Las Vegas part of Six City Tour Highlighting Efforts to Repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"

LAS VEGAS, April 28 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A reception at the Gay & Lesbian Community Center of Southern Nevada marks the midway point in a six city tour organized by Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) to highlight efforts to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." The tour, which takes SLDN executive director Aubrey Sarvis from San Diego to Palm Springs before making stops in Las Vegas, Denver, Boulder, and Colorado Springs, is an initiative aimed at educating Americans on the effort to lift the ban on lesbian, gay and bisexual service personnel.

"'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' results in the loss of thousands of talented, skilled service members our military desperately needs. We are here to engage Nevadans in the effort to lift the ban on gays in the military." said Sarvis. "Change, real change, doesn't come from the top-down, it rises from the ground-up. Real change doesn't start in Washington; it starts in the rest of the country, it stars right here in Las Vegas. Poll after poll show Americans favor lifting the ban, so we need to turn that support into a call for action that Congress cannot ignore."

According to Gary Gates at UCLA's Williams Institute, Nevada is home to nearly 10,000 lesbian and gay military veterans; 7,000 of which live in Las Vegas. An estimated 65,000 lesbian and gay service members serve on active duty and in the reserves of the United States armed forces.

Since 1993, more than 12,000 men and women have been dismissed under "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." The Military Readiness Enhancement Act (H.R. 1246), which would repeal the law mandating that the U.S. military fire lesbian and gay employees, currently has 142 co-sponsors in the U.S. House of Representatives, including Las Vegas Representative Shelley Berkley.

The reception will be held on Tuesday, April 29, 2008 at the Gay & Lesbian Community Center of Southern Nevada located at 953 E. Sahara # B-31 Las Vegas. Doors open at 6:00pm.

Servicemembers Legal Defense Network is a national, non-profit legal services, watchdog and policy organization dedicated to ending discrimination against and harassment of military personnel affected by 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' and related forms of intolerance. For more information, visit www.sldn.org.