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Our job is to measure an increasingly diverse society,
and to do this effectively our workforce has
to reflect that diversity.
I am really thrilled as a champion
for the Rainbow Alliance group
that we have this joint effort w/ the Census Bureau's
Veterans' Group.
As is Executive Director of OutServe-SLDN, the association
of LGBT military personnel, veterans, and families,
Allyson Robinson leads organization's staff
and over 6,500 volunteers in it's mission to empower,
support, and defend LGBT military community,
while working to build a culture of inclusion in Department
of Defense and the Department of Veteran's Affairs.
OutServe and Service Members Legal Defense Network (SLDN)
were on the vanguard of one
of LGBT movement's greatest legislative victories,
something that President Obama considers to be one
of his signature achievements even today
and that is the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell (DADT).
When the celebrations ended and we took stock
of the new military that we helped create,
we realized our work was not over in fact,
it was just getting started.
Our board of directors met here in Washington in early May
of this year to chart a new course,
to plan a new future for our organization.
The result for us is a new mission statement and a new set
of strategic aims that focus not on passing laws
on enacting policies, but on empowering
and supporting LGBT troops, things like providing them
with unique opportunities for professional development,
support, networking at the local, regional,
and national levels building networks of support
for LGBT military families mobilizing
and organizing those service members and their allies
to make unique contributions to the quality of life
of our military communities.
we believe that culture is changed most efficiently not
through campaigns, but through relationships,
people coming out, living out, and giving others the support
and encouragement that they need to do the same.
We're creating an organization for the next 50 years
of the struggle for LGBT equality in this country.
We in the Military have our little way of thanking people
when they do something for you.
So I would like to say thank you.
Thank you sir.
We give people a coin and we do it by shaking hands.
This is the only Federal Civilian Veterans Group coin
in existence.
We need to be inclusive, we need to provide opportunity,
and we need to celebrate our differences, and by doing
that I think we can be a stronger
and more effective Census Bureau.
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