Membership Restricted to U.S. Citizens
By JIM FITZGERALD, AP
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (May 27) - Everyone agrees that Ligaya Lagman is a Gold Star mother, part of the long line of mournful women whose sons or daughters gave their lives for their country. Her 27-year-old son, Army Staff Sgt. Anthony Lagman, was killed last year in Afghanistan, but American Gold Star Mothers Inc., has rejected Lagman, a Filipino, for membership because - though a permanent resident and a taxpayer - she is not a U.S. citizen.
'There's nothing we can do because that's what our organization says: You have to be an American citizen,' national President Ann Herd said Thursday. 'We can't go changing the rules every time the wind blows.'
Why not?
