Santiago J.
Betancourt
State Legislative Committee
Chairman
October 24, 2011
Sons,
The Department of Veterans Affairs has agreed to a settlement of a lawsuit alleging religious censorship at Houston National Cemetery. Local veterans and volunteer groups had accused VA and cemetery officials of banning them from using religious speech - including the words Jesus and God - during services at the cemetery.
Under the settlement, VA has agreed to not ban, regulate or interfere with prayers, recitation or words of religious expression unless asked to do so by family members of the deceased. Veterans families will be allowed to hold services with any religious or secular content they desire.
Also under the settlement, local members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars District 4 and a local organization named the National Memorial Ladies will resign their positions as official VA volunteers and instead will be free to make their services known to local funeral homes that make arrangements for the families and do so in their private capacity. Families can then decide what, if any, services they would like these groups to provide at their committal services.
As part of the settlement, VA has agreed to pay plaintiffs an amount for attorney fees and costs.
YOUR state legislative committee worked hard to spread the message on this issue and the chairman today released a statement:
"The State Legislative Committee of the Sons of the American Legion - Detachment of Texas today applauds the work of the committee and other veteran groups that worked together to get the stance of the DOD changed and reached a settlement. We received calls from across the great State of Texas and beyond on this issue and about how necessary it was that we step in to make sure the pressure was on decision makers to reverse their course on the policy that was in place. We will continue as a committee to work with individual veterans, posts, squadrons and the detachment to make sure that veterans are taken care of in the State of Texas."
Serving our
veterans everyday,
Santiago J.
Betancourt
State Legislative Committee
Chairman
