The wife and daughter of Cmdr. Penny Glover change out her shoulder boards to commander during a promotion ceremony at Navy Recruiting District New York headquarters. (U.S. Navy photo by Chief Mass Communication Specialist Travis Simmons/Released)

Every so often, I get emails from the U.S. Navy’s Office of Community Outreach regarding activities and honors involving local men and women serving in the Navy. I usually read the information and look at the photos they send, but I rarely ever publish what they send — not because it’s not interesting and not because our local servicemen and women’s accomplishments aren’t noteworthy. It’s just that Dallas Voice is the LGBT newspaper, not just a general interest publication.

If I had some way of knowing that the sailors/officers mentioned in the press releases were not just local but also LGBT, I would publish them in a heartbeat. One time I even hit the reply button and asked that the person on the other end if there were some way they could let me know when they were sending info on an LGBT sailor/officer. They didn’t answer though, so I took that as a no.

There have been a rare few times, though, when there was no doubt about the LGBT interest of the press release they sent. And although it doesn’t involve anyone from North Texas, I wanted to share it, just because in a day and age when our officials seem to be working so hard to drive us back into the closet — if not into extinction — it’s great to see our military honoring and recognizing an openly lesbian officer and her family.

So everybody congratulate Penny Glover, the prospective executive officer of the New York Recruiting District for the U.S. Navy on her promotion to commander. Cmdr. Glover is a native of Uniontown, Penn., and graduate of Northeast Senior High School in Pasadena, Md. She is also a graduate of Cedar Crest College, the Naval War College and Capella University.