Pride on the podcast

Air Force veteran Jennifer Dane visits The American Legion Tango Alpha Lima podcast this week. Dane serves as executive director of the Modern Military Association of America, the nation’s largest non-profit organization working to advance fairness and equality for the LGBTQ military and veteran community.

“We are just normal folks who happened to serve our country, or our partners served our country, or we’re even family members of servicemembers,” Dane said. “We also have a story to share and we make up a big part of the force.”

A fun fact that Dane pointed out: the largest employer of trans individuals is the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security. “The only thing we want to do is to make our country safe, just like everyone else.”

Dane recalled her own personal story and current motivation, starting when she joined the military in 2010 during “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

“I signed this paper that said if you were found to do homosexual conduct of any kind, you would be discharged from the military,” she recalled. “And I still have that paper that sits on my desk. I look at it every day because I want to make sure I remember what I’m doing and why I do the work that I do.”

Learn more about Dane, her experience as a victim of Military Sexual Assault and the organization she runs in this week’s episode.

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