Nation’s first LGBTQ Veterans Coordinator speaks on campus

The nation’s first-ever LGBTQ Veterans Coordinator Nathaniel Boehme made several appearances around campus on Monday.

Boehme, who is a Utah State University alumni, said he is proud of the strides the USU community has made in regards to LGBTQ rights and representation.

“When I was a 23-year-old veteran student here, still struggling with my own sexuality, I don’t know if I would have seen this kind of community,” Boehme said. “Kudos to you all.”

He spoke at the David B. Haight Alumni Center during an installment of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences alumni lunch series. He also gave a presentation for the Veteran’s Resource Office Veteran’s Day Celebration in the Sunburst Lounge, and finally attended a screening of a documentary about LGBTQ veterans.

Boehme served for seventeen years in the United States Air Guard and Reserves. He graduated from USU in 2007 and is almost finished with his second master’s degree. He lives with his husband in Oregon where he works for the Oregon Department of Veterans’ Affairs advocating for the rights of LGBTQ veterans, including the right to change the official status of discharges related to the now-repealed “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. The former U.S. law prohibited homosexual people from serving in the U.S. military if they acknowledged their sexual orientation. The 1993 law was repealed by Congress in 2010, effective in 2011. Openly LGBT individuals are now able to serve.

“Breaking the Silence,” the documentary which screened on Monday evening, features firsthand accounts from LGBTQ veterans about their experience serving in the military. The documentary is available through the Department of Oregon Department of Veterans’ Affairs website.