The American Gold Star Mothers, a national organization of mothers whose children died in war while serving in the U.S. armed forces, voted this week to allow noncitizens to join its ranks after the group was widely criticized when it denied membership to a Yonkers, N.Y. mother who is a Filipino citizen.

The organization, which includes about 1,200 women, unanimously approved the change during its national convention in Dallas, Texas last June 27.

The Veterans of Foreign Wars Local 2285, in Eastchester, N.Y., had repeatedly asked the group to allow Ligaya Lagman, a legal resident, to join after her son, Anthony, 26, an Army staff sergeant and an American citizen, was killed in Afghanistan last year.

The Gold Star Mothers, based in Washington, received hundreds of critical e-mails, as well as a letter signed by more than a dozen congresswomen.

New York Gov. George Pataki and other lawmakers urged the group to change its rules.
Judith Young, the newly elected president of the group, said in a statement that she would “reach out” to the mothers with pending applications.

“This change to our constitution was the right thing to do, but we had to make the change the right way,” said Young.

But Ben Spadaro, a former commander of the Eastchester post, said he was unsure that the policy change ensured that Lagman would become a member. Lagman stopped pursuing her application last month after widespread news media attention had subsided.

“I think she might reconsider,” Spadaro said, adding that Lagman was not speaking publicly about the issue. “But I think she’s been severely hurt and I can’t blame her. All of the sudden it sort of just hits you in the gut.”

Several Gold Star members had also petitioned the leadership to amend the organization’s constitution to abolish the citizen requirement, which had been established when the group began in 1929.

“It was a 77-year-old rule that needed changing, and it should have been changed long ago,” said Dorothy Oxendine, who was the group’s national president in 2003. “There’s no reason to think that any mother’s grief is easier than any other.”

Spadaro said he would use the victory to help convince the national V.F.W. and Disabled Veterans of America that they should also amend their bylaws to allow noncitizens to become members.

“It’s only justified that if they can fight in the military, that they should also be able to join these organizations when they return,” Mr. Spadaro said.

“Instead they come back and we ask, ‘Are you a citizen?’ I wonder if the bullet had the same question when it came to these boys.”
“This change to our constitution was the right thing to do, but we had to make the change the right way,” said Judith Young, the group’s new president.

More than 140 military service members who were not U.S. citizens have died in Iraq and Afghanistan. Legal residents who are not citizens have long served in the U.S. military.