Thursday, July 10, 2014

Dear Military Mental Health Project Supporters,

Since our inception, the Military Mental Health Project have received an overwhelming
amount of requests to give our position on Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual and Transgender personnel
serving in the military. Until this point in time we have never addressed this issue with any
official statement.

On behalf of the Military Mental Health Project, in conjunction with our Board of
Directors, Advisory Board and Staff, I believe that if you serve this country in uniform, you
deserve the benefits, services and respect due all our service members, regardless of race, gender,
ethnicity, sexual orientation or gender identity.

It is imperative that we as an organization lead by example and continue to fight for the
services and benefits that were promised to service members and their families. We stand with
and support our LGBT brothers and sisters in their fight to serve openly without fear of
repercussion. We also fight for the needed legal changes to statute and regulation that will remove
the inequalities that exist with in the policies of the Veterans Administration and Tri-Care
services. Things like Title 38 are legal barriers that are utilized to deny services to veterans and
their families, which in our opinion is unacceptable.

Furthermore, when it comes to the inclusion of Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual and
Transgendered individuals in terms of recruiting and enlistment. We believe that if you want to
serve in the military that you should be given every opportunity to do so, provided you meet the
necessary qualifications. However we do realize that there are many factors that come into play
such as special accommodations and other individually specific issues. Should these issues arise
it is our job to research and implement best practices to ensure they do not become a barrier to
military service.

Our mission is to support, advocate and ensure that every service member and military
family has access to affordable and high quality mental health services. This is our commitment
to everyone; it is also my personal commitment to every veteran, service member and military
family.

In closing, this letter serves as a reminder to our LGBT military community that we are
here for you and will fight to ensure equal treatment as well as to make it clear where we stand as
an organization on this issue. To all veterans, active military and their families, thank you for
your service.

Sincerely,

Jacob Hayward Angel
Founder & Executive Director
Military Mental Health Project