 My name is Alex Stark and I'm a senior researcher at New America. I am delighted to welcome you virtually to New America today. For the past several years now, we at the new models of policy change initiative at New America have been just thrilled to partner without national security on their LGBTQIA plus out in national security leadership list, including this year. I'm increasingly convinced that we simply cannot do the work of national security without placing equity at the center of our work. DEI is not just nice to have it's essential. And our country and our democracy can't be safe if any community is not safe. We can't have equitable security policies if our government institutions don't look like America. I'm going to introduce our moderator for the first part of the event. Jesse Salazar is a dear friend about national security. He's a supply chain and industrial production expert. He recently served as deputy assistant secretary of defense for industrial policy, where he led the creation of DoD's first supply chain resilience plan in more than a generation. He secured more than 6 billion in additional budget support for building us defense industrial capacity capabilities, notably the domestic production of semiconductor battery chemical shipbuilding and strategic and critical materials. And then the revitalization of the national defense stockpile, which has become an area of significant bipartisan cooperation with the civilian rank of a three star he was also the highest ranking career person of color at the Pentagon. And he was a vocal advocate for greater inclusivity. So with that I'm going to turn it over to you Jesse. I really appreciate the partnership between out national security and New America. It's really my pleasure to be here today to celebrate our 2022 out in national security list. In addition to our out leaders today we're going to have a discussion with two members of Congress, who have worked really hard to ensure that the national security enterprise really reflects the United States. Marshall is the full resources of the country on behalf of national security and make sure that all of us can feel safe in our communities as we are and contribute to national security. So we are going to be operating a little bit in live territory because Senator Murphy is making his way from the Senate floor, but I'm really thrilled that he's going to be joining us. Some of you may know that Senator Chris Murphy is the senator from Connecticut, and he's now in his second term and is the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security. And he sits on the committee on foreign relations and the Health Education Labor and Pensions Committee as well. And prior to representing Connecticut in the Senate he served three terms in the US House, representing Connecticut's fifth district. I know Senator Murphy from his strong support of sustainable inclusive growth in the defense industrial base. He was an early advocate for getting rid of adversaries technologies and our supply chains. And he's also been a big champion for revitalizing core defense production capabilities, and tended to make sure that our men and women in uniform, have every possible resource and every possible advantage. He's particularly been working to modernize shipyards and ensure that they're creating family sustaining jobs. And as context for those who may not know this, we're in a pretty unique moment. I know all of us have been hungry for action on the subject of gun safety since we've had so many tragic shootings, and notably of children, and it is truly remarkable that after 10 years of fighting on behalf of all Americans to get more gun safety in this country. Senator Murphy has been leading the development of a bipartisan gun safety bill that was voted on in the Senate and passed with 64 votes. I believe that the cloture vote is happening as we speak. I'm really grateful that Senator Murphy has decided to be with us during Pride month to celebrate the achievements of the LGBT QIA plus community. And I actually can't see from the interface whether or not Senator Murphy has been able to join us yet so I hope so. And if not maybe Alec Johnson has senior military LA will be able to join us. Okay, so we're going to in the spirit of a live event keep going and Alec please let us know when the senator has arrived from the votes. It looks like he'll be here in about 30 seconds. So in the meantime, I'm wondering if Luke can join us for a moment to talk briefly about some of the achievements of on us over the last year. So on us over the last year has spent a lot of time investing in community we are expanding our staff. We have a regular monthly briefing on Ukraine. And later this year will be launching our own mentorship program we continue to partner with Representative Castro's office to pass the love act. And we do a variety of other activities to shape and expand this community including interacting with industry and academia. Senator I hope you don't mind. We gave your introduction to make sure that we were maximizing the time with you. And I think first and foremost on behalf of the group. I want to thank you for what you're doing in championing the bipartisan gun safety bill. I think many of us have been shedding tears for far too long for people who have died from gun violence. And your leadership on this is truly appreciated so thank you for taking time away from from that effort to be with us for a moment so with that I'm going to turn it over to you to give opening remarks. Well Jesse thank you very much for the introduction I'm sorry I missed it but a big thanks also to Alex and Luke for putting this event together and I'm sorry that I've thrown off your timing we are literally in the middle of our closure vote on the gun safety bill in the Senate. Unfortunately only to be able to be with you for a moment before I have to get back up to the pending vote. But I'm so grateful that you've organized this event that you're placing a focus on not just pride month but on the importance of diversity and inclusion in our foreign policy and in our public certain public servant core. And obviously this is, you know, of critical importance to me, I, you know, just some heartbroken surveying the waterfront of American politics today to see this brazen public attempt to roll back what has been decades of progress on LGBTQ rights. It's out in the open in a way that we could have never expected as the as a father, the way in which our LGBTQ and non binary transgender kids are being targeted today by adults is absolutely disgusting and I went down to the floor, several months ago to call out my colleagues for what is just a inexcusable unconscionable hateful campaign of discrimination. But I also know that we still have immense progress to make when it comes to diversity and public service and in those who serve America abroad. I'm proud to be here in the United States in our national security infrastructure I'm proud of the fact that the Biden administration has over and over again. Insured LGBT rights, the number of announcements and executive orders that the administration has taken, I think it's impressive. And we need to understand right that the, the value of our example as a nation is our commitment to diversity, equality, and inclusion right that is the reason why America has been strong in the world has never been just the power of our military might or the diplomatic might it is an example that we have set is a decision that we have made in this country to bring from all over the world people of different faiths and backgrounds and nationalities. And then inside the United States to celebrate our differences and to make these heroic decisions to overcome legacies of discrimination, and that applies to African Americans and migrants but also to LGBTQ individuals, and it's, and it's that willingness to be open in that struggle but also our commitment to do better year after year, which has been this model, this beacon of hope for the rest of the world other nations are have been stuck for generations. In their fights between ethnic groups or religious groups on the United States has shown our ability to get better to be better. And that's why this is this critical moment right now we're here in the United States and it feels as if right there's a big sizable loud portion of the American public which wants to retreat from those gains on workplace rights for LGBTQ workers on our gains when it comes to marriage equality on the progress we've made for LGBTQ non binary kids. So we've got work to do here to remember that America's greatness is very much tied into the example we set, but we also know that if we are going to fight on behalf of LGBTQ rights around the world, then we need to have a workforce that is representative of the American public is diverse, and that we have LGBTQ diplomats and national security professionals that are out there on the front lines, representing the United States because, you know, as we know today, there are still 70 countries in this world that in some way shape make homosexuality illegal criminalize it in many respects, and it is in our interest right as the as the strongest voice for human rights and civil rights to be leading the efforts to push back against those discriminatory laws and we best do that. When we have a diplomatic or a national security core that is representative of America and includes LGBTQ leaders at the top of our diplomatic military and national security ranks. So I'm thrilled to join you for just a few minutes today and offer my support for the work that you've undertaken I actually have been part of a couple groups that were working during the transition to sort of open up this commitment to diversity and inclusion as we transition from one administration to the next and I'll be looking forward to additional ways that we can continue to partner together so again very sorry for my brief appearance here today I've got to go back upstairs and make sure that we are locking down our bipartisan vote in favor of an anti gun violence measure, but again super grateful to Luke and Alex for pulling this together and looking forward to working with you in the future. Thank you very much. And of course we want that to be successful. Is there anything we can do to support the bipartisan gun safety consensus. You know it's it's it's I think about to land in the next couple minutes so we are. We're really hopeful we'll have a big bipartisan vote I'm very thankful to our Republican partners the work with John Cornyn and Tom tell us did in bringing this bill to fruition reinstilled my my faith in this place and we're still very much broken in many ways but we have showed on this, maybe the most vexing of political issues. There's confronted Congress in the last 30 years that we have it. We still have the ability to work we still have the ability to do big things and. And listen let's be honest, as we have seen you know connecting this back to the conversation you're having as we have seen hate crimes increase against people based on their gender identity or sexual orientation. The proliferation of weapons of firearms in this country this massive expansion of the number of firearms in this country poses specific threat to gay lesbian transgender non binary people and kids and specifically we obviously saw what happened in Orlando and that happens almost every day in this country. In one way shape or form so when we talk about our fight for gun safety, we are obviously looking to protect every individual in this country that is subject to violence but we have to acknowledge that with this kind of permissive environment when it comes to hateful rhetoric and discriminatory rhetoric against individuals based on their sexual orientation gender identity we've got an even higher responsibility to protect populations that have been targeted by violence repeatedly with stronger gun laws. Absolutely. And do you have time for a for a quick question I just don't know your. I do I have time for one question and I got to get back upstairs. Maybe I'll build off what you mentioned around inclusivity as a national strength because some of America's adversaries have programmatic hate and discrimination efforts against LGBT people. They enable violence against LGBT people they cause violence against LGBT people they have banned a feminine men from television. There is an ongoing effort, I think, from some of our adversaries to limit their ability to include new populations religious minorities but I'd love to hear your views on how America's diversity leads to a stronger position in the world and enables our diplomacy and the, the, the opportunities that we have with allies. You know, we, we have long sort of talked about the need to both walk the walk and talk the talk, but we, we forget very often that our diplomats abroad cannot be effective if countries believe that we are talking out of both sides of our mouth. I mean, how do you, how do you push for LGBTQ equality and rights overseas when one of the biggest states in this nation is passing legislation essentially banning conversations about sexual identity and gender identity in school. And so it just hamstrings our efforts to do this work abroad, when we are either sort of just stuck in status quo mode in the United States, or we are in some parts of the country, moving backwards. Of course that applies to our democracy promotion right when when our democracy is weak when we are not standing up for the right for every individual in this country to be able to vote and have their vote counted, makes it very hard for us to go around the world and try to change those minds and empower democracy advocates abroad. So, you know, for me, I think there has been an increasing separation between the way that we live our values here in the United States, and the way that we promote values abroad and that certainly is true when it comes to the rights for LGBTQ individuals. And so I think it's just a reminder that there is there's no distance between domestic policy and foreign policy. Well, Senator, on behalf of out in national security the new America Foundation, thank you so much for joining us. We really appreciate your support of the LGBTQ plus community, as well as the broader national security ecosystem. So thank you so much. Thanks a lot, just appreciate it. Thank you everyone. As we reflect and celebrate on the progress that we've made as a community this pride month. We're also doing that in the midst of a resurgence of animosity that has come in the form of more than 200 anti trans bills across the country. The laws restricting clear inclusion and education spaces, and others. I'm curious, Rachel, if you wouldn't mind joining me on on screen to discuss some of these issues. What do you see as the issues that are driving the behavior that we're seeing and how do you think we can address some of these issues as a country. Thank you so much, Jesse. For those who may just be joining my name is Rachel Thomas, I am a US Navy veteran. And I worked in the Office of Global Women's Issues Department of State for about three years, as well as special envoy Jessica Stern for LGBTQI plus rights. I have a very question in terms of understanding that we still are only a decade or so past repeals of some of these extremely damaging laws right when we talk about don't ask don't tell in the military, we look at the Depends of Marriage Act. Celebrating, I believe the 10th anniversary of the repeal of don't ask don't tell. So there's a lot of people now who still remember and have as like as I have served under don't ask don't tell. So those sorts of the resurgence of a lot of this anti trans homophobic, even sexist racist legislation and and rhetoric is really backlashing and backsliding any of the work that has been done so far on on being able to make it more inclusive than the US military, for example, looking at even the anti trans in the military ban, sorry, the transgender in the military ban, as well as now finally looking at passing the Love Act to allow for those who were who were discharged because of being LGBTQI plus to finally get recognition and finally be able to to have the, the benefits that were taken away from them might also be interested in hearing your thoughts Jesse. Well, I am extremely concerned about all of this increase in hate. And I think that the national security space provides a unique community to lead the country, there is still enormous respect for men and women and military and uniform. Our service members continue to enjoy widespread goodwill. I think at the end of the day, you know, the, the success of the military and the defense ecosystem in the US is an area of significant bipartisan cooperation. So when I was in the Pentagon, I was always very impressed by the way that not only did people come together on issues like the defense industrial base and creating workforce opportunities, but they were willing to figure out how we can make the military more effective and virtually every way. And there were almost all bipartisan meetings with the committee. Very rarely did you find, you know that you just met with the Democrats who just met with the Republicans because there was such a shared desire to model that bipartisanship in the activities of of the hill and I think that that's a big wind at the back for the cause of inclusion. I know that we have our next speaker but I wanted, if you wouldn't mind Rachel for you to just say a little bit as well about what's happening to create greater equality for women in the military right now. What should people be looking out for. One of the things that that people should be looking out for is, we are finally getting to the point Jesse as you talked about representation, and this is talking about representation both in the diversity standpoint LGBT QIA plus folks by pop black women as people of color black and brown folks, and women in the United States military we finally start to look at some of the barriers that have been unintentionally for the most part, keeping women and keeping a lot of this representation from the higher levels, but now as we sort of see these higher levels of of ranks is higher ranking people come in these problems and these issues are now getting the addressing that they need. I also will say that a lot of support from members of Congress in the Senate, getting some of the sexual assault and military trauma bills past getting these things up to the level of the American people where they should be seen has been a really big help and I just want to extend from myself at least as a Navy veteran the gratitude of of the people who continuously push to make sure that no one is left behind, and that we are all sort of in this together. And I think that there are going to be some big things that are coming we have women that are serving in in all the areas of combat different things like that and now we are trying to look at how we can let non binary people live without using a lot of gendered terms and things of that nature so I am very optimistic for the future. We still have quite a long ways to go but but there's nothing in the world without optimism and hope. All right, well thank you for that and I'm sure that will be a fertile ground for discussion that we can have later this year on focus just on some of these issues and what we as an organization can do to move them forward. I'd like to welcome representative Joaquin Castro to this year's celebration of out leaders and new voices representative Castro is now in his fifth term representing the Texas 20th district. He serves as chairman of the subcommittee on international development, international organizations and global corporate social impact on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and also sits on the house permanent select intelligence. He's an outspoken advocate for diversity and national security and a long running out national security partner. Congressman, I should tell you that there's a text group of more than 200 Latin appointees. This week, I was really thrilled to see so much love for your reintroduction of the Love Act, meant to right historical wrongs by the State Department, and by merit for LGBTQIA plus Americans to join the Civil and Foreign Service in the future. We'd love to learn more about how you became such a staunch ally of our community, and we'd love to hear what it means to you to celebrate pride and support those who are out in national security. Thank you for joining. Thank you for your role. It's great to be with you Jesse and I think Luke is going to moderate the conversation and that's right or join on or, and just thank you to everybody. All right. Thank you to everybody who's part of this group and who's organized people across the federal government on the issues of protecting the LGBTQIA community. It's San Antonio, Texas and for those of you that are familiar with San Antonio, certainly anybody that's been in the Air Force and gone through basic training at Lackland, you know that it is it's known as military city USA, because it's a heavy military town, and people who have served. But along the way there. There are also people, African Americans, Latinos, others whose service was not always honored. And you know I grew up in a family that was very involved in the Mexican American civil rights movement in Texas. And so I stayed at to mean that I grew up in a family that really spoke up for vulnerable communities in in whatever walk of life or whatever area. We believe people were vulnerable and people are being taken advantage of and bullied and marginalized. And so I've tried to take that work beyond just representing my community that 64% Mexican American, but but also in speaking up for other communities as well. And as you all know, there have been a lot of victories over the last many years for many different communities, including this one. But as we look around the states, including my home state of Texas states like Florida. And we also see that there are many folks that would want this country to regress and go backward. And so, you know, I think many folks in the country thought that after the marriage equality decision that everything was going to go. Okay, that every that the most of the fight was over, but we've seen that that's not the case. We still have a lot of work to do, including a national security and the State Department. And myself and David Sicilini and others, I have proposed the love act, which would right a historical wrong. You know the lavender scare of the 1950s equated essentially being gay with being a communist, and people were expelled from the State Department and other service in federal government unjustifiably. And, you know, and so the love act tries to remedy that and also tries to remedy the situation where the spouses of our diplomats are treated unequally to the spouses of diplomats who are in heterosexual marriages. You know and so in the love act we try to address that as well. It's an issue that still lingers unfortunately that there's disparate treatment for same sex spouses. And so we take that on as well. Well thank you very much for that you know my my husband is someone who's devoted more than 20 years to the intelligence community and served and over the course of that time. You know I've seen the stories of LGBT people in the defense and national security space, more or less erased from public discussion. So, I'll just mention that there was one movie about a pretty important national security moment, where the gay man who was there and and part of the documented you know effort was replaced by a woman because there was a perception that you didn't want in Hollywood these stories of queer people being told as part of these all American stories. Although you know there has been so much effort on this this front, you know I'd love to hear your views on how we can be more active in telling the stories of the LGBT community, especially in national security and recognizing some of the achievements of LGBT people. Well first I think y'all are doing a wonderful job. I think being organized is the first thing I think in any cause and any movement. Being organized and being proud, and this group does all of that, you know and so and I would say also continue to press your legislators on being supportive, and not just being supportive privately, or when you go and meet with them and you know, you know, it's not just about legislation, but also supporting legislation filing legislation filing amendments to bills, and all of these things. So that we can actually attack the legal barriers the legislative barriers that are still out there. As I mentioned and you you mentioned a bit of history, going back and writing historical wrongs. I don't think that that seemed consequential you know I posted I guess in the last five days or so that we were doing this bill and how important was I gave a little bit of the background of the lavender and there were a few comments of people, you know who said like we're basically like why are you looking backward or there's more pressing issues going on. I think that we could do more than one thing at once. Right, you can go back and work on writing historical wrongs and also realize that you're that that's correct that there are a lot of present day challenges that remain, and that we should take those on as well. But for all of it, it requires, at least when you're talking about cooperation for changing law, it requires the active work, not just the passive agreement but the active work of members in the House and in the Senate. And so your work of, you know, of reminding people about the importance of the issue but also being able to reach out to legislators is especially important. And David and so many others Dina Titus there's so many folks that have been great about it on the House side, and I know Chris Murphy and others on the Senate side as well. Well, thank you very much for that I know it's a it's a constant effort and it's made much easier by the support of strong allies like yourself. I was wondering if we could pivot a little bit of the conversation to the work that you're doing in foreign affairs in international development and with international organizations in that role as chairman. You have a really unique vantage point into how these global conversations on human rights are evolving. What do you consider to be the big opportunities for us to advance LGBT rights as human rights. And I'd also like to thank you because I've seen that you have numerous times unequivocally stated that LGBT rights are human rights and so thank you for that. Yeah, absolutely. Well, let me start with one that I think I mean they're all important but one that I think that our government should be advocating for right away. I think that our embassy should be allowed to take the position in the current in our indifferent nations, where we have embassies and ambassadors which is obviously most of the nations around the world that we support, allowing for same sex marriage. So far, that's not been the official position of the US government, you know, at best we just kind of leave it alone. And I think our embassies and our ambassadors and our diplomats should be able to go out there and say this is an American value, and it's something we support, and we encourage our host countries again where we're where folks are stationed to support it as well. And even in part of the reason I say that is, even if you don't win the day in terms of convincing all the countries in the world to change their policy. It lets them know that this is an important thing for the United States. And I also think that it makes them think twice about being so harsh and, you know, severe in some of these nations against LGBTQ plus people. So whatever role we can play in doing that, you know, I support, but I would say that, making sure that there is a permanent position, you know, I help support the appointment of Jessica Stern, for example, making sure that there is a permanent position for somebody who is doing that advocacy within the State Department and within the federal government. You know, but you also have the legislation that Dina Titus has proposed the Globe Act and the Global Respect Act that David Cicillini has, you know, and so there's plenty of work that remains to be done. So as you look around the world, the landscape for how same sex marriage in particular is treated, but for how the LGBTQ plus community is treated is very different around the world. And so we're dealing with very different situations. But what I think that we need to do is somebody who heads up this subcommittee on international organizations, international development is as the United States use all the leverage we can to establish a baseline of respecting human rights and making sure that people are not being mistreated because of who they are. That is the minimum I think that we should do, not just what we should stand for and you know hey it's great the United States stands for this, but that we should actively advocate for and pursue in our foreign policy, and with our diplomats wherever their station. Well thank you for that. And I have to confess to you that I did not know that this subcommittee also covered corporate social impact. So I'd love to hear your views on that subject as well I mean so many companies this month are embracing LGBT pride. They've turned their logos into rainbows. A lot has been said about this on the internet but I think at the end of the day, you know we're happy to have powerful institutions, you know support LGBT quality push for greater LGBT quality. What kind of activity are you seeing from them on the world stage. And is there something more that needs to be done. You know that is a great question. First, let me start if I if you allow me domestically, right. Because we've got work to do in our own country when you have the governor of Florida going after Disney for you know its positions. And so first making sure that in the United States corporations are not punished for supporting this community. It's an important thing here in the United States, but then going and looking around internationally, you know asking corporations to be adversaries and to be ambassadors for the positivity of this community of the LGBTQ plus community and supporting because sometimes what you'll have with corporations is that they'll do one thing in the United States and then do something entirely different somewhere else or become very shy, right about what they do in other places. And because you know they're trying to conform to the market over there. Right. But what we've tried to do in our conversations with different companies is let them know that you all are a respected brand not only here but over there in different places, and that what you do over there matters, and that that we want to see something else besides just going along to get along. You know, and, and actually stand up for the communities that you're celebrating here in the United States, and, and not just celebrating but as we just saw with Juneteenth, where there was a debate about about the commercialization now of Juneteenth, not just celebrating but often making money off of as well. Right. And so, you know that's what we've tried to instill in some of the companies that we that we've talked to whether it's through the business round table or other groups that they have a lot of power as well. Yeah, it's funny when I was on, I don't know, maybe 21 or 22 I was in Lima my family's Peruvian, and I went to my first Lima Peru gay bar, and I remember people thought that it was amazing that so many people were allowed to go out into the streets and to celebrate being queer in the United States and, and it was such a stark reminder of what a beacon we can be when we embrace diverse populations and give people a chance to have fun and be themselves and enjoy and I know that you know that was made possible by a lot of fighting and a lot of protesting and a lot of organizing on behalf of the community. But I think you know the history of our community shows us that we will stand strong and continue to advocate for our own own equality. You know in that vein, I'm curious to know what's going on with the Equality Act and where you think it's it's going to go I know you've been a strong supporter. There's hope at the beginning of the administration that it would get passed but I haven't heard much about it lately. What's going on. Now you're right. Me look, let me step back for a second. A little bit of a bird's eye view and then talk about, you know, the importance of the Equality Act, but you know I, I share disappointment that on different issues. Remember, Democrats have the White House, the Senate, even though it's very close in the Senate, we saw the filibuster, and we have control of the House. There hasn't been movement on some issues and pieces of legislation that I think a lot of us thought perhaps we had a good chance of accomplishing you know I'll start with another one off topic here on immigration right I thought this was this would be a great opportunity for us to finally do something on immigration on police reform as well on guns that look gun reform looks like a piece of it is finally going to get done. But then also on things like the Equality Act and making sure that that gets fully passed. And the importance of it can't be overstated, particularly in the climate that we're going into now, you know, not to delve too much into partisan politics, but I can help but look at what I hear from some of our more conservative Republican candidates and representatives and be concerned about the direction that they're headed and the communities that they're targeting, including the LGBTQ community. You know, in addition to the issue of race and racism. The anti LGBTQ sentiment, and how it's used to drum up political support is incredibly disturbing and incredibly troubling at this time. So legislation like the Equality Act, all of the protections that we can put into law, they actually matter. Right. Those make a difference, you know, so we'll keep pushing. All right, well thank you for that. We do have a question from the audience which is how do you balance addressing immediate national security issues and concerns with advocating for long term progress and equality at home. And I think this is so so salient right now because I think a lot of us have been very inspired by what's been happening in the Ukraine with the Ukrainian people developing units of unicorn soldiers to go out and fight and support that have been incredibly incredibly successful and really rally behind the diversity of their nation and the full defense of the Ukraine. Obviously that has been, you know, the top of mind issue lately in national security. But we're also trying to balance that with pressing ahead on on some of the long term strategic issues so would love to know your view on on where we can find that balance. I mean, look, it's a great question because, you know, as I'm in my 20th year of public service right so I served 10 years in the state legislature in Texas and Austin and now I'm on my 10th year here in Congress. And at the beginning of every term, especially I kind of plot out the issues and the things that I want to work on that are often long term things right long term structural change or change that where you really got to delve in there and it's like a years long effort. And then they're, they're always events or very urgent things that come up. Right, I'll give you another example I represent San Antonio, and the massacre in Uvaldi happened almost a month ago now, right that immediately draws your attention away from often what is going on longer term or at least kind of, you know, forces you understandably to pay immediate and almost constant attention to an issue. Right, I would put the war in Ukraine, obviously different than what happened in Uvaldi but in the same way that events in national security that sometimes will draw all your attention and almost in a constant way for a while. But we have to be able to keep the long term view and work on those long term issues as well and breaking down these barriers and keeping people from being marginalized and bullied and so on and so forth because of who they are is a long term issue that we've got to continue to work on. And I've also been mindful over the years, you know, that sometimes people will try to you will try to pit those two things against each other. Whenever you try to work on something that that that is important is a continuing problem but it's also taking longer to solve. There are folks who will jump on you and say why aren't you paying attention to this right like why aren't you only paying attention to this right we also can't succumb to that. Because it's often coming from the people whose voices mean, you know, I really just don't want you to work on that other thing because I disagree with it. Okay, so I'm going to use this very important event or this very important thing to try to keep you from working on these longer term issues right. So we've got to be mindful of that and I believe that we can do all of these things at once. Right. You can take a care of the the immediate sometimes life threatening issues, but also work on the issues of civil rights and human rights, that you've got to be able to attend to and solve in the long term. Absolutely. You know when I was at the Pentagon, we were about to launch this massive cybersecurity program for the defense industrial base, but the secretary needed someone to go and talk about diversity in the military in Atlanta. And I remember that, you know, well, we were launching this big program that I've been working on for six months. I simultaneously had to write a 35 minute speech about the importance of diversity in the defense. And, you know, this is I think something that falls on all of us right as as LGBT people as Latinos that we have to represent in everything we do I mean we had plenty to do on cyber and supply chains but no matter what we do we're always pushing and always trying to create more opportunities for our community. And I really thank you because you really embody those principles and I've seen it time and time again. And you don't know this but I used to travel a lot out of BWI and I used to see you in the diner in the mornings. I think in the morning, just answering emails from your constituency and I saw you working the way that I tend to work at 3pm so you know really appreciate all the time and energy you put into to supporting your constituents and these important causes. Thank you so much for joining us and I hope you have a great pride. No, thank you Jesse very much and you all know my doors always open. However, I can be helpful and supportive. Please let me know. Alright, thank you. Thank you representative Castro. So, so with that I'm going to turn it over to our fearless leader, Luke. All of you know Luke we were talking earlier about whether or not it's even sensible to introduce Luke but you know, beyond the titles and all the work that he's done for the community and Truman and Council on Foreign Relations at on s. You know I have to say personally, you know when I took this role at the Pentagon, you know there's naturally an element of worry right it's a big responsibility. Luke is one of the most steadfast and reliable supporters that I have ever had in my career. He will always take a call he'll always take a text he'll always connect you to the person that can really help you to achieve whatever you need to achieve. And I've been so impressed by how indefatigable he has been in being a supporter of not just me but the entire community. So, you know, Luke, you really don't need an introduction I think you know everyone on this on this webinar, knows that you're out there for the community and one of our fiercest champions so thank you, and go ahead and take it away. Let's talk about sure. So, you know for those of you who haven't met before Luke Schlesner, I created out in national security about four years ago with Sean Kelly and rusty pickings Sean departed last year to become the assistant secretary of defense for readiness being part of the highest ranking transgender person in the federal government. So in the past year we spent a lot of time doing the most difficult thing a nonprofit can do which is do a leadership transition we have a fabulous new vice president, James OSF was a Navy veteran. We're an organization that exists to build community as Jesse said, security quality and promote allyship because we can't do this alone. We are unique and that we can be anywhere and everywhere across the national security enterprise, which is sort of what the idea came for from this list which is to, you know, combat stigma shine a light on who we are and how smart and good we are in the service of the nation across a wide range of activities, fight the closet, let allies and young queer people know that we're here and they could see themselves having a future in this field. You know the list has now been going on long enough that I got emails back from some of our new voices on re saying that and following us since college, which simultaneously made me feel tremendously old and also touched because when I was their age, I popped on the old version of the internet with no Wikipedia and found some dwells who was an assistant secretary of state under FDR who got run out for sexually propositioning home and quarters. And Walter Jenkins, who was the chief of staff to LBJ, who was caught having sex with a man in YMCA and was drummed out there was no one in the field like me and so, you know, my character is such that screw it I'm going to go anyway. But, you know, as time went on it's lonely and tough and I'm very happy to have been able to make friends with Jesse and to create the list so that's really no longer the case. And I'm tremendously proud of some of the honorees this year, which you're going to hear from shortly. I'm going to talk about some of the branches from seasoned professionals like Farley Cleighorn, who's the chief medical officer over at Palladium. Estee LaMonica, who's a combat veteran and the women in LGBTQ policy advisor on the House Vector and Affairs Committee. Sierra Gureshi, who was the cooperative agreements lead at the CDC office in Nairobi. And, you know, even in the last couple of years have taught us that we have to cooperate and push public health around the world. This is Ben Chow, who's the legislative director for Mondaire Jones, and USA advisor Rashid Namir, and USNA midshipman Eli Walls. With that I'm going to pass it off to Rachel who's going to introduce some of our honorees and they're going to talk about their experiences. Thank you so much, Luke. And I just also want to piggyback on what Jesse said about Luke and his, his amazing just mentorship and everything he is one of those people that when people talk about elevating the voices of others and elevating others on the platform. And for those that truly does live that out. So I just wanted to, to really express my gratitude for everything that Luke has done for me and for others that have been there to elevate, elevate voices. Now I'm going to ask some of our honorees, what it means to be for them to be out, and then some others about advice from mentors because I understand and we all should know that mentorship is a very, very important piece of really making sure that we get through this with representation and everything. So first Korean free stuff, the director of strategic alliances at the Asian American Foundation cream what does it mean to you to be out in national security. Well, thank you so much Rachel and Luke and the entire onus team for having me. You know at first I was a bit hesitant to speak today. Not because I'm afraid of public speaking but because I know stories like mine aren't told too often. So I think that I'm going to go up as a smiley Muslim in Texas in faith and family have really instilled in me the values of pluralism and of service. So being out to me is about working towards a vision in which everyone is guaranteed their civil rights that we can build a future that is safe from xenophobia from homophobia from racism and Islamophobia and over the last several years I've worked in on advocacy efforts to really think about what does that equitable and visionary inclusive America look like because the tragic scars unfortunately from institutionalized xenophobia post 911. And as representative Castro mentioned the institutionalized homophobia from the lavender scare are shortcomings of our democracy they are mistakes that we cannot allow to repeat. So I've learned that championing equality, oftentimes is about understanding different perspectives, it's about embracing my own identity. It's about challenging my biases, and ultimately, and perhaps most importantly bringing my full self to the workplace is the fear of judgment so I wanted to talk about kind of three things that have have really been so important to me because rather than downplaying one identity. For the sake of the other I found power in being out and always being myself so professionally I spent some time and I know we're going to get to this later is around mentoring young queer API and Muslims to realize that there's always going to be a strong pipeline of people who are grounded in this unwavering commitment that we belong in this country. From a spiritual context, my exposure to those that you're not gonna and at the mosque has opened my eyes that you know there's a beautiful diversity just within religion, and it's taught me to live out my values. It's taught me that it doesn't invalidate me to be out, because of who I am or who I love, but rather it strengthens my relationship with my faith. And perhaps most importantly personally, my relationship with my parents today is deeper, it is richer, it is fuller. I am more multi dimensional and I couldn't be more proud of how far we have come as a nation so to be out in national security is is really a privilege, it is a visible representation of what it means to be American and what it means to be a proud and proud citizen of immigrants so I am just so really grateful Rachel to you to look into so many others were on this call that on us exists, because representation in his fullest and truest form really truly matters, and I hope that the unique background that you're hearing continues to be celebrated to be cherished and welcomed. And inshallah one day we can pave the way for so many others to continue in this field of national security and to be out and proud. I know that as you said it is a privilege to be able to be out in national security, because there are so many that are watching today that are like maybe looking at this on their phone sort of potentially hiding it from those around them, that they don't have that opportunity just yet. And also who are watching know that that opportunity does exist, and there are people who always help you along the way I know we are going to talk a little bit about mentorship with some other people but that opportunity does exist, and we are always here out national security and everyone else who is on these panels are here to support you, and whatever you want to do. And so next we will go to Air Force major Colin Stevenson. Thank you Rachel. It really is an honor to be among a group of such great professionals. So first and foremost, being out for me has been an opportunity to live the Air Force's primary core value. That being of integrity and say integrity first. I'm not sure the age range of everyone on the call but I began my Air Force career under the don't have to until policy which I'm sure many of you familiar, but it was this absurdly cruel policy that forced many service to hide who they were or significant part of who they were in order to serve their country. So my career literally started out down the road, Howard University's RTC detachment, signing a piece of paper, attesting the fact that I was not a homosexual. And for the next few years, that was just the beginning of a series of lies by omission or half truths or making up where I was at various points in time. You know, honestly, I think being LGBTQ is great for intelligence officers because we become really good and trained at keeping secrets. But on a serious note, it did take a lot of kind of cognitive dissonance and disconcerting dissonance to reconcile that primary core value with what I was doing and who I was as a person. So being out now, after the past half decade or so, has been a huge quality and changing the quality of life for me. And it's allowed me new opportunities to connect with the superiors and peers and subordinates, this troops that would be leading in different and more authentic ways. We can talk about what we did over the weekend, for an example. So I was a few weeks into Intel school when Don't Ask Don't Tell was actually repealed. And it's important to remember that back then, the formal repeal in terms of policy and guidance did not necessarily instigate that immediate 180 change in terms of culture as a various units and commands. And it's important to remember that because we need to be vigilant now as the culture and personal views of folks in the lag from other DEI policies are implemented. I think about trans service, but anything really affecting minority groups and eliminating their various to open service. So, at the time of that repeal. We heard it from senior policy makers, senior leaders, direct superiors, peers, which really hurt, they essentially outed themselves in their own personal views of my worth and those of my LGBTQ friends. And that could range from straight up bigotry to this, the stated concerns that were rehashed really from inclusion of women and black service members, right, unicohesion, readiness, moral issues, more difficult to recruit. All these arguments obviously disproven time and time again. As they were levity against women and black service members, as they were against gay service members and now as you hear it again in trans service. So, being out for me is a charge to call it out when and where I can. Being out and even closeted allowed me an opportunity to carry around those arguments like a chip on my shoulder and to pursue, you know, competitive opportunities within the special operations community to assess and be selected for a very special and selectively manned units to become the Air Force Special Operations Command combat aviation advisor of the year and the Air Force's intelligence officer of the year. So that, you know, the moment when I did come out, I had my boyfriend in my rank on general promotion ceremony in front of a group of largely conservative white men. I would call it dropping the gay bomb, you know, Air Force, but it made a significant impact in ways that reverberated even for years. I hear stories about that moment from friends that are still at the unit and new folks are coming in. So still talked about so being out is also, I think, a recognition that all of us through our just normal course of duties, or how we live our lives authentically, the impacts that we can have not only on LGBTQ peers that are still in the closet, or just recently out of the closet, but for those of friends, families and others, we may never know how we change their opinions of us. And I think lastly, now that I find myself in a position of close proximity to senior Air Force leaders and the Pentagon who really do like authentically champion DEI initiatives and LGBTQI initiatives. I think it's a charge. I'm going to say this frankly to any cis white men on the call, specifically for us, you know, we, we climb this ladder to various regions places of success. I've seen folks just continue keep on climbing. That's not okay, we got to look back and help others and amplify their voices and identify those barriers that make it a little bit hard to climb for everyone around us. Even worse than I can see in this and some conversations around trans service members or just trans members of citizens, the tendency for white gay men to kick out the ladder behind them and not become the allies that we should so being out as led to all these things it's led to the extreme amount of professional growth, and it's a charge for us to you know lead both through formal mechanisms and informally when we can. Thank you so much Colin, I will say that I think dropping the gay bomb is now going to be part of my vocabulary, and hopefully part of others but just piggybacking on the fact that representation and that be able to the ability for you and for others to use their to call others out, because no matter what people always end up just showing who they are. When, when I was, I was a late bloomer in terms of coming out so I didn't, I guess luckily didn't have to deal with a lot of the things before don't ask don't tell. Just seeing what some of the people said about some of my family my friends, and everything you can very easily tell who you can trust and who you can't so we always just strive to be those people that people can trust and to know that they can come to us with their issues and that's part of what being an officer, and the leader is also about. Thank you for that Colin. And I'm going to turn it to Hannah tofo artist now I would actually ask a bit about what folks have learned from mentorship. Because we've talked about it before already but mentorship is such a large part of the community and it helps us to know that we're not alone and that people have forged these paths and so we don't have to continue to forge the same hardships that others have had to go and learn through. So Hannah, an Air Force intelligent trainer, what is the best advice that you have ever received from a mentor, and how have you incorporated it into your life. So first and foremost, I want to thank you, Rachel, Luke and everyone else in the ONS Council for for having us here and sharing our stories. So, I have only been in the Air Force for about three years. I just hit my three year mark, two weeks ago so yeah on that. But so, I received a lot of advice throughout my years in college, and even in the limited limited amount of time that I've been in the Air Force so far. But one advice really stuck to me, and what they had told me was to live by these these three things to dream big, stay humble, and to treat others with respect, and you know I've used all that. I have like three pillars three cardinal principles or what have you. And I've really applied that in my personal and professional relationships, whether that's through work or you know, like I said my personal relationships as a first generation college graduate immigrant parents, you know dreaming big has been really what's been instilled in me since I was a little kid, you know coming from the Philippines to first generation immigrants. And again, really achieving what you want to achieve, despite of the obstacles that come your way whether you fail, you know just get back up and just continue to push through until you achieve those dreams. So that would be the first one you know and staying humble, you know I feel like one of the things that my family also instilled in me is the importance of humility and understanding you know when to admit you're wrong and to just really be appreciative and be grateful for all the opportunities that come your way and for the people and being grateful for the people that do help you. Once you do achieve your goals. And then lastly treating others with respect I feel you know that's pretty self explanatory and being part of you know the LGBTQ plus community. That is something that I've always wanted to kind of carry on with me. And really treating others with respect and treating them with, you know, dignity and really treating them the way you want to be treated the golden rule right, because I know that was something that I struggled with and something that I had to kind of go through an experience when I first got to America as an immigrant and as you know, part of the LGBTQ community. So I kind of kind of enforce that and use that to treat others with respect wherever I go. And I really feel like, you know, living by these three principles or whatever you want to call it will always work out for you in your favorite no matter what, no matter whether you apply that to your personal relationships or your professional careers, you know, living by those three things will take you anyways so that's what I have. Thank you so much Hannah and I really do agree with that especially the respectful piece. As representative Castro said earlier we are living in a time and actually as a lot of us have said earlier, we are living in a time where there's a lot of rhetoric and bigotry and things that are coming up and one of the things that I sort of found is sometimes people actually do want to have these conversations that they do want to speak. I'm happy to take that emotional labor on. No one else should have to take the emotional labor on of explaining why they X, Y, and Z and different things like that. But what I have found is there are some people who are genuinely just asking the questions and asking things and trying to understand. And sometimes and I dealt with this when I was first coming out, and came from a pretty religious background is when we ask these questions and when we're learning about ourselves and learning about others. A lot of times it goes it may go against what we've been thinking or what we've been taught in the past and so there's a whole identity sort of battle that happens. And so sometimes it just takes a little bit of understanding for some people to suddenly be like oh okay. So the world isn't just in my little box as I thought it was. It's actually much bigger and there's room for everybody in it. And I think being respectful as part of that. So thank you so much Hannah for your, for your thoughts. And then, second, I'm going to turn it to Ava Bagley a senior defense analyst with the GAO the government accountability office. Thank you Rachel, and Luke and Jesse for this honor and put the chance to share a small part of my experience. You asked me to discuss the best advice I've received from a mentor, I'd like to give credit to to the first is my high school art teacher Jim Iran, and the second is a mentor I've only had the recent years to meet Tamma Weinberg. As members of the queer community, we're often told that what we feel in our hearts and minds is not what's really going on. We're taught not to trust ourselves that we're too young to experience to really know what's going on, or that what we're feeling is shameful, bad or wrong. I want to finalize this question of how can we possibly comprehend and value our own selves that self doubt is a unique part of a certain kind of queer experience when I share with, I hope, only a few people being honored here today. When I first knew who transitioned. I feel this acutely that feeling of being so out of sync with the gender identity I was born into that the feeling in my heart and mind didn't even have a name at first self doubt became a second skin. Mr Moran, and I had this little ritual and beginning of every class every day my high school. I remember what we were doing every day he replied something great. This lesson I took to heart do something great. It can be a small thing, it can be progress on a large thing, but every day, something great. To that end the second piece of advice I'd like to share with you comes from my mentor at work. Someone. I have the pleasure to call a friend at GAO. We have the opportunity to engage with career coaches and Tamma was mine. In her capacity of my as my career coach, Tamma told me something that I think I needed to hear decades before I finally did that I have all the answers I need. I know what I need to do, and I can trust myself. My friend's advice is what I needed to hear to cut through decades of imposter syndrome. We've all felt it everybody on this call, everybody being on it at some point has felt imposter syndrome when we know how difficult it can be to overcome at work. In the government accountability office this means fully understanding that not only do I know what I'm doing. I know how to get there and how to accomplish it. I know my job I've been doing it, you know for six seven years. But in life, many of us in the queer community struggle with something similar. For me, it's not only am I lesbian enough, but am I woman enough. Am I valid. Am I real. Can I be here in the world as myself. And thanks to the advice of Tamma and people like her. Yes, I know I can. And all of you can too. We all deserve seats at the table. Had I known what transitioning was, and what it would mean to me when I was younger. I think I would have been a better stronger person, much earlier, you really internalize these lessons of being who you are as a lack of confidence and a lack of trusting yourself but when you come out. When I came out, I should say, as trans, you know when I was 35. I started HRT at 35. When I came out to myself in my late 20s. I think that it took a burden off of me. And it's a burden that I hope everybody in the community gets to take off of themselves and whatever got us all to this point in our careers and lives has given us the tools that we need to become the people we are today. We all have the answers that we need and we know what we can do. Mr. Moran and Tamma taught me, though yourself, trust yourself, be yourself, and you can do great things. Thank you. Thank you so much, Eva. And the panelists and hosts and I have been talking about different slogans of different things. So, so we've had we have so many great, great quotes from everybody and so many great things just as like doing something great and that's what I hope to put into my own, my own sort of thought process every day because I think that is something important. It can be something big something small, something great for yourself something great for someone else. I think that's just honestly that's that's such a simple but such a powerful mantra to have. And, and I know that out in national security and New America and everyone does that every day and takes that to heart. So thank you again to all of our panelists and to everyone for joining. I did want to let everyone know to look for a conversation with Under Secretary Gina Ortiz Jones that's coming up next week. If you're not on the out in national security listserv I highly highly suggest joining. And there's a lot of fun things that go on a lot of really great events in person virtual and things of that nature and just keeping up with the community. And also, there will be an in person celebration for the out in national security honorees in here in DC next month. And let me double check to see if Luke has anything else to add before wrapping up. You're muted Luke. Yep. Oh, there we go. I just want to thank our generous hosts here with new America it's been a fantastic partnership. And it's really great platform for us to bring folks together and share all of our stories and I wanted to thank this year's honorees for volunteering their time and welcome them into the community. You will see that we like to engage all of you in a variety of different volunteer activity committees and we are thrilled to have you help shape our future. So stay active stay involved tell your friends. And yes, Eva we might have an after party as you are at some point. But this is also my favorite event of the year because we get to build and maintain and expand our community. And thank you everyone for being a part of this. Enjoy the rest of your day and happy pride.