by Ron Rasmussen - Special to the SGN

The Seattle area Veterans Administration is hosting a meeting for LGBTQ military veterans on Friday, February 23 at 10:00 am at the Wounded Warrior Project office, 2200 Alaskan Way, Suite 130. The office is located along the waterfront near the Wall St. parking garage across the street from Anthony's Pier 66 restaurant in Belltown. All LGBTQ veterans are invited to attend.

'This is not the VA of 10 or 15 years ago,' said Mr. Johnnie Hawkins, Legal Administration Specialist with the Veterans Benefit Administration, part of the US Department of Veterans Affairs.

One of the purposes of the meeting is to establish a social network of care for LGBTQ veterans in the Greater Seattle and Puget Sound region as well as provide an opportunity to learn about what services the VA is currently offering to LGBTQ veterans. The VA also hopes to learn how the VA can better serve the underserved population of LGBTQ veterans in the Puget Sound region.

At the meeting, Johnnie will discuss the current array of VA services for LGBTQ veterans, including counseling, benefits, and discharge upgrades. On the medical side, the VA also provides social support groups for LGBTQ veterans, including male, female, trans, and HIV-positive veterans.

Another goal of the meeting is to determine how many medical care providers are seeing veterans in the community in a non-VA setting, and if the providers are asking the right questions when first seeing the veterans.

Also in attendance at the meeting will be a representative of the Washington State Dept of Veterans Affairs.

And at the end of the meeting, Johnnie plans to show a Northwest-made documentary film, Breaking The Silence, about the lives, struggles, and successes of Oregon LGBTQ veterans.

This will be a great opportunity to meet up with other LGBTQ veterans in the Greater Seattle and Puget Sound region and to learn more about what benefits and services the VA can provide you, including, if you suffered the indignity of an unfavorable discharge under 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell,' or prior to DADT, because of your sexual orientation, discharge upgrades.

Mr. Johnnie Hawkins can be reached at 206-341-8593.

Ron Rasmussen is Vice-President of Portland-based Veterans for Human Rights (VFHR) (www.vfhr.org) and also through VFHR helps coordinate the annual Color Guard at the Seattle and Portland Pride Parades.

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