{"page":"\u003clink rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"https://lessonplanet.com/assets/packs/css/resources-c03aa079.css\" /\u003e\n\u003clink rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"https://lessonplanet.com/assets/packs/css/lp_boclips_stylesheets-517835be.css\" media=\"all\" /\u003e\n\u003cdiv data-title='Service members attending the first-ever convention for gay military personnel say they have received nothing but support or shrugs since coming out at work, nearly four weeks after the U.S. lifted its ban on gays serving openly in the military.' data-url='/boclips/videos/5c54c1b8d8eafeecae1544f6' data-video-url='/boclips/videos/5c54c1b8d8eafeecae1544f6' id='bo_player_modal'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='boclips-resource-page modal-dialog panel-container'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='react-notifications-root'\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-header'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-type'\u003e\n\u003ci aria-hidden='true' class='fai fa-regular fa-circle-play'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\nVideo\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003ch1 class='rp-title' id='video-title'\u003e\nService members attending the first-ever convention for gay military personnel say they have received nothing but support or shrugs since coming out at work, nearly four weeks after the U.S. lifted its ban on gays serving openly in the military.\n\u003c/h1\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-actions'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='mr-1'\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"btn btn-success\" data-posthog-event=\"Signup: LP Signup Activity\" data-posthog-location=\"body_link_boclips\" data-remote=\"true\" href=\"/subscription/new\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan\u003eGet Free Access\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"\"\u003e for 10 Days\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e!\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-body'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-info'\u003e\n\u003cdiv aria-label='Hide resource details' class='rp-hide-info' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u0026times;\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003ci aria-label='Expand resource details' class='rp-expand-info fai fa-solid fa-up-right-and-down-left-from-center' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\n\u003ci aria-label='Compress resource details' class='rp-compress-info fai fa-solid fa-down-left-and-up-right-to-center' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-rating'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='resource-pool'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='pool-label'\u003ePublisher:\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003cspan class='pool-name'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='text'\u003e\u003ca data-publisher-id=\"30356011\" href=\"/search?publisher_ids%5B%5D=30356011\"\u003eCurated Video\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-description'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='short-description'\u003eHEADLINE: Active duty gays attend first conventionCAPTION: Service members attending the first-ever convention for gay military personnel say they have received nothing but support or shrugs since coming out at work, nearly four weeks...\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003cspan class='full-description hide'\u003eHEADLINE: Active duty gays attend first convention\u003cbr/\u003eCAPTION: Service members attending the first-ever convention for gay military personnel say they have received nothing but support or shrugs since coming out at work, nearly four weeks after the U.S. lifted its ban on gays serving openly in the military. (Oct. 17)\u003cbr/\u003e[Location - Date:LAS VEGAS--Oct. 16, 2011]\u003cbr/\u003e[Source:AP]\u003cbr/\u003e(senior Airman Kody Parsons/ Air Force)\u003cbr/\u003e\"i'll say that's it's changed slightly. There are not huge professional changes. I think that it's very important to ensure that nothing changes, for fear of reinforcing the stigma that, 'well now the gays are here, look out.' Forfunately, I've been able to come out to my command.  I've been able to sitdown with them and say hey this is who I am. This is the organization that I'm a part of. What, where do we go from here? And they were 100-percent supportive. It was a non-issue for them.  They, you know, my sexual orientation doesn't have any effect on my ability to do my job and they recognize that. But, I'm also aware that I have a very unique situation. I mean there are places in the military that the command is saying 'oh, I still don't want to hear about it. Don't talk to me about it. Or, if they do know, then there's still a lot of discrimination. But, there is everywhere for every other issue..\u003cbr/\u003e(chief Warrant OFC. Charlie Morgan)\u003cbr/\u003e\"you know they ask me.  You need to deploy with this brigade. I said, 'ok, great, fantastic. I feel great.' Two reasons because one, you know, surviving cancer. Ok, I'm healthy enough to go and then second of all, just very proud to go with that brigade.  Didn't realize how hard it was going to be though, not being able to talk about Karen.  It feels like she was invisible. So, throughout the whole deployment that was hard.  People knew though. I found out later, They really realized.  But, I could talk about our daughter.  But I couldn't talk about her.\u003cbr/\u003e(1st LT. Josh Seefried, Air Force, cofounder, OutServe)\u003cbr/\u003e\"where do we go in the future as far as helping eachother to  make sure that we are that professional association, because I think that what we have to understand here, is that when we look at the future, we have to look to our British counterparts who still don't have one single royal marine out there. We need to create a culture overhere in America, that actually gives people the ability to feel comfortable coming out of the closet. And I think that's what outserve does. During this weekend, I think that's what people got here.  For many people here that had, that had never come out to anyone before. But for the first time ever at the conference came out. And I think that that's what the kind of success we want to see happen.\"\u003cbr/\u003e   LAS VEGAS (AP) _ Chief Warrant Officer Charlie Morgan kept it simple and sweet. She was eight months into a nine-month assignment in Kuwait, and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta had just informed Congress that the U.S. armed forces were ready to integrate openly gay troops.\u003cbr/\u003e   Morgan decided the time was right to come out to her commander. The photograph of her wife and 4-year-old daughter she kept hidden on her desk helped her do it. \u003cbr/\u003e   \"I said, ``Sir, I would like to introduce you to someone. This is my family,\"' Morgan recalled of her July conversation with her boss, an Army colonel leading a 2,400-solider brigade. \"He said, ``Charlie, you have a beautiful family. You know, \"don't ask, don't tell\" prevented me from getting to know you.\"'\u003cbr/\u003e   Nearly four weeks after the U.S. lifted its ban on open service by gay men, lesbians and bisexuals, similar stories of secret-shedding, relief and acceptance were swapped Saturday at the first-ever national convention of gay military personnel on active duty.\u003cbr/\u003e   Each of the 200 or so sailors, soldiers, Marines and airmen attending the conference put on by the formerly clandestine group known as OutServe had, to varying degrees, only recently revealed their sexual orientations at work. None had gotten a reaction worse than a shrug. \u003cbr/\u003e   \"Out of the 4,500 members we have, we haven't had any person come to us about one single problem, which is huge, because right before repeal of ``don't ask, don't tell,' we had tons of problems,\" like investigations and other issues relayed to the Pentagon, said Air Force 1st Lt. Josh Seefried, the group's co-founder. \"But right now, after Sept. 20, there is nothing to relay because everything has been 100 percent positive.\"\u003cbr/\u003e   Senior Airman Kody Parsons, a substance abuse counselor at an Air Force base in Fairfield, Calif., came out to his superiors a week and a half ago because he thought they should know he was attending the OutServe conference.\u003cbr/\u003e   They thanked him for speaking up, supported his trip to Las Vegas and asked him to let him know if they could help in any way. Parsons called it \"a nonevent.\"\u003cbr/\u003e   \"I think it's very important to ensure nothing changes for fear of reinforcing the stigma that, ``Well now that the gays are here, look out,\"' he said. \"My sexual orientation doesn't have any effect on my ability to do my job, and they recognize that.\"\u003cbr/\u003e   Yet the self-selected attendees of the OutServe Leadership Summit know that they are on the front lines of the culture wars. Estimates of the number of gay troops range from 47,000 to 65,000, and with integration so young, there are likely tens of thousands of gay military personnel still serving in silence for fear of harassment or endangering their careers.\u003cbr/\u003e   During a panel discussion called \"Being Out While Being In,\" Michelle Benecke, a former Army battery commander who left the military before \"don't ask, don't tell\" was enacted, called gay Americans serving their country with pride \"the right wing's biggest fear.\" Senior officers, especially, should think long and hard about the positive example they would be setting for all their troops if they demonstrated their first priority was doing their jobs well. \u003cbr/\u003e   \"Because of what you do, you destroy the stereotype about gay people every day, that we are selfish and we are only out for our own gratification. No one can look at you and say that's true,\" Benecke said.\u003cbr/\u003e   At the same time, she said would never presume to tell anyone when and how to make such a personal decision. Revealing one's sexual orientation is an important step, but one that can also produce problems such as tokenism, she said.\u003cbr/\u003e   \"I want to acknowledge up front everybody is kind of in a different place. There are people coming out and have come out right now, and those folks are self-assessing: ``Can I trust this friend? Am I in the kind of command where I can come out?\"' said Benecke, who co-founded Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, a legal aid group for gay troops at risk of being discharge.\u003cbr/\u003e   \"There are other folks that have to go through their own process and have to come to their own conclusions for their own safety and their own circumstance,\" she said.\u003cbr/\u003e   Despite the warm reception she has received from superiors and colleagues, Morgan learned last week that because the military still does not recognize same-sex spouses as dependents, her wife, Karen, will not be allowed to attend an upcoming welcome home ceremony at National Guard headquarters in New Hampshire for deployed troops and their families.\u003cbr/\u003e   Morgan, 47, who spent a dozen years in the Army on active duty and has been in the National Guard for another seven, also is battling breast cancer and is continuing to lobby to have military benefits extended to families like hers so they will be taken care of if she does not survive.\u003cbr/\u003e   \"She deserves the same benefits as any other spouse,\" Morgan said. \"She went through the same stress, fear and concern during my deployment as any other spouse.\"\u003cbr/\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='action-container flex justify-between'\u003e\n\u003cbutton aria-expanded='false' aria-label='Read more description' class='rp-full-description' type='button'\u003e\n\u003ci class='fai fa-solid fa-align-left'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\n\u003cspan id='read_more'\u003eRead More\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/button\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-report'\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv aria-labelledby='resource-details-heading' class='rp-info-section'\u003e\n\u003ch2 class='title' id='resource-details-heading'\u003eResource Details\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-resource-details clearfix'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='detail'\u003e\n\u003cdl\u003e\n\u003cdt\u003eCurator 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