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The diversity and heritage committee aboard the Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge (LHD 3) hosted a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month observance, June 29.
During the event, members of the committee announced the formation of the ship’s chapter of Gay, Lesbian and Supporting Sailors.
GLASS is a peer-to-peer group consisting of LGBT Sailors and supportive Shipmates. The organization provides resources for Sailors who want to increase their understanding of the LGBT community or seek an open environment to share their thoughts and feelings.
GLASS began at Naval Station Great Lakes, Illinois, on Feb. 13, 2012. Since then, a number of chapters have been established across the fleet.
Interior Communications Electrician 3rd Class McKennan Lurz, one of the founding members of the Kearsarge chapter of GLASS, learned about the organization while stationed at Naval Station Great Lakes in 2015.
“I spent more than two years trying to get it started on this ship and now it’s finally happening,” Lurz said. “It’s a program that’s definitely needed, especially with the new transgender instruction. Some people feel like they are not able to talk to their peers about their or other’s lifestyles.”
Due to Kearsarge’s operational schedule, it took some time for GLASS to be stood up. However, Lurz never gave up and continued to push to form the group for his Shipmates.
“For me, trying to come out as a bisexual Sailor was very difficult when I joined the Navy,” Lurz said. “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell had been repealed for a while, but there was still a lot of ignorance about the LGBT community. It made for a lot of uncomfortable situations. When people find out, they tend to act different around you. GLASS provides a forum where you just talk to people and not have to worry about awkwardness.”
Senior Chief Information Systems Technician Lauren Boulay believes GLASS will be a welcome resource for current and future generations of LGBT+ Kearsarge Sailors.
“GLASS is not something that was around for me,” Boulay said. “When I joined, Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell was still in effect, so to see us come this far and have this program available to Sailors is amazing. This is something that didn’t exist when I was a junior Sailor and maybe it would’ve helped me as I was learning and growing, so I hope that it provides that for some people.”
The first meeting of Kearsarge GLASS is scheduled to be held on July 5.
Kearsarge is deployed to the U.S. 6th Fleet area of operations in support of regional allies and partners as well as U.S. national security interests in Europe and Africa.
For more news from USS Kearsarge (LHD 3), visit http://www.navy.mil/local/lhd3/ and “Like” https://www.facebook.com/kearsarge.
| Date Taken: | 06.30.2019 |
| Date Posted: | 07.04.2019 07:13 |
| Story ID: | 330336 |
| Location: | ATLANTIC OCEAN |
| Web Views: | 49 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Kearsarge Supports LGBT, by PO2 Kaitlyn Eads, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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