Lesbian vet leery of joining Legion

A lesbian who served 10 years in the Air Force is having second thoughts about joining the American Legion after learning this week that the group doesn't include same-sex relationships in its definition of a "natural family."

"To think that my family wouldn't be embraced by the American Legion saddens me," said Valerie Larabee, 45, who served during the first Gulf War and reached the rank of captain. Larabee now lives in Salt Lake City with her partner and is executive director of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual Transgender Community Center of Utah.

The Legion's 2004 policy statement on family is expected to be reaffirmed Aug. 30 during the general session of its 88th national convention at the Salt Palace.

The vote to renew the Legion's Resolution 401 is considered an expression of American values, according to William Pease, deputy director of Americanism and Children and Youth for the American Legion.

"The American Legion believes that marriage is an institution," Pease said. "And it's based on a union between a man and a woman."

When it comes to raising children, the Legion believes a child's biological connection to a married father and mother "reduces the likelihood that either parent would abuse the child."

The Legion goes on to claim how children of a married mother and father experience lower rates of premarital childbearing, illicit drug use, poor health, school failure, behavioral and emotional problems, poverty and arrest.

Sen. Scott McCoy, D-Salt Lake, one of two gay Utah legislators, said the resolution comes off as exclusionary, insulting and "holier than thou."

"I'm always disappointed to see groups take a narrow and shortsighted view of what the American family is," McCoy said.

For Utahns, the Legion's resolution probably sounds familiar. In 2004, the Utah Legislature passed a bill that defines marriage in Utah as being between one man and one woman.

Earlier this year, the Kanab City Council passed a resolution that describes the "natural family" as a marriage, "ordained of God," between a man and a woman who are "open to a full quiver of children."

The Kanab resolution was written in Salt Lake City by Paul Mero, president of the Sutherland Institute, a conservative think tank. Mero's group sent out a press release Friday praising the Legion for its stance on defining family and marriage.

But the language of the Legion's resolution makes Larabee want to do more research before deciding whether to become a member.

"It's kind of discouraging when you look at the fabric of America and understand that it's built from many different origins of what people call family," she said. "Youth are successful in life for a number of reasons. It has to do with a loving environment. It's not a product of a man and a woman living together, necessarily."

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E-mail: sspeckman@desnews.com