Our veterans have a special place in Gayle’s heart. Not only did her grandfather, father, husband and daughter proudly serve our country, but Gayle also lived through the Viet Nam era, when returning veterans were disparaged and spit upon. She understands the difficulties our veterans face when they return home and shares with her husband, James, a special compassion for the young men and women he saw wounded in action in Viet Nam.

Gayle was determined to see that our young men and women who were returning home to civilian life after having been wounded in action would have the tools necessary to successfully go on with their lives. She passed legislation to grant tuition waivers to any Florida service member who received a Purple Heart or any superior military service medal.

When a local Navy Reservist had the custody arrangement for her children changed by a Judge while she was deployed to Iraq, Gayle sponsored and passed HB 435, Military Rights/Child Custody to prevent this from ever happening again. It prohibits courts from modifying child custody agreements during the time a parent is activated, deployed, or temporarily assigned to military service unless there is clean and convincing evidence that it is in the best interest of the child to modify the custody agreement. Our service men and women should not have to worry about their children while they are serving overseas and defending us.

Our WWII and Korean veterans are also very important to Gayle. As a former member of the Health Appropriations Committee and current member of the Healthy Families Council, Gayle has made funding a priority for our State Veteran’s Nursing Homes. She is especially proud to see the opening of the Springfield Veteran’s Nursing Home in Port Charlotte.

Gayle has always fought to assure that our service men and women get the very best healthcare. When a lobbyist slipped an amendment into an omnibus healthcare bill that would have lowered the standards for our service men and women’s doctors she fought to repeal it or at minimum require all applicants to be qualified.