Josh Seefried

Who is Josh Seefried?

Josh Seefried is an active duty first lieutenant in the United States Air Force, an LGBT rights activist, and is a former co-chairman on the Board of Directors of OutServe-SLDN which is bills itself as the association of LGBT military. A graduate from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 2009, Josh was formerly known by his pseudonym JD Smith during his campaign to end the discrimination against lesbian, gay and bisexuals serving openly in the United States military.

Using social networking tools such as Facebook, Seefried organized LGBT active-duty military personnel into an underground association OutServe. To preclude outing himself as gay while serving on active duty in the Air Force, a violation of the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy for which he could have been prosecuted and discharged, he assumed the leadership role and interfaced with the media and officials in the Pentagon and the White House using only his pseudonym. He has appeared on CNN, HLN, and MSNBC in shadow; additionally, his comments continue to be regularly sought after by the media as a representation of lesbian, gay, and bisexual actively serving military members. He was an invited guest to the presidential signing of the legislation to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”