Servicemembers Legal Defense Network Executive Director Aubrey Sarvis, who led the nation's largest LGBT military advocacy group in the years leading up to repeal of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell', is leaving the organization, it announced today, and the group will search for a new leader.

Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) today announced the search process for a new Executive Director to be named this spring. On the heels of the announcement of the planned departure of Army Veteran Aubrey Sarvis, SLDN's Executive Director since 2007, the SLDN Board of Directors has retained the executive search firm, McCormack & Associates of Palm Springs, CA, to manage the national recruitment process in collaboration with a designated search committee of the board.

"The search for a new Executive Director comes at a critical moment in the fight for full LGBT equality in our armed forces. Repeal of the discriminatory 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' law, alone, is not enough. The fight for full equality marches forward – especially for those legally married gay and lesbian service members who today do not receive the same recognition, support or benefits for their families as their straight, married peers. The board and staff at SLDN will not rest until we overcome these and the remaining inequalities for LGBT service members," said SLDN Board Co-Chair April Heinze, who chairs the national search committee.

Said Sarvis, in a release: "Working with the team at SLDN on behalf of our nation's LGBT service members has been the great honor of my life. But make no mistake – there is much more to be done. While I will not be on the front lines in the same way I have since 2007, I will be there nonetheless, doing all I can to help us reach a day in this country when there is full equality and every qualified patriot who wishes to serve can do so without fear, discrimination or harassment. That day is coming sooner than many think."