American Veterans for Equal Rights (AVER)

The nation's oldest and largest chapter-based, all-volunteer LGBTQ+ Veterans Service Organization, and the only LGBTQ+ VSO recognized by the Department of Veterans Affairs. Founded in 1990 by Army Reserve SSgt. Miriam Ben-Shalom — discharged for being lesbian and a longtime litigant against the ban — originally as the Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Veterans of America. Non-partisan and dedicated to full and equal rights and equitable treatment for LGBTQ+ current and former service members historically disenfranchised by discriminatory military policy, across recruitment, training, promotion, honors, and benefits. Chapters across the country (including CA, CO, DC, DE, FL, GA, HI, IL, IN, MO, MN, NC, NM, NY, OH, TN, TX, WA) provide a safe space for LGBTQ+ veterans to honor pride in both their service and their identity, peer support and healing from service-era trauma, and a structured program pairing recent veterans coping with PTSD with older veterans who have navigated the same. Active on transgender military service and benefits-equity fights. Membership-based; chapters are locally led.

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