Today we honor our veterans, soldiers and servicemembers for their committment to serving our country and protecting our freedom. This Veterans Day, and every day, we thank you for your service to our country!

Freedom to Marry, in a partnership with SLDN-OutServe, has released a new video to illustrate the differences between a gay solider and a straight solider (hint: there are not any) to highlight the disparities in benefits for gay servicemembers and their partners and families.

Check it out after the jump.

Huge news for LGBT veterans in California who were discharged from the military as a result of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT)!

Today, Governor Jerry Brown signed Assembly Bill 1505, authored by Assemblymember Richard Pan and co-sponsored by Equality California and Sacramento Valley Veterans, which designed to remedy inequities faced by veterans discharged under DADT and its predecessor policies.

More after the jump.

Here at Instinct we've got a soft spot for cyclists (our boys that participated in AIDS/LifeCycle are still feeling it in their quads!).

That's partially why we were so excited to hear about the military vets participating in "The Long Ride Home Project," which started on July 15 in Ocean Shores, WA and is taking the veterans through 12 states, pedaling more than 4,200 miles to their final destination: Washington, D.C.

One of the vets is 27-year-old Marie B. Tracy, a.k.a. Marty. Marty is an openly lesbian veteran who served in the Air Force for 6 years.  More after the jump!

The Marine Corps will be presented with 5,000 signatures from folks asking it to end its relationship with the UFC over the fighting championship's ongoing cultivation of homophobia. Details follow. 

Republican House Leadership have once again chosen to intervene in a challenge to the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and related laws brought by Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SDLN) on behalf of gay and lesbian service members, veterans, and their spouses.

More after the jump.

Democratic House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Whip Steny Hoyer have asked Speaker John Boehner to really think about what he's doing in his war against disabled American veteran Tracey Cooper-Harris. Is that asking too much? 

As Gov. Christie strikes down our rights in New Jersey, it appears that the Obama Administration seems to be steadily moving toward the Promised Land. According to Attorney General Eric Holder, the Department of Justice has concluded that legislation banning same-sex couples from receiving military and veterans’ benefits violates the equal protection component of the Fifth Amendment and will no longer defend the statute in court.

Tracey Harris, an Iraq war veteran battling PTSD and multiple sclerosis, receives $1,448 less compensation annually from the Veterans Affairs administration than her heterosexual counterparts. Because of this shameful discrepency—and the fact that should she die her wife Maggie will receive nothing—Tracey has filed a lawsuit against the VA. The couple appeared on CNN today to discuss inequality and their fight against the "Defense of Marriage Act." Video, after the break. 

In one year, under Obama's administration, Osama went down, Gaddafi went down, DADT went down and now tens of thousands of soldiers are coming home! Screw military experience; President Barack Obama and his administration's handling of militarism is proving to be fierce. Read and watch the President's announcement after the jump.

A landmark decision today by California Attorney General Jerry Brown has granted full benefits to the spouses of GLBTI veterans in the state.

From the press release:

In a major ruling that benefits LGBTI veterans and their domestic partners, The California Attorney General has ruled that LGBTI veterans who reside in California, and their domestic partners are eligible for all the same veteran’s benefits (that are provided by the state of California) that are available to heterosexual veterans and their spouses.

The ruling came as the result of a request for a ruling sent to the Attorney General by the California Commission on the Status of Women.

The ruling said the benefits would be available to LGBT veterans who had been given...

To celebrate our courageous armed forces—such as the two gorgeous cover guys gracing our November Leading Men 2009 Issue, Dan Choi and Victor Fehrenbach—we've taken today's holiday as an important opportunity to highlight the detriments of Don't Ask, Don't Tell. Words don't exist that convey our intense appreciation for the troops and their service, but perhaps sharing a few statistics on DADT in the hopes of its repeal is a way we can begin repaying the American forces.

Thanks to Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, we know that:

Happy Veterans Day to all of our brave (and hunky) service members!

Isn't it sad that the exact thing our courageous armed forces fight every day for—freedom and equality—certain groups feel the need to fight against? Shameful.

If you haven't heard already, a hateful homophobic rally is planned for Monday in D.C., and religious groups continue to back it. After all, what is more Christ-like than fighting tooth and nail to spread intolerance and inequality?

The Christian Anti-Defamation Commission is the largest backer of the hate rally, which, they claim, is necessary to convince Attorney General Eric Holder to repeal Hate Crimes Legislation and to keep full equality for all citizens illegal.

Is this opposite-era? You know,...