Great First Day!

After I had posted my last message I met my new roommate for the summer, he was just getting back from church. He just finished his sophomore year (under 21) and is a social conservative from Missouri. Needless to say we have little in common. But this is a journey and I am positive about all experiences and he knows DC better than I do, so his help is greatly appreciated. He also informed me that we have an iron and ironing board in our hall closet. FAIL! I'm so glad that I spent three hours looking for winkle spray!

I woke up plenty early the next day because, as my mother taught me, always plan time to get lost. So naturally I got lost twice and my commute to work that should take 15 minutes took an hour. Luckily, I was only a couple of minutes late and the director was very understanding. The DC Log Cabin Director's name is Christian Berle. He has been involved with the Log Cabin Republicans for a couple of years and is very outgoing and has made me feel welcome. Our office is located within the Arent Fox LLC building that focuses on lobbying and law within politics. I am slowly meeting several people around the office and this upcoming Monday the new Executive Director will move in.

Christian and I started the day grabbing coffee and going over several expectations and tasks for me. This will definitely be a great learning experience because my first task is to update our website.... TECHNOLOGY! I am also writing the Log Cabin Blog and running our twitter, so watch for those updates as well. After some time in the office starting the website, Christian treated me to lunch. We grabbed salads at a local cafe (there weren’t any business women's specials unfortunately) and ate in the park at Dupont Circle.

After lunch, we headed to the Brookings Institute for a speakers panel on "Lessons Learned from the Service of Gays and Lesbians in Allied Militaries." The program discussed gays and lesbians serving in foreign militaries. Military leaders from Canada, the UK, Australia, Israel, the Netherlands, and Sweden all gathered to describe their experiences and share the policies that allow homosexuals to openly serve in their militaries. The allied military leaders shared the consensus that the problems are few to none by allowing homosexuals to openly serve, and actually strengthen their forces.

“Gays and Lesbians are just as effective as straight soldiers. Sexual orientation has no effect for how well a person does their job,” declared Commander Luc Cassivi, a seasoned naval officer of the Canadian Forces.

It was a great session and I learned a lot. I worry though that the military leaders were too positive and neglected to share any negative learning experiences. I was fortunate enough to meet several influential people at the panel, such as Dr. Nathaniel Frank. Nathaniel has spent most of his professional life focusing on homosexuals in the military and authored a world famous book Unfriendly Fire: How the Gay Ban Undermines the Military and Weakens America.

Later that evening Christian, remarkably, invited me to a personal dinner to celebrate Nathaniel and his work. The dinner was at an upscale townhouse in DC. (Almost 200 years old restored) Some of DC's most prominent LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, for those of you unfamiliar with the community) activist were in attendance. I networked with numerous influential people and had a great time in conversations. The catered meal was outstanding and of course wine too!

I was at the dinner and event until around 10:00PM, which left me no time to purchase bedding anywhere so another night on the couch, oh well. It was worth it. I received a signed copy of Nathaniel's book and was surrounded by inspiring people who have tirelessly worked for the cause of repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" to ensure equal rights for all Americans. I look forward to joining this campaign and contributing my efforts for a more equal inclusive nation.

It was a long, yet fabulous, first day with Log Cabin Republicans!

Lesson Learned: Always have a glass of wine in your hand and a smile on your face to ensure a successful dinner party