OutServe is an association of actively-duty LGBT military personnel of more than 4,400 members that launched a little over a year ago from a members-only Facebook page.  Currently the organization has more than 40 chapters worldwide and was able to go public with the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.  The group bills itself as “one of the largest LGBT employee resource groups in the world.”  OutServe supports a professional network of LGBT military personnel that actively works to create an environment of respect within the military for people of all sexual orientations and gender identities.

The organization is not about letting gay people serve, explains Cathy Renna, Managing Partner, Renna Communications and a member of Outserve, it is about recognizing the gay people who are already serving.  She says there are 30 people from the Service Academies who attended the inaugural three-day conference in Las Vegas last week as well as a half dozen cadets from Westpoint who attended on official orders.

The sold out OutServe Armed Forces Leadership Summit held at the New York New York Hotel and Casino from October 13 to 16, 2011, in Las Vegas  included representatives from Knights Out, Military Acceptance Project, Service Academy Gay and Lesbian Association (SAGALA), Service Women’s Action Network (SWAN), PRIDE Institute, Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA).

The conference also included celebrated LGBT activists such as Katie Miller; Jeff & Lori Wilfahrt, whose gay son , Corporal Andrew Wilfahrt, was killed in a roadside explosion in Afghanistan; and Doug Wilson, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs, who spoke about how being accepted as a gay man was critical to job performance.

One woman who was a 25-year retired military commander revealed in a closed session how insidious the former policy was.  She and her partner designed a home built for parties, yet never felt able to host them for fear of reprisals that could mean the end of her career.  Even  potential overtures of friendship were suspicious.  When a superior sent Christmas cards that included her partner and children in the address, she was conflicted she revealed.  “I didn’t know whether he was saying, ‘I know and don’t care.’ Or ‘I know and I can destroy you.’”  And to ask, would be the ultimate tell.