forum at NDU on the LGBT issues

1. LGBT personnel in armed forces: Advancing inclusiveness, diversity
The William J. Perry Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies cordially invites you to
attend the upcoming Hemispheric Forum on “LGBT Personnel in the Armed Forces:
Advancing a position of inclusivity and embracing diversity,” Wednesday, June 22 from 1:30
to 4 p.m.
The forum will be held in Lincoln Hall Auditorium, Room 1300, National Defense
University, on the Fort McNair portion of the joint base. To attend in person, please register
online at
https://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/eventReg?oeidk=a07ecq9donc92b292ef.
To view the event online, please visit http://chds.dodlive.mil/?p=3716.
The event is open to the public. For more information, email chdsprotocol@ndu.edu.
Five years after the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't tell,” only four countries in the Western
Hemisphere—Brazil, Canada, Chile, and Cuba— join the United States in establishing
military institutions that treat all Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and veterans with the
dignity and respect they deserve. At this forum, an international panel of officials responsible
for the adoption and implementation of inclusion policies, including policymakers and senior
military leaders from the LGBT community, will discuss questions including:
-- What are the obstacles that hinder inclusion policymaking, and how can reformers and
leaders overcome them?
-- Which lessons have been learned and how can political, military and civil service leaders
use them to further promote inclusion?
-- What policies must the armed forces implement in order to foster a culture of diversity
and inclusion?
-- What are the effects on morale and readiness by openly incorporating LGBT service
members in the armed forces?
-- How have peers, superiors and subordinates of LGBT personnel reacted to the new
policies?
Panelists include retired Navy Senior Chief Petty Officer Kristin Beck, formally
Christopher Beck. Once a member of the elite Navy SEALs, specifically SEAL Team Six, Beck
authored a memoir titled Warrior Princess: A U.S. Navy SEAL's Journey to Coming out
Transgender.”
Another panelist is Dr. Alan Okros, OMM, CD, Professor, Canadian Forces College. He
has 45 years of experience in defense and over 30 years’ experience working on issues of
LBGT inclusion in the Canadian Armed Forces. He led a multi-disciplinary team that
produced the publication Duty with Honour: The Profession of Arms in Canada and
Leadership in the Canadian Forces,” the report that provided much of the foundation for an
inclusive Canadian Armed Forces.
U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. Patricia “Trish” Rose, Mobilization Assistant to the Air Force’s
Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics, Engineering and Force Protection. Promoted to Major
General in May 2016, she is the U.S. Armed Forces highest ranking openly gay officer.
Col. Rodrigo Martins Prates, Brazilian Army, Advisor to Brazil’s Minister of Defense on
Sectoral Policies: Human Rights, Indigenous and Gender, at the Office of the Ministry of
Defense. He holds a Ph.D. in applications, planning and military studies. Prates also serves as
a ministry of defense representative to Brazil’s Women Policies National Committee (2014-
2016) and was the coordinator of Ministry of Defense Gender Commission (2014-2015).

2. U. S. Army Brig. Gen. Randy Taylor, director of architecture, operations, networks and
space at the U. S. Army Office of the Army Chief Information Officer/G-6. In June 2015, He
hosted the Pentagon’s Pride event recognizing the DoD’s LGBT community. Taylor has been
in a relationship with his husband for 19 years, well before the repeal of the DADT policy.
The moderator is Amanda R. Simpson, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for
Operational Energy, responsible for developing the Department of Defense’s strategy for
utilizing energy in support of military operational forces worldwide. Previously, upon
taking office as senior technical advisor at the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of
Industry and Security in 2010, Simpson was the first openly transgender woman political
appointee in any presidential administration. She is currently the highest ranking openly
transgender official in the Obama administration.
To attend in person, please register online at
https://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/eventReg?oeidk=a07ecq9donc92b292ef.
To view the event online, please visit http://chds.dodlive.mil/?p=3716.
The event is open to the public. For more information, email chdsprotocol@ndu.edu.