As part of the Pride Month festivities at Big Daddy D, we invited Brigadier General Tammy Smith, the first openly gay U.S. Flag Officer in the military, to kick off Pride week! Her and her wife, Tracey Hepner, were AMAZING and very personable.
General Smith made a great story teller :) Her overall message resonated around a story about her "Aunt Bev". Basically when her and her partner were getting married, they decided to not invite their Aunt Bev, a devout religious person, because they felt it was in her best interest and that they were shielding her, that way she didn't have to feel uncomfortable or have to make the decision to come or not. Afterwards, Aunt Bev was saddened to find out she wasn't invited. Something that her and her wife were trying to do by shielding her aunt, in fact, really instead hurt her. She said that this often happens with the LGBT community and we need to switch this mentality so that maybe more people will take the time to learn about LGBT people and maybe alter their views.
Afterwards, her and her wife stayed around and networked and answered a lot of questions. In fact, they were the last ones to leave! Only people who were still there when they left were me and my boss!
Her partner, Tracey, founded the Military Partners and Family Coalition, which supports all military families.
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