DHS PRIDE Newsletter V1 - 2013-04-03.pdf

www.DHSPride.org | @DHS_Pride | [email protected]

QUA R T E R L Y N EWL ET T E R A P R I L 2 0 1 3

I N S I D E T H I S

I S S U E :

PRESIDENTS

COLUMN

1

PRIDE 2012

RECAP

2

JUNE PRIDE

2013 PLANS

3

NEW DHS

PRIDE

OFFICERS

4

DEPARTING

DHS PRIDE

OFFICERS

5

DHS SURGE

CAPACITY

FORCE

6

DHS PRIDE

MEMBER HON-

ORED AT SOTU

8

REGIONAL

CHAIR NEWS

10

WORKING

GROUPS/LINKS

13

/1

LEGAL NEWS 11

1st Edition DHS Pride Quarterly Newsletter

DHS Pride Welcomes You to Our Inaugural Newsletter

DHS Pride serves to celebrate the diversity that LGBT personnel can bring to the workplace, acts as an informational resource for our members, and serves as a liai-son between the Department and the LGBT community. We currently serve two hundred and seventy-five members, including representatives from every opera-tional component and numerous geographic areas.

Over the past year, DHS Pride has accomplished a lot, including:

• Hosting a large 2012 June Pride Ceremony, including honoring DHS Sec. Na-politano with the inaugural DHS Pride Award for Service.

• Launching of a regional chair system and successfully hosting of happy hours in numerous regions of the country for DHS Pride members, something no other DHS-recognized employee association has attempted

• Collection and dissemination of informational resources regarding personnel rights, entitlements, and benefits information

• Creation of working groups to identify and address issues experienced by spe-cific subgroups of the LGBT community, including Law Enforcement Officers/Military personnel and the transgender community.

• Launching of our website, Facebook and Twitter feed

DHS Pride is working hard to grow our organization and continually find new and better ways we can serve our membership and the greater DHS personnel commu-nity This organization’s energy and momentum is de-pendent upon the engaged involvement of our mem-bership, and I encourage your participation. Regard-less of your position, work location, area of the country you live in, sexual orientation/gender status, or outness at work, you have a place in DHS Pride. I look forward to another year working with all of you as we demon-strate just what the LGBT community can contribute to the safety and security of our country.

Sincerely,

Adam M. Sulewski

Adam Sulewski is a international relations specialist at U.S. Cus-

toms and Border Protection. He lives in Washington, D.C. with his

partner Bruce.


QUART ER L Y N EWL ET T ER A P R I L 2 0 1 3 Page 2

Pride Celebration 2012

DHS Pride Celebrates June Pride Month, DHS Sec. Napolitano Honored with Award for Service

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Department of Homeland Security Pride (“DHS Pride”) honored DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano with its inau-gural Award for Service on June 7, 2012. The DHS-recognized employee association com-memorated LGBT Pride Month at a Pride Cere-mony featuring Sec. Napolitano and other DHS leadership, and an accomplished guest speaker, Amanda Simpson.

The DHS Pride Award for Service is given for the purpose of recognizing an individual’s nota-ble support of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender community or significant achieve-ment in a career field that can be held up as an example of the capabilities of LGBT personnel. Award recipients are drawn from current and former DHS personnel and individuals associ-ated with the DHS community. In the DHS Pride Award for Service’s inaugural year, DHS Pride honors DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano based upon her many years of dedicated public service, her unwavering support of DHS person-

nel, her intense support of a DHS based on unity and inclusion and her support of DHS poli-cies and protections for LGBT personnel.

The Pride Ceremony also featured guest speaker Amanda Simpson. Special Assistant to the Army Acquisition Executive, U.S. Depart-ment of Defense, and the first open transwoman political appointee in the U.S. Government. Ms. Simpson spoke on the challenges of overcom-ing change and the hard work needed to ensure diversity.

Also in attendance in the ceremony, hosted at U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement Headquarters, were U.S. Immigration and Cus-toms Enforcement Director John T. Morton and senior officials from DHS offices and operational components. Free DVD recordings of the event are available to interested DHS Pride members.



Pride Celebration 2013

SAVE THE DATE!!!

DHS Pride is proud to announce its June Pride Ceremony and Capitol Pride Booth for 2013.

June Pride Ceremony

Date: June 6, 2013, 1:00 p.m.—2:00 p.m. (exact time is subject to change)

Location: Julie Myers Conference Center U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Headquarters 500 12th Street, SW, Washington, D.C. 20536 (Metro—Smithsonian Orange/Blue)

We will be awarding our annual DHS Pride Award for Service, hosting a guest speaker to com-

memorate June Pride, and hosting a reception. All LGBT personnel and our supporters are wel-

come to attend. The event will also be filmed and placed on YouTube this year for our members

across the country.

DC Capital Pride Festival Booth

Date: June 9, 2013, 10:00 a.m.—6:00 p.m.

Location: DC Capitol Pride Festival Pennsylvania Avenue, NW btw 9th and 6th Streets (Metro—Archives Green/Yellow) www.CapitalPride.org All of DHS Pride is invited to our booth for networking, socializing, & membership recruitment.

BE PROUD OF WHO YOU ARE



Adam M. Sulewski, DHS Pride President

U.S. Customs and Border Protection Program and Management Analyst, Office of International Affairs (desk) 202.344.1241 (mobile) 202.425.7327

[email protected]

Janie E. Bennett, DHS Pride Vice President

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement

Supervisory Detention and Deportation Officer

(desk) 210.967.7053

(mobile) 210.385.6531

[email protected]

Stacie L. Schultz, DHS Pride Secretary

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services

Immigration Services Officer

(office) 402.219.6006 ex.7340

[email protected]

[email protected]

Juan J. Torres, DHS Pride Treasurer


(desk) 202.272.1238

[email protected]

Warren R. Kaufman,

DHS Pride Board Member


Assistant Chief Counsel

(desk) 210.472.6778 (option 5)

[email protected]

Brandon A. Montgomery,



(mobile) 202.538.1846

[email protected]

[email protected]

Irene M. Recio,



(mobile) 703.582.5656

[email protected]

2013 DHS PRIDE ELECTIONS

DHS Pride Board Members DHS Pride Board Members DHS Pride Board Members DHS Pride Board Members

The DHS Pride organization is proud to introduce the newly elected 2013 officers and The DHS Pride organization is proud to introduce the newly elected 2013 officers and The DHS Pride organization is proud to introduce the newly elected 2013 officers and The DHS Pride organization is proud to introduce the newly elected 2013 officers and

board members!board members!board members!board members!



DHS Pride’s Board of Director’s would like to thank our out-going Board of Directors for their service in 2012. It was a pleasure to serve with them.

Fmr Treasurer Mark Hamilton Former DHS Headquarters.

Arlington, Virginia We wish Marc well as he leaves federal service for a role in the Defense Industry.

Fmr Webmaster Norman Robinson DHS Headquarters OCIO & CRCL Washington, D.C. Board Member Michael Widomski Former Federal Emergency Management Agency Washington, D.C.

We wish Michael well as he departs DHS for a new role with the National Weather Service.

Outgoing Board of Directors



DHS Multi-Component Workforce De-

ploys For First Time; Personnel Depu-

tized By FEMA to Aid Sandy Victims

In November, 2012, only days after Hurricane Sandy made landfall on New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut, DHS Secretary Napolitano acti-vated the Surge Capacity Force. This workforce, made-up of volunteers from DHS and the opera-tional components were dispatched to the disas-ter zone to aid the Federal Emergency Manage-ment Agency. In New York and New Jersey, the volunteers created and managed disaster relief centers, went door to door to check on residents and advise them of available aid, and performed many other tasks required to administer and co-ordinate one of the largest relief efforts in FEMA history. This was the first time the Surge Capac-ity Force was activated since its 2009 creation. This law directs the DHS Secretary to create an employee volunteer force, named the Surge Ca-pacity Force. These employees are detailed from other DHS components and other federal agen-cies, and receive training in advance regarding the organization and administration of FEMA’s responses to disasters. In addition, the volunteer personnel must deploy to disaster locations to act as boots on the ground in support of FEMA’s re-sponse and recovery efforts. The Secretary of DHS can activate the Surge Ca-pacity Force when catastrophic incidents, such as a hurricane, terrorist attack, earthquake, or other kinds of events. After reviewing initial re-ports of damage after Hurricane Sandy made landfall this past October, Secretary Napolitano activated the Surge Capacity Force for the first time on November 1, 2012 to support FEMA. Within days, volunteers from across the Depart-ment were assembled in Maryland for briefings on their assignments. As Secretary Napolitano

later reported to the U.S. Congress, Hurricane Sandy represented one of the largest personnel deployments in FEMA’s history. This included the historic activation of the DHS Surge Capacity Force totaling 1,100 volunteers. Before the storm made landfall, FEMA and its emergency management partners facilitated the establishment of shelters, Disaster Recovery Centers (DRCs), Points of Distribution (PODs), and Joint Field Offices (JFOs) in the affected ar-eas. At peak, 716 shelters were open with a population of 26,913 in 16 states. FEMA contin-ues to work with our partners to help disaster sur-vivors who remain in shelters find permanent housing solutions. The DHS SCF functions to coordinate resources and keep them in reserve to ensure help is avail-able when the need is greatest in support of natu-ral disasters, acts of terrorism, and other man-made disasters, including catastrophic inci-dents. The SCF program is currently being rolled out throughout the Department and will then be rolled out government-wide.

(continued on page 7)

DHS CAPACITY SURGE FORCE 2012



(cnt’d) All volunteers will be trained and utilized in four primary program areas All DHS Surge Ca-pacity Force personnel were trained and utilized in four primary program areas — Logistics, Com-munity Relations, Individual Assistance, and Pub-lic Assistance before deploying. All remained on the federal payroll, as though they were still at their long-term jobs, and returned to their regular roles and work locations when their service was no longer needed in the disaster area. The DHS Surge Capacity Force has since been stood down, but FEMA is continually seeking vol-unteers from the DHS workforce who want to

The U.S. Coast Guard takes part in a patrol of New York

Harbor to inspect port facilities and navigation channels in

the days following Hurricane Sandy’s landfall in October

2012.

help when the need is greatest in support of natu-ral disasters, acts of terrorism, and other man-made disasters, including catastrophic inci-dents. The SCF program is currently being rolled out throughout the Department and will then be rolled out government-wide. All volunteers will be trained and utilized in four primary program areas — Logistics, Community Relations, Individual As-sistance and Public Assistance. The DHS SCF is a great way to serve your coun-try and further the overall mission of DHS. More information on the DHS Surge Capacity Force can be found on DHS Connect at:

http://dhsconnect.dhs.gov/Pages/

SurgeCapacityForce.aspx

DHS CAPACITY SURGE FORCE 2012 (cnt’d)



By Tracey Hepner, Transportation Security

Administration

Less than two years ago under “don't ask don't tell,” I wasn’t able to even exist. Since then, I joined a group of courageous gay and lesbian spouses to brief Pentagon officials, co-founded a National LGBT military family organization , wit-nessed the repeal of DADT, married the love of my life, she got promoted to Brigadier General, and I went from invisible to “out” in the most pub-lic way possible. Tuesday I was an invited guest of the First Lady to personally witness her hus-band’s commitment to ALL military families.

The most remarkable experience of these past couple years has been meeting gay and lesbian soldiers and their spouses, partners, and fami-lies. Both Tammy and I feel an enormous obliga-tion to these soldiers – sailors, airmen, Marines,

and Coast Guardsmen – to see that their families are respected and cared for with equal dignity and respect. So I felt the tremendous weight of that obligation when I got the remarkable phone call inviting me to attend the State of the Union as a distinguished guest of the First Lady.

My first thoughts were of the Morgan and John-son families. Karen Morgan lost her wife Chief Warrant Officer Charlie Morgan to cancer on February 10. Staff Sergeant Tracy (Dice) John-son's wife Staff Sergeant Donna Johnson was killed October 1 by a suicide bomber in Afghani-stan. Tammy and I went to the White House hold-ing these widows especially close in our hearts.

As we arrived at the White House gate a woman came up to me saying, “Are you Tracey? Are you the one who’s going to overturn DOMA?”

“Well, I don’t know about that, there are a lot of us working on it!” I said, laughing.

“I read about you – the military families are the ones who are going to get this done. Can I get a hug? Will you let me take a picture with you?”

The encounter reminded me again, I am just a seat-holder. I was invited to be at the State of the Union with the First Lady, but I was holding the seat for countless military spouses, across all branches of service, and their family members.

When I met Dr. Biden and the First Lady I let them know I was representing ALL military fami-lies, in special honor the Morgan and Johnson Families. I told the First Lady that Charlie had died on Sunday and that she wanted to live to see this day. The First Lady said she was so sorry, and expressed her condolences to Char-lie’s family.

When we arrived at the Capital and were seated in the First Ladies box I represented all of us that night. It was an honor to represent the many who paved the path to this moment and the countless warriors and their families whose wounds still

I was just the Seat-Holder: Gay Military Families at the SOTU



sting from serving under Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.

It was a privilege to be able to witness the President of the United States say these words:

"We will ensure equal treatment for all service mem-bers, and equal benefits for their families – gay and straight."

I leapt out of my seat, pumping my fist in the air and cheering - if the camera had been on me, I might have been the only one in the box jumping up and down. I felt those words. How long have we waited for those very words: equal treatment.

After the speech our escorts put us in line, handed us tickets, and said, “You’re going to meet the President” – all I could think was, “What am I going to tell the President of the United States?”

It was my turn. His aide announced my name. He looked at me and a big smile followed. I extended my hand to the President of the United States. He said it was a pleasure to meet me!?

I thanked him for his words in the SOTU and continu-ing commitment to all military families. He didn’t rush our encounter.

The author (in white)

sitting in the First Lady’s

Box during the 2013 State

of the Union Address at

the U.S. Capitol.

The President and I spent some time discussing the military benefits that the Pentagon announced and the work that still remains. He told me that the Service Secretaries are really on board with treating all ser-vice members equally. Then he looked me right in the eye and said; “We are going to get this done.” I re-sponded by saying; ‘I know we are.” I couldn’t help myself and just had to tell him; “I am very proud of you.” He was touched and said to me, “Thank you for your service.”

I had tears running down my face when they took the photo and a renewed commitment to keep working until those words equal treatment become a reality for all our military families.

~Tracey Hepner

A version of this article appeared on the

Huffington Post

I was just the Seat-Holder: Gay Military Families at the SOTU (cont.)



Interested in becoming a Regional Chair? Please contact [email protected] &

[email protected] for more information on how to bring DHS Pride to YOUR community.

Our Regional Chairs

UPCOMING SOCIAL EVENTS CALENDAR

New York City

Happy Hour (New!)

Friday, April 12 5:30pm-8:00pm The Strand Hotel (33 West 37th St) New York, NY

DHS Pride Bowling

League (New!)

Sunday, April 21 11am-1pm AMF Alexandria Lanes (6228 N Kings Hwy) Alexandria, VA

DC Happy Hour Thursday, April 25 5:30pm-8:00pm COBALT (1639 R Street NW) Washington, DC

For more information on DHS Pride Social Events,

visit www.dhspride.org or our Facebook page!



Hollingsworth v. Perry/U.S. v. Windsor Test SCOTUS’s Views on Same-Sex Marriage; Decisions Due in June

On March 26th and 27th, the U.S. Su-preme Court (the Court) heard oral ar-guments on two cases that could be-come landmark deci-sions in the gay / lesbian civil rights movement. The de-

cisions are expected in June, at the end of the Court’s current term.

The first case, Hollingsworth v. Perry, No. 12-144, involves the question of whether Proposition 8, a voter initiative in California that defined mar-riage as a union between a man and a woman, violates the federal constitution. During oral ar-guments on March 26th, the first issue that the justices focused on was standing, which in non-legal terms, refers to whether the parties which are challenging and defending the initiative have the legal right to do so. From the tone and con-tent of the questions posed by the justices, many legal experts are predicting that the Court will find that the parties lacked standing and the legal re-sult would be that same-sex marriages would re-sume in California. However, civil rights advo-cates are hoping that the Court will issue a deci-sion on the merits, in which case, the Court could decide that: all states with bans on same-sex marriage violate the U.S. constitution; bans on same-sex marriage in those states with civil un-ions (that essentially provide all the rights and benefits of marriage) are unconstitutional; or that

California was not entitled to, through a voter’s initiative, withdraw a right that had been estab-lished by the state supreme court according to its reading of the state constitution.

The second case, United States v. Windsor, No. 12-307, is of most importance to federal workers. It involves a challenge to the Defense of Marriage Act of 1996 (DOMA), by Edith Windsor, a widow who was forced to pay over $363,000 in federal estate taxes after her wife died and she inherited the home in which they had been living. They were legally married in Canada and the marriage was recognized in New York where they had been living, but not by the federal government. DOMA defines marriage to be “only a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife.” Many of us employed by the federal government have suffered similar discrimination by being denied over 1,100 federal benefits af-forded to heterosexual spouses, but denied un-der DOMA to same sex couples legally married in the nine states and District of Columbia that rec-ognize it.

As in the first case, the Court spent the first part of the oral arguments on Wednesday questioning the attorneys on standing issues. In this case, the standing issue centers on the fact that Presi-dent Obama’s administration has ruled DOMA unconstitutional and refused to defend it before the Court. Defending DOMA was counsel for the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group (BLAG), a standing body of the U.S. House of Representa-tives, which voted to defend DOMA before the Court and hired counsel to do so. A group of De-mocrats filed a friend of the court brief in support of President Obama’s position that DOMA is un-constitutional.

(cont’d on page 12)

Legal News: U.S. Supreme Court Hears Pivotal Cases



During the oral arguments, the justices seemed more receptive to the points made in favor of finding DOMA unconstitutional. Justice Ginsburg stated that "You are really diminishing what the state has said is marriageSThere's two kinds of marriage, there's full marriage and then there's sort of skim milk marriageS[Marriage benefits] affect every aspect of life," Justice Kennedy, who wrote the majority opinion in Lawrence v. Texas, 539 U.S. 558 (2003), in which the Court struck down the sodomy law in Texas and, by exten-sion, invalidated sodomy laws in thirteen other states, making same-sex sexual activity legal in every U.S. state and territory, stated that DOMA is problematic because it runs “in conflict with what has always been thought to be the essence of the State police power, which is to regulate marriage, divorce, custody.”

Le-gal ex-

perts believe that Justice Kennedy will be the swing vote siding with the majority to find DOMA unconstitutional. Whether or not they are correct, without a doubt the two cases heard by the Court this week signal a milestone for gay / lesbian civil rights because they have brought issues regard-ing same-sex marriage inequalities to the lime-light and led to healthy and productive conversa-tions throughout the United States.

Hollingsworth v. Perry’s and Windsor v. U.S.’s final rulings are due to be released by the U.S. Supreme near the end of June, 2013.

Submitted by DHS Pride Board Member Irene Recio

Legal News: U.S. Supreme Court Hears Pivotal Cases



Need Someone In Your Corner?; DHS Pride launches its Intervention Committee

Are you confused or concerned about what protections/entitlements exist for LGBT personnel? Have you encountered discrimination or find our community is unwelcomed or unnoticed in your workplace?

Sometimes questions, or problems arise in the work setting that require a fresh pair of eyes or per-haps even a helping hand. With that in mind, DHS Pride has launched a working group to address these types of questions for its members. If you encounter a situation which concerns you and in-volves a LGBT issue but you are unsure of the appropriate response, are hesitant to raise it or have tried without success, we would like to help.

DHS Pride will work to understand and document your concern. DHS Pride will endeavor to direct you to the proper resources, collect information on systemic problems or misinformation, and work in partnership with DHS to ensure the Department’s embrace of diversity is substantive and enduring. If you choose to remain anonymous, we will respect your confidence. This process is not in-tended to and does not replace/supplant any EEO complaint process or grievance mecha-nism, but is instead offered as a way to raise the level of consciousness about LGBT issues in the workplace as they affect our members.

For more information or to talk about a concern, please contact [email protected] (subject line “Intervention Committee”) or DHS Pride Board member Warren Kaufman at [email protected]; (210) 472-6778 (option 5).

Creation of DHS Pride Transgender Working Group

DHS Pride is proud to announce the formation of a Transgender working group. The group will iden-tify and address the unique and specific needs of DHS Transgender personnel.

Stacie Schultz has volunteered to serve as the facilitator of the working group.

The working group will initially work to: (1) identify issues affecting the transgender community both internal and external to DHS, (2) establish resources, contacts and links, and (3) identify non-profits and internal/external resources who can help develop a FAQ of resources for DHS Transgender em-ployees.

All who are interested in joining should contact DHS Pride Secretary Stacie L. Schultz via our email [email protected] (subject line “transgender”)

Working Groups



Working Groups

There are many opportunities for DHS Pride to participate in our organization. Two current working

groups have been formed to identify & address the concerns of specific types of personnel in our

community.:

• Law Enforcement Officer/Military Working Group

• Transgender Working Group

• Intervention Working Group

If you are interested in becoming involved with the work of these working groups, please write to

[email protected] for more information

Social Networking

For additional information about DHS Pride, members and employees can also reach the organiza-

tion through the following websites or email address:

DHS Pride – Facebook

DHS Pride’s Facebook page is a closed group page. For Closed groups, everyone on Facebook can see the group name and members, but only group members can see posts in the group. Unless you’re added to the group by another member, you’ll need to ask to join. You’ll become a member when your request is approved.

DHS Pride – Twitter

Follow DHS Pride on Twitter, @DHS_Pride for DHS Pride announcements, information on DHS and her components, and general LGBT and federal personnel news.

Have links to other websites relevant to DHS LGBT personnel that you think we should include? Let

us know!

[Please note: DHS personnel should follow their chain of command's regulations and their own

personal judgment when utilizing social networking websites like Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, etc.]

Working Groups/Supportive links for LGBT

Documents

DHS PRIDE Newsletter V1 - 2013-04-03.pdf