Josh Seefried (born February 6, 1986) is an
LGBT rights activist, a former
captain
Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...
in the
United States Air Force, and a former co-chairman on the Board of Directors of ''OutServe-SLDN,'' an association of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender members of the U.S. Military. A graduate from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 2009, Josh was formerly known by his
pseudonym JD Smith during his campaign to end the discrimination against lesbians, gays and bisexuals serving openly in the
United States military.
Using social networking tools such as
Facebook, Seefried organized
LGBT active-duty military personnel into an underground association ''
OutServe
OutServe-SLDN was a network of LGBT military personnel, formed as a result of the merger between OutServe and the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network. OutServe-SLDN was one of the largest LGBT employee resource groups in the world. OutServe was ...
''.
To preclude
outing
Outing is the act of disclosing an LGBT person's sexual orientation or gender identity without that person's consent. It is often done for political reasons, either to instrumentalize homophobia in order to discredit political opponents or to com ...
himself as gay while serving on active duty in the Air Force, a violation of the then-
Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy for which he could have been prosecuted and discharged, he assumed the leadership role and interacted with the media and officials in the
Pentagon
In geometry, a pentagon (from the Greek πέντε ''pente'' meaning ''five'' and γωνία ''gonia'' meaning ''angle'') is any five-sided polygon or 5-gon. The sum of the internal angles in a simple pentagon is 540°.
A pentagon may be simpl ...
and the
White House using only his pseudonym.
He has appeared on CNN, HLN, and MSNBC in shadow; additionally, his comments continue to be regularly sought after by the media as a representative of lesbian, gay, and bisexual actively-serving military members. He was also an invited guest to the presidential signing of the legislation to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."
On October 27, 2012, the two organizations OutServe and SLDN merged. Seefried was voted co-chair of the board of directors, making him the youngest at 26 to co-chair any major LGBT organization. Seefried later resigned from the Board of Directors and left OutServe-SLDN.
Book: ''Our Time''
Shortly following the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell", Josh worked with several LGBT military men and women to compile a book, ''Our Time: Breaking the Silence of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"'', .
References
8.
Podcast: Veteran, employee, Don’t Ask Don’t Tell repeal advocate
External links
Personal website and blogOutServe-SLDN*
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Seefried, Josh
1986 births
Living people
American LGBT military personnel
American LGBT rights activists
United States Air Force officers
Don't ask, don't tell
LGBT people from Colorado