The SiriusXM OutQ News Blog

The gay troops and veterans’ group Servicemembers United has announced it will be facilitating a discussion between the partners of current service personnel and the Pentagon’s Working Group on “don’t ask, don’t tell”.

Servicemembers United Director Alexander Nicholson says it’s meant to be, “an intimiate, direct, informal exchange” to further the Pentagon’s understanding of how the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” will affect military life–on the front lines and at home.

Alex Nicholson: “One of their guiding principles from the beginning has been, we don’t know what we don’t know. So we are kind of are throwing it open and trying to find out as much as possible so we can figure out what it is we need to do and what it is we need to be looking out for and how it is that we can help.”

Nicholson says that the Pentagon group wants to figure out what it will be like for gay servicemembers to come out and how to guide “commanders as they try to manage their units” through the controversial transition. The discussion as Nicholson describes it, will be a “once in a lifetime opprotunity to inform and influence this process.” The privacy of participants will be taken seriously, as the time, date and location of the meeting will not be revealed to the public, nor will the contents of the discussion.

–Rachel Kass