Via JMG: DOD Revises DADT Discharge Procedure

In response to the murky legal waters currently swirling around DADT, the Pentagon has announced it is raising the rank of persons able to make the call to eject a gay or lesbian servicemember. Chris Geidner reports at Metro Weekly:

Discharges under the military's ''Don't Ask, Don't Tell'' policy will now take the approval of the service branch secretary, and only in consultation with the defense department general counsel and the undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, according to a pair of memoranda issued by senior military leadership today.

Until further notice, pursuant to a memorandum from Defense Secretary Robert Gates and a follow-up memorandum from Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Clifford Stanley, no service member can be discharged under DADT without the ''personal approval of the secretary of the military department concerned, and only in coordination with me and the General Counsel of the Department of Defense.''

The message I'm seeing is that the Pentagon intends to make it extremely hard to kick someone out.

Labels: DADT, DOD, military, Pentagon

reposted from Joe

Via JMG: Openly Gay Fort Worth City Councilman Joel Burns Speaks To Ellen DeGeneres

Fort Worth City Councilman Joel Burns & Husband J.D. Angle On "The Last Word"

JMG:

Morning View - GLAAD's Spirit Day

I haven't shaved in ten days, hence the cropping, but at least I remembered to wear purple for GLAAD's Spirit Day. Hopefully the folks at Chirpin' Chicken will find this meaningful when I leave the apartment for lunch.

L

abels: GLAAD, LGBT youth, Morning View, suicide

reposted from Joe

It Gets Better: Google Employees

Via JMG: GLAAD Promotes Oct. 20th As "Spirit Day"

GLAAD wants to turn the world purple on October 20th.

The idea behind Spirit Day, first created by teenager Brittany McMillan earlier this month, is a simple one, not dissimilar to the idea of "Spirit Week" held in many high schools, and can be summed up in three words: Everyone Rally Together. Spirit Day honors the teenagers who had taken their own lives in recent weeks. But just as importantly, it's also a way to show the hundreds of thousands of LGBT youth who face the same pressures and bullying, that there is a vast community of people who support them. Purple symbolizes 'spirit' on the rainbow flag, a symbol for LGBT Pride that was created by Gilbert Baker in 1978. As one of the event's Facebook pages says: "This event is not a seminar nor is it a rally. There is NO meeting place. All you have to do is wear purple."

I do have a lovely purple dress shirt.....

Labels: activism, GLAAD, LGBT youth, suicide

reposted by Joe

"It Gets Better" (Broadway sings for the Trevor Project)

Meghan McCain On Rachel Maddow 10/18/10

Homophobia Literally Kills: Football Game

Via JMG: Enormous Consequences

The Palm Center has launched Enormous Consequences, a website created in reaction to Press Secretary Robert Gibbs' recent statement about the overturn of DADT.

Above is a clock with the running total of hours during which gays have been allowed to serve openly, as well as a chart with the number of reported consequences of the new policy. The Palm Center has submitted a Freedom of Information Act request for documentation on all negative consequences that result from the new policy.

Labels: DADT, Obama administration, Palm Center, Robert Gibbs

reposted from Joe

Via JMG; Military Recruiters Told To Accept Gays

The Pentagon today told armed services recruiters to begin accepting openly gay men and women into the military.

Spokeswoman Cynthia Smith said Tuesday that top-level guidance has been issued to recruiting commands informing them that the military's "don't ask, don't tell" rule has been suspended for now. Recruiters also have been told to inform potential recruits that the moratorium could be reversed at any point.

Groups like Servicemembers United have cautioned those already serving not to come out until the DOJ's appeal is (hopefully) resolved in their favor.

Labels: DADT, DOJ, LGBT rights, military, Pentagon

reposted from Joe

Meet NOM

Via JMG: "Hang Them": Uganda Paper Publishes Names And Photos Of "Top 100 Homos"

CBS News today picked up on the story of a Uganda newspaper publishing the names and photos of the country's so-called "top 100 homos." The yellow banner under the headline reads "Hang Them!"

In the days since it was published, at least four gay Ugandans on the list have been attacked and many others are in hiding, according to rights activist Julian Onziema. One person named in the story had stones thrown at his house by neighbors. A lawmaker in this conservative African country introduced a bill a year ago that would have imposed the death penalty for some homosexual acts and life in prison for others. An international uproar ensued, and the bill was quietly shelved. But gays in Uganda say they have faced a year of harassment and attacks since the bill's introduction. The legislation was drawn up following a visit by leaders of U.S. conservative Christian ministries that promote therapy they say allows gays to become heterosexual. "Before the introduction of the bill in parliament most people did not mind about our activities. But since then, we are harassed by many people who hate homosexuality," said Patrick Ndede, 27. "The publicity the bill got made many people come to know about us and they started mistreating us."

Box Turtle Bulletin, the leading U.S.-based blog for LGBT issues in Uganda, has been all over this story since it first broke on October 4th. BTB's Jim Burroway reports that many of the published photos were harvested from Gaydar and Facebook profiles. Last week BTB noted that Rolling Stone (unrelated to the U.S. music title) had been shut down by the government for reasons that may or may not be related to the "top 100 homos" issue.

Labels: Africa, Box Turtle Bulletin, Christianists, LGBT rights, Uganda

reposted from Joe

Secretary Clinton: "Tomorrow Will Be Better"

Ty - It Gets Better Project

Via JMG: HomoQuotable - Jonathan Capehart

"Now, truth be told, with a stroke of a pen, Obama could end don't ask don't tell through a back-door maneuver such as a 'stop loss' order. Meaning all troops who come out or are revealed to be gay or lesbian would not be discharged. The rationale could be that because the nation is at war it needs every ready, willing and able servicemember. And it would be the single-most irresponsible action the president could take.

"Leave aside the antagonism it would create between the commander in chief and the armed forces. Think of the jeopardy Obama would put gay troops in if he did sign an executive order. Once such an order is signed, gay troops would be right to want to come out of the closet to finally live their lives honestly. Here's the problem: if Obama is defeated in 2012 or is succeeded by a Republican in 2016, the new president could rescind the order.

"If the ban, which is an act of Congress, has not been repealed by Congress by then, all those gay and lesbian troops who have come out would then be in violation of the law banning them from serving openly in the military. To please a base constituency in the short term Obama will have endangered the careers of gay troops in the long term." - Jonathan Capehart, writing for the Washington Post.

Labels: Barack Obama, DADT, HomoQuotable, Jonathan Capehart

reposted from Joe

It Gets Better - A Message From The Sisters

On Dag Øistein Endsjø and Buddhist nuns...

My Dutch/Kiwi colleague, Sonja was kind to share the work of Dag Øistein Endsjø .  In looking at his work I came across the following quote: 

Few things cause more involvement, passion and zeal within a religious context than sex. While the Catholic Church in Spain generally remained perfectly calm during almost forty years of Franco’s systematic oppression of most of the most basic human rights, it immediately initiated demonstrations with hundreds of thousands of believers the very moment a democratically elected government suggested legalization of same-sex marriages. -Dag Øistein Endsjø

During the sitting last nite my mind wondered to the anger place (briefly... sigh) and before I brought myself back, I thought I should rewrite the above, so this morning, I rewrote it to say:

Few things cause more involvement, passion and zeal within a religious context than sex. While the Bahá’ís throughout the world remained silent during almost a half century of systematic oppression of most basic human rights in Latin America and other developing countries, it is now expelling it’s GLBT members, supports reparative therapy, and anti-gay legislation in Africa and South America; all this at the very moment that numerous democratically elected governments are suggesting legalization of same-sex marriages.

Last nite at SBMG… Arinna Weisman an absolutely amazing Buddhist nun led the sitting and gave the dharma talk.  She began by talking about privilege… she grew up in apartheid S. Africa. She talked about how automatically if you are white, Christian heterosexual, educated… it comes with free assumptions... vs  people of color, non-Christian, GLBT…  it was astonishing… as she talked to us about being a queer Buddhist nun… and the inequities found within the  Buddhist community.  

I cannot imagine any Bahá’í public figure talking so candidly about the inequities and about their  life in such a way.  It was respectful, it was refreshing and it was very honest.

One of my hurdles I am crossing related to organized religion is the thought of priests and ministers and teachers... last nite gave me chills, she was astonishing... reminding me of some sort of an oracle... questions, a pause... a profound answer... these people are smart, respectful and honor differences and science and law and ecology...  and are able to link it all to spiritual practice... she went on to talk about ridding ourselves of our anger towards those who repress us ( I still need time on this one).

I left feeling grateful for the dysfunctional homophobic Bahá’í Faith, for if it had not thrown me out, I would never had entered on this new deeply meaningful and liberating path. I am beginning to feel that 30 years of trying to work with the Bahá’ís has left me spiritually damaged, and very, very alone. Tho I have no intention of being a queer Buddhist nun ;-)  She left us thinking about how Buddhism is transforming itself once again because of its contact with the Americas… I cannot wait to see what it is like in Brasil.

Via JMG: Robert Gibbs On Obama's Process Of Ending DADT