other services that the VA could target to LGBT veterans
include HIV prevention, hormone and counseling therapy,
and treatment for the highly documented “double PTSD”
experienced by many LGBT vets as a result of the
tremendous stress of maintaining a false identity while
serving in the military. Further town hall sessions and
research could define further issues specific to LGBT
prior service members that the VA could begin to address
in a more dedicated effort.
In
short, there is a strong need and clear precedent for
adding an LGBT outreach to the VA’s CMV program. A
Veterans Service Organization such as AVER can go a long
way in helping LGBT veterans secure services from the
VA, especially if we are able to tap into grant funds
that can allow us the resources to assist our vets in
overcoming the obstacles that prevent us from getting
the full healthcare services we have earned. AVER is
currently in the early process to secure such funding,
and assistance in writing grant proposals will be
extremely useful to helping us help our veterans fully
access the VA. But we can’t go it alone. AVER calls upon
Congress to designate LGBT veterans as a recognized
minority group so that the CMV can help our vets
overcome the long-standing barriers that prevent prior
service members from leading full, healthy lives by
accessing the VA care we deserve.
© 2013 Gay Military Signal