Servicemembers United Announces Launch of MilitaryPartners.org Website to Serve as New Home of 'Campaign for Military Partners'
Initiative FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
05/18/2010
Contact:
Clint King, Director of Programs and Strategic Communications Desk:
202.349.3803 | Cell: 202.834.7659 | Email: cking@servicemembersunited.org WASHINGTON, DC - Servicemembers United, the nation's
largest organization of gay and lesbian troops and veterans and their allies,
today announced the launch of a new online resource to serve the military
partner community - www.MilitaryPartners.org. The
website is designed to serve as the new home for Servicemembers United's "Campaign
for Military Partners" initiative and will provide links to LGBT-inclusive
military resources, a robust blog about the experiences of military partners, a
support forum for military partners, media coverage about the plight of partners,
and more. "The civilian partners of gay and lesbian military
personnel are often forgotten in the debate over the 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'
policy," said Alexander Nicholson, executive director of Servicemembers United.
"These silent heroes must bear all of the same burdens of military family life,
but they are not able to share in the support, benefits, or recognition that
the military provides to the wives and husbands, and even the girlfriends and boyfriends,
of straight troops." Nicholson continued, "Long deployments to warzones can be
especially difficult times for families and loved ones back home, and the
problems are only exacerbated by the difficulties that gay and lesbian couples
face, including isolation and an inability to even communicate with the deployed
partner. Our Campaign for Military Partners initiative has seen a lot of initial
success in reaching out to military partners, and we expect the launch of www.MilitaryPartners.org to
go a long way toward providing more and more support to military partners as
the project grows." The Campaign for Military
Partners grew out of the work of a Military Partners Advisory Group that
Servicemembers United set up in mid-2009 to help the organization's leaders
identify ways to better support the military partner community. The Campaign's
mission is to reach out to, recognize, connect, and support the civilian
partners of active duty LGBT military personnel. For more information about the Campaign for Military
Partners, please go to www.militarypartners.org. For
more information on Servicemembers United, please visit www.servicemembersunited.org. ### Servicemembers United, a
non-profit and non-partisan organization, is the nation's largest organization
of gay and lesbian troops and veterans and their allies. Based in Washington,
DC, Servicemembers United actively engages in education, advocacy, and lobbying
on issues affecting the gay military, veteran, and defense community. | 
