LGBTQ+ Pride Month: Resources for Military Families

By: Jason Jowers

The month of June is LGBTQ+ Pride Month, where we celebrate and honor the LGBTQ community throughout history. Pride Month is held each June to commemorate the Stonewall Uprising of 1969 as well as the first Pride March in New York City, which was held on June 28th, 1970 (Library of Congress, 2021). Various organizations and outlets share lots of resources and info in recognizing the LGBTQ+ community.

To celebrate LGBTQ+ Pride Month, we at OneOp wanted to share several important resources we know of, as well as to share some of our own programming on LGBTQ+ issues, specifically within military families.

LGBTQ+ Organizations and Resources

The first resource we wanted to share was the aforementioned Library of Congress article that shares the history of Pride Month and how it got started.

Next, we wanted to highlight a very important organization known as The Trevor Project. The Trevor Project is “the leading national organization providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer & questioning (LGBTQ) young people under 25” (Trevor Project, 2021). Their website provides lots of great ways to connect for help including the Trevor Lifeline, at 1-866-488-7386, which is a 24/7 call line for anyone looking for a safe space to talk. They also provide instant messaging and text services, as well as a support center with frequently asked questions, including resources related to sexual orientation, gender identity, and more.

We also wanted to share two organizations that are making inroads into building a more inclusive and accepting world within the military community. The first is Out in National Security, whose goal is to “positively impact the lives of today and tomorrow’s LGBTQIA+ national security practitioners.” Out in National Security is a great organization for promoting LGBTQIA+ professionals in the national security community.

The next organization is the Modern Military Association of America, which is “the nation’s largest organization of LGBTQ service members, military spouses, veterans, their families, and allies.” MMAA has lots of great resources for military families and professionals including an online LGBTQ cultural competency training called Rainbow Shield. Other resources include advocacy and support for service members living with HIV, free and direct legal services, and the MilPride program which is dedicated to military families with LGBTQ youth.

OneOp Family Development Webinars and Resources

Lastly, we would like to share newly renewed programming within OneOp! We have reapplied to make Social Work CEUs from the University of Texas available for the next two years for our 2-part webinar series featuring Dr. Jenifer McGuire at the University of Minnesota. Part one is “The ABCs Of LGBT: Learning Language And Inclusive Practices In Work With LGBT Families” and part two is “TRANSforming Conversations: Addressing Needs of Transgender Youth and Their Families.” These two webinars are focused on professionals working with LGBTQ+ military families and highlight the many challenges that diverse military families face.

We hope these resources are beneficial for you in your work with military families and can provide some resources to share and get involved with.

This post was written by OneOp. The OneOp team aims to support the development of professionals working with military families.  Learn more about us at https://oneop.org/family-development, and connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.  Subscribe to our Anchored. podcast series on iTunes and via our podcast page.