Friday Afternoon, January 26, 2024

MRFF VICTORY!!!

MRFF VICTORY FOR LGBTQ+ VETERANS!!! 

VA CHAPLAIN’S APPALLINGLY OFFENSIVE 

ANTI-LGBTQ+ DISPLAY REMOVED

FROM VA MEDICAL CENTER!

VA Chaplain Zachary Stephens was the chaplain at the Alaska VA’s Colonel Mary Louise Rasmuson Campus in Anchorage until last October, and although he left this facility several months ago for another VA medical center, his clear contempt for the LGBTQ+ community lived on in Anchorage in the form of his hateful parting message, prominently hanging in a large, glass-covered wall display box in the hallway outside what had been his office.

As one of MRFF's six clients who receive their health care at the Anchorage facility, three of whom are members of the LGBTQ+ veteran community, wrote in an e-mail to Mikey Weinstein:

“I cannot stand to have to pass this kind of hate

every time I go to the pharmacy.” 

VA Chaplain Zachary Stephens's anti-LGBTQ+ parting message at the

Alaska VA’s Colonel Mary Louise Rasmuson Campus in Anchorage

MRFF OP-ED

ON DAILY KOS

Trending story on Daily Kos

MRFF victory for LGBTQ+ veterans!

VA chaplain’s appallingly offensive

anti-LGBTQ+ display removed!

By: MRFF Senior Research Director Chris Rodda

Friday, January 26, 2024

I must start off by saying that the Alaska VA Healthcare System itself is extremely supportive and affirming of the LGBTQ+ veteran community, with its facilities displaying pride flags and prominently placed pride posters and very positive posts on its Facebook page for dates like National Coming Out Day and Transgender Day of Remembrance, going beyond simply posting what the VA requires them to.

That said, there are bad apples even at the best facilities, and Chaplain Zachary Stephens, the chaplain at the Alaska VA’s Colonel Mary Louise Rasmuson Campus in Anchorage until last October, is one of those bad apples. Even though Chaplain Stephens left this facility months ago, his clear contempt for the LGBTQ+ community lived on there in the form of his parting message, hanging in a large, glass-covered wall display box in the hallway outside what had been his office.

Chaplain Stephens’s spiteful sign-off took the acronym LGBTQIA and mockingly turned it into the following taunt:

As I depart, I pray you will be

Living the

Gospel, defending it with

Biblical

Truth,

Quietly, (by example) and

Intentionally (by word)

Always

Also hanging in his repugnant wall display were a bookmark and sign from the Ark Encounter theme park, both bearing the anti-LGBTQ+ message “THE TRUE MEANING OF THE RAINBOW – GENESIS 9:13.”

As one of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation’s (MRFF) six clients at this Anchorage VA facility, three of whom are members of the LGBTQ+ community and five of whom are Christians, wrote to MRFF when sending us photos of this disgusting display:

“I cannot stand to have to pass this kind of hate

every time I go to the pharmacy.” 

It’s hard not to surmise that Chaplain Stephens’s misguided moral imperative to scoff at the LGBTQ+ veteran community in such a visible way in that location just might have been driven by the row of large, VA-approved LGBTQ+-affirming “Pride in Service” posters hanging in the same hallway as his hate-in-a-box.

After a series of contentious phone calls and e-mails between MRFF’s Mikey Weinstein and an annoyingly apathetic administrator at the facility, who at one point lied and told Mikey that the display had been taken down when a MRFF client who was there checked and found it still up, this self-important administrator grudgingly did his job and removed it, this time sending Mikey a photo as proof.

Shortly afterwards, Mikey received this e-mail from one of the six Alaska clients who will no longer have to see Chaplain Stephens’s hate on display every time they go to the pharmacy:

From: (MRFF Client/U.S. Military Veteran’s e-mail address withheld)

Subject: VICTORY

Date: January 24, 2024 at 5:49:38 PM MST

To: Mikey Weinstein <mikey@militaryreligiousfreedom.org>

I reached out for help removing what I saw as a blatant anti-lgbtq sign hanging outside of the Anchorage Alaska VA's Chaplains office with MRFF. I was contacted the same day incredibly fast by Mr. Weinstein and through his and others at MRFF I found out that I wasn't alone with my feelings about this homophobic poster in the lobby of the VA medical center. Besides myself there were 5 other Christian veterans along with one Nontheist veteran all seeking the help of MRFF. Two identified as gay and one as bisexual. I finally felt heard about an issue that if I had brought it up would probably be dismissed out of hand or worse open myself up to retaliation. The Anchorage Alaska VA is a special place for me, because without their intervention I'm sure that my life would have ended years ago. I always saw this VA as a welcoming place for all orientations, religions and races so seeing that horrible sign hanging in the VA medical center lobby hit me really hard. Thank you MRFF for being able to listen and step in immediately to help on these issues. You got us the win! These days it is so important to fight for REAL American values. 

(MRFF Client/U.S. Military Veteran’s name and all other ID withheld)

While Chaplain Stephens and the remnants of his hate are now gone from the Alaska VA’s Colonel Mary Louise Rasmuson Campus, this homophobic holy man has not left the VA, and will no doubt bring his “Christian” contempt of the LGBTQ+ community to the veterans at the VA medical center in Salisbury, North Carolina.

Some highlights of MRFF’s long-time advocacy on behalf of LGBTQ+ service members and veterans