Outserve-SLDN's Leadership Conference Features Big Goals, Top Speakers

What a difference four years makes. As OutServe-SLDN gears up for the 2015 edition of its yearly leadership conference, the nation's leading LGBT service members advocacy organization gives us pause to recall the historic day in the autumn of 2011, when it was finally decided that lesbian, gay and bisexual members of the United States armed services should no longer be expected to hide in the shadows.

Pause over, as this year's conference is happening amid a palpable urgency regarding the need to also secure the right to openly serve in the military for transgender people.

Twenty-year Navy veteran, Kristen Beck, waited until after retiring from a career in a unit defined by exclusivity, extreme difficulty and high public regard before she came out as a transgender woman. Beck, who will be among three featured speakers at the Fourth Annual OutServe SLDN Leadership Conference, is a multiple-medal recipient for service to her country as a member of the ultra-elite SEAL Team Six.

Yet, for all of her accolades, Beck's oft-quoted statement in her 2013 memoir, "Warrior Princess," that no one ever met the real her before she ended her Navy career and began living openly as her true gender, is, in a way, a tragic footnote to the victory won by three of the four components that comprise the LGBT community back in 2011.

The good new is that last month, newly minted secretary of defense, Ashton Carter, said publicly that he didn't see why qualified transgender men and women shouldn't be allowed to serve openly. Now, with the bar set from the top, no group is better positioned or more expected to take the lead in realizing a right Kristen Beck never enjoyed, but which she will no doubt have had a major impact on securing, for her fellow transgender sisters and brothers in uniform.

Make no mistake, however: There will surely be as much resistance to open trans service from some of the same quarters of the far-right who fought viciously to prevent open service by lesbian, gay and bisexual soldiers, Marines, sailors, airmen and guardsmen. Developing strategies and mapping the way forward through that flack and fallout is sure to be a hot topic at this year's conference.

"We are looking forward to our fourth annual leadership conference in San Diego," said Matt Thorn, OutServe-SLDN's interim executive director. "This conference is about producing a global forum [and] creating an environment of respect in the military with regard to sexual orientation and gender identity."

The full lineup of speakers this year includes, Brett Jones, author of "Pride: the Story of the First Openly Gay Seal"; Steve Snyder-Hill, author of "Soldier of Change: From the Closet to the Forefront of the Gay Rights Movement"; Kristen Beck, author of "Warrior Princess: A U.S. Navy SEAL's Journey to Coming Out Transgender"; plus Joan Walsh, MSNBC Political Analyst and Salon.com Editor-At-Large.

In addition to organizing and hosting conferences and lobbying in Washington and in the media for fairness and equality within the armed forces, OutServe SLDN also advocates for service members in navigating the military's massive administrative and legal systems, as well as the bureaucracy that is the Department of Veterans Affairs. The organization also advocates for service members in the U.S. courts system.

One of the group's most frequently requested and delivered advocacy services is winning discharge status upgrades for those who were discharged unfairly under the former "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy. Not only does winning an upgrade from "dishonorable" or "other-than-honorable" potentially mean the difference between receiving V.A. benefits worth thousands of dollars or receiving no benefits; for service members who were discharged for being gay, it also means restoration of their sense of legitimacy and self esteem.

"Our fourth annual conference will bring together attendees who are an honor roll of actively serving and retired service members, advocates, supporters and experts whose efforts have fundamentally changed experiences for LGBT military personnel," Thorn told The Rage Monthly. "With collaborations, such as this, our work for the LGBT community advances far more rapidly."

According to Thorn, the OutServe-SLDN Leadership Conference was created to bring together individuals, over the course of three days, to have discussions on current issues, examine existing concerns, participate in professional networking, share best practices, formulate strategies and "future-plan" for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender military community.

The Fourth Annual OutServe SLDN Leadership Conference takes place from Thursday, March 26 through Sunday, March 29 at the W Hotel in San Diego. For more information, or to register, visit sldn.org