by Shaun Knittel
Online News Editor 

This week OutServe and Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) announced they would combine resources to continue to serve LGBT service members and veterans. As many OutServe members could tell you, even though “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) was repealed in 2011, there still exists inequality within the ranks for LGB service members. The need for services, resources, and support is still in demand. The plan to combine forces would create the strongest organization possible to advocate for LGBT service members and veterans. Here’s a look at the merger and other news items that helped to shape the lives of LGBT service members during the week of July 1 – 6:

OUTSERVE, SLDN ANNOUNCE INTENT TO COMBINE ORGANIZATIONS, SHARE LEADERSHIP

The boards of directors of Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) and OutServe  announced July 2, the intent to combine the two organizations into a single organization by October 2012 with a new name and a newly configured board of directors led by a representative from each existing organization. In the intervening period, the boards and staff of both organizations will focus on unifying the two administratively, financially, and organizationally. Under the terms of the agreement reached on June 30 by the two boards of directors, the transaction will close when specific contingencies are removed, which include outstanding legal, financial, and structural elements. The close is expected at the next board meetings of the two groups, scheduled to take place October 26-28 in Orlando

STATE DEPARTMENT LAUNCHES TEXT DOANTION CAMPAIGN FOR LGBT COMMUNITY

The U.S. Department of State has launched a text donation campaign that allows Americans to donate to the mGive International Response Equality Fund. Donations will help to further programs and initiatives aimed at advancing human rights, fostering equality, advocacy, protection and dialogue to ensure human rights for LGBT persons around the world.  To help, anyone can donate $10 by texting the word “PRIDE” to 80000. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton launched the Fund. While providing tangible assistance to LGBT civil society groups around the world, the Fund also serves to underscore the U.S. State Department’s commitment to ensuring LGBT people worldwide are able to exercise their human rights with dignity. For more information on the Global Equality Fund, visit www.state.gov/globalequality or hashtag #globalequality on twitter.

PFLAG KICKS OFF ITS 40TH ANNIVERSARY WITH A YEAR-LONG CELEBRATION OF ALLY AND FAMILY VOICES

Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) the nation’s largest grassroots-based non-profit for families, friends, and straight allies of LGBT people, kicks off its milestone 40th anniversary year campaign, PFLAG Then & Now…40 Years of Family and Ally Voices, this week. The campaign will be a yearlong look at where PFLAG started, all that has been achieved, and all that is still to be accomplished to achieve full equality for LGBT people. PFLAG Then and Now… will also demonstrate how PFLAG’s unique family and ally voice has been, and will continue to be, a crucial part of the LGBT movement. To follow PFLAG National’s PFLAG Then & Now…40 Years of Family and Ally Voices campaign, visit www.pflag.org/thenandnow.

OBAMA ADMINISTRATION ASKS FOR QUICK REVIEW OF DOMA

The Obama administration is asking the Supreme Court to settle the legal fight over a law that denies federal benefits to married same-sex couples. Tuesday, the Justice Department asked the court to hear an appeal in its next term of lower court rulings striking down a portion of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). The earliest the justices might decide to hear the case is in late September and a decision returned by late June 2013. The administration said it agrees with the lower court rulings, but wants prompt high court review because President Obama has instructed federal agencies to continue to enforce the law’s ban on federal benefits to married couples until there is a final court ruling.

HILLARY CLINTON’S GAY RIGHTS ADVOCACY HONORED WITH INDEPENDENCE DAY FLAG

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was honored with an American flag on Independence Day for her support of gay rights. The flag was commissioned by the Kaleidoscope Trust, the official charity partner for World Pride in London, and designed by American artist Sam Gassman. The full text of Clinton’s 2011 speech on gay rights to the United Nations is sewn into the artwork. Clinton condemned laws that discriminate against LGBT people as a violation of human rights. The flag also includes 78 named stars representing the remaining countries having poor gay rights laws.