Via JMG: House Passes Full Defense Spending Bill With DADT Repeal Attached

Last night the House of Representatives voted in favor of attaching the compromise DADT repeal to its massive Defense spending bill. Although some GOP reps attempted to derail the full bill today, it has just passed by a similar partisan vote. Now the fight returns to the Senate. The Dallas Voice reports:

The Senate Armed Services Committee voted last night to approve the same amendment to their version of the defense bill, but Republicans in the Senate have vowed to keep fighting the amendment when it comes to the Senate floor for a vote. They have said they will filibuster the whole defense bill to try and kill DADT repeal. Even if the amendment passes in the Senate, too, the policy will not be immediately repealed, thanks to a compromise requiring implementation of the repeal to wait until the Pentagon completes a study on its impact — expected in December. Then the president, the defense secretary and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff would have to certify that the repeal wouldn’t hurt military readiness. THEN, when all those hoops are jumped through, there would be a 60 day waiting period before the policy is actually repealed.

The Servicemembers Legal Defense Network has issued the below statement.

With today's successful final passage vote on the defense budget bill, the repeal of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' continues to move forward. We now look to the full senate to pass DADT repeal by mid-summer and bring the defense bill to the President's desk by October 1. While the votes in the House and the Senate Armed Services Committee are historic, it is important for all gay and lesbian, active-duty service members, including those in the reserves and the national guard, to know they're at risk. They must continue to serve in silence under the 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' law that remains on the books. Congress and the Pentagon need to stay on track to get repeal finalized, hopefully no later than first quarter 2011. We thank House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Patrick Murphy for their leadership and working to make sure we had a solid vote in the face of tough opposition.

But the president says that he'll VETO the Defense bill unless Congress fixes issues he has with the planned purchase of fighter planes.

"As the Congress continues its work on funding bills for the Department of Defense, I want to reiterate my strong support for the reforms Secretary Gates is advancing at the Pentagon. He has kept me fully apprised of his efforts to reform how our military operates and bring needed efficiencies to the Department of Defense. I stand squarely behind Secretary Gates' position on the JSF second engine and C-17 programs. As the Statement of Administration Policy made clear, our military does not want or need these programs being pushed by the Congress, and should Congress ignore this fact, I will veto any such legislation so that it can be returned to me without those provisions."

And on and on we go.... reposted from Joe

Via HRC:

Dear Daniel, Yesterday, Congress took two important steps toward finally repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell". First, the Senate Armed Services Committee voted 16-12 to pass an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act that would repeal the 1993 law. It was the first time that Congress had ever voted to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell". The bill is expected to proceed to the Senate floor sometime this summer. Later in the evening, the House voted to pass the same measure 234-194, taking another giant step toward ending "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT). These votes honor the thousands of service members who were discharged or resigned because of DADT. Thousands more serve in silence and untold numbers endure harassment that they cannot even report. We owe it to all of them to get this onerous law repealed. This important step forward happened because of your efforts. Thousands of you wrote postcards, visited your members of Congress, organized your friends and families, wrote letters to the editor, came to veterans lobby day, attended events and worked until the last vote was cast. The actions of Congress speak volumes about the talents of the volunteers, staff, veterans, and allied organizations who got us to yesterday. As we all know, there is more to be done. The bill has not yet passed the Senate floor, and we need to keep working until it passes and reaches the President's desk—where it will be signed. When the President signs the bill, lesbian, gay and bisexual service members will not yet be able to serve openly. As drafted, the amendment that passed yesterday delays implementation until the Pentagon completes its review (scheduled to conclude in December 2010) and the President and military leadership certify that repeal will not harm military readiness. We must continue our good work throughout that process, and not forget that we have not won until all LGBT service members receive the equal treatment that they deserve. It's fitting that these votes occurred just before Memorial Day. We interpret the positive outcomes as proof that our nation's leaders respect the contributions of all Americans, LGBT or not. And with all of the extraordinary work that we put in together, a long weekend doesn't hurt either. We'll be back at work next Tuesday, stronger and more determined than ever. Sincerely, Joe Solmonese President, Human Rights Campaign

Tell a friend: Click here to safely forward this message to a friend. © 2010 Human Rights Campaign Click here to read our privacy policy. Human Rights Campaign 1640 Rhode Island Ave., N.W. Washington, D.C. 20036-3278 Phone: 202/628-4160 TTY: 202/216-1572 Fax: 202/347-5323 Contact Us: www.hrc.org/contactus Click here to unsubscribe or to modify your subscriptions.

Via JMG: Around The World

They are: Cuba, China, Egypt, Greece, Iran, Jamaica, Mexico, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Somalia, South Korea, Sudan, Syria, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Uganda, United States, Venezuela, and Yemen.

(Via - Esquire)reposted from Joe

Via JMG: What Disney Teaches Girls

Not to mention that many of Disney's villains have been older, single, effeminate men.

(Via - Boing,Boing) reposted from JMG

Via JMG: Keith Olbermann & Dan Savage On The Anti-Gay DADT Crazies

Last night Olbermann and Savage talked about all those Hitler loving, soldier-raping, AIDS-carrying gays that the AFA and FRC have been warning you about. And then they get into John McCain's announced plan to filibuster the Senate vote and bring the entire repeal effort crashing down.

reposted from Joe

Sex and the City 2 Gals Talk Gay Marriage

RE DADT: Good News, Bad News

First the good news. Late last night, the Senate Armed Services Committee and the House of Representatives made history, passing an amendment to the Defense Authorization bill to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" -- an historic moment bringing America one significant step closer to ending this discriminatory military policy.

But here's the bad news -- and it's really bad: As we told you yesterday in the message below, Sen. John McCain and the Republicans are planning to filibuster -- yes, filibuster -- the entire defense budget bill to stop the repeal of DADT. To defeat us, the extreme right-wing is cranking up their propaganda machine like they did on health care, behind the homophobic attacks of the Family Research Council.

As Keith Olbermann said on MSNBC last night, "John McCain is marshaling his own resistance to the Senate amendment, inexplicably siding with right-wing fringe groups, who are attempting to out-homophobe each other to prevent historic progress for gay Americans."

This is NOT over by a long shot. We've got big plans to stop John McCain and the Family Research Council -- but we can't launch our campaign without your financial support. To win, we have to fight back immediately. Whether it's $5 or $500, we need your help right now:

http://www.couragecampaign.org/FightBack

To catch up on the rest of McCain's extremist obstructionism as well as what it will take to defeat him, please read the message we sent you Thursday morning before the Senate Armed Services Committee vote...

Dear Daniel --

Today, the Senate Armed Services Committee could make history.

Behind the leadership of Chairman Carl Levin, the Senate committee is on the verge of passing an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act that would remove "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" from federal statute and set the stage for eventual repeal.

That's the good news. The bad news is that this is far, far, far from over.

Roll Call is reporting that Sen. John McCain will "without a doubt" support an unprecedented filibuster of the entire defense budget to stop the repeal of DADT if the bill comes to the floor of the full Senate.

It gets worse. According to the New York Times, McCain also solicited letters from the Joint Chiefs of Staff -- the chiefs of the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines -- that object to the repeal amendment supported by President Obama, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, and Joint Chiefs Chairman Mike Mullen.

McCain's shocking obstructionism is being amplified by the right-wing Family Research Council, which released a video on Wednesday attempting to drive a wedge between the Joint Chiefs and the President, claiming Obama is trying to "force open homosexuality on the military."

This is absolutely outrageous. John McCain and the notorious Family Research Council are declaring war on us. The only way we can stop this Republican filibuster -- and win this war -- is with your support. Please contribute $25, $50, $100 or more now and help us fight back:

http://www.couragecampaign.org/FightBack

We've been organizing against DADT for months -- and we will continue to organize against it for many more months until it's dead and buried. For good.

Fortunately, we've got an equality army ready to go to battle. To date, 280,192 Americans have taken action on DADT through the Courage Campaign. Just this week, thousands more called Congress and more than 15,000 Courage and DFA members committed to hand-delivering Gov. Howard Dean's open letter -- signed by nearly 100,000 Americans -- to Senate offices in all 50 states.

Two weeks ago, the chances of repeal this year looked slim to none. But because of your relentless activism -- and the people power fueled by more than 30 organizations working to repeal DADT -- the Senate Armed Services Committee is on the verge of passing this historic amendment today.

Now John McCain and the extremist Family Research Council are vowing to stop at nothing to crush this movement -- even though a new CNN poll shows 78% of Americans support gays and lesbians serving openly in the military. Only you can help us defeat them. Please make a contribution of whatever amount you can afford now to help us fight back:

http://www.couragecampaign.org/FightBack

Thank you for fighting back today. We can't do this without you.

Rick Jacobs
Chair, Courage Campaign

Courage Campaign Equality is a part of the Courage Campaign's multi-issue online organizing network that empowers more than 700,000 grassroots and netroots supporters to push for progressive change and full equality in California and across the country. To get involved in Courage Campaign Equality, visit "Testimony: Equality on Trial" -- our new campaign to bring the Prop 8 trial into the lives of Americans.

To support our campaign to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," please chip in what you can today:

Today's "WTF is wrong with these bigots?" post:

Link to Story: CLICK HERE

BLOG: IOWA POLITICS INSIDER

Iowa GOP committeeman to gay candidate: I’ll sink you

BLOG POST BY JASON CLAYWORTH • JCLAYWORTH@DMREG.COM • MAY 27, 2010

Iowa’s Republican National Committeeman sent an e-mail this week to a gay member of his party who is considering a run for president and told him he would work overtime to ensure that his campaign aspirations are aborted.

“You and the radical homosexual community want to harass supporters of REAL marriage,” Steve Scheffler wrote in an e-mail to Fred Karger, a longtime civil rights advocate in California who is gay and has announced he is running for president. “. . . I will work overtime to help ensure that your political aspirations are aborted right here in Iowa.”


Fred Karger

Karger, the founder of Californians Against Hate, said he is shocked that one of Iowa’s highest-ranking members of his party would express such disdain.

“The fact that he made such hateful comments, I think is very offensive,” Karger said. “I certainly think he owes me an apology.”

The e-mail sent to Karger was in response to a message by Californians Against Hate that outlined how Maine officials had ordered the National Organization for Marriage to turn over the names of its donors in a recent state election. The group, better known as NOM, opposes equal marriage rights for same sex couples.

The original message from Karger’s group praised “truth and transparency in politics.”

Scheffler acknowledged today that he wrote the e-mail but said he makes no apologies.

“I’m not going to get involved in the presidential caucuses but I’m going to call a spade a spade,” Scheffler said today. “When you have somebody who is this far out of the mainstream of the political party, I’m just going to tell them what I think.”

One Iowa, the state’s largest civil rights group for gay and lesbians, said the situation demonstrates intolerance within the Republican Party.

“The Iowa Republican party wants to portray themselves as a big tent party, but when it comes right down to it leaders like Scheffler have shown little tolerance for those with different views,” said Carolyn Jenison, the executive director of One Iowa. “They’ve increasingly tried to purge their party of pro-equality Republicans like Karger and former Lt. Gov. Joy Corning. This goes beyond marriage, this is about excluding people from the political process.”

Matt Strawn, chairman of the Republican Party of Iowa, did not return a phone call about Scheffler’s e-mail. Danielle Plogmann, Communications Director for the Republican Party of Iowa, said Strawn was out of the office Thursday and that this issue is not one that he wants to comment upon.

Here’s Scheffler’s e-mail to Karger as sent from his BlackBerry:

You don’t care about transparency–you and the radical homosexual community want to harass supporters of REAL marriage. I am the Republican National Committeeman for Iowa. As a private citizen and knowing literally thousands of caucus goers, I will work overtime to help ensure that your political aspirations are aborted right here in Iowa. Have you studied our past caucuses–you have NO chance here in Iowa!

Gay McDonald's Commercial / McDonald’s faz comercial gay na França

Obrigado Andre

Assunto: McDonald’s faz comercial gay na França
Para:

Um hamburguer com tempero arco-íris é o que pode ser vislumbrado no comercial da rede de fast food McDonald’s na França. Um jovem está na lanchonete vendo uma foto com várias pessoas. Recebe uma ligação e diz que está com muitas saudades enquanto acaricia alguém na imagem. Logo, diz que precisa desligar porque o pai está vindo.

O pai chega e diz: “É a foto da sua turma? Eu me parecia com você na sua idade. As garotas eram loucas por mim. Pena que só há meninos na sua classe. Você faria muito sucesso”. A resposta do jovem é um sorriso de quem não discorda nem concorda com a afirmação. Por fim, um slogan aparece: “Venha como você é”. Antes da fome, dá uma raiva de uma ação dessa estar longe de acontecer no Brasil...

Rachel Maddow- Dont ask_ dont tell nears repeal

Via JMG: BREAKING: Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) Agrees To Support DADT Repeal

Adam Bink is reporting on Open Left that Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) has agreed to be the final necessary vote to move the DADT repeal out the Senate Armed Services Committee and onto the floor for a full vote.

I was told Sen. Nelson's message is going to be that this isn't about the next election... what the [Lieberman-Levin] amendment does is "remove the politics and puts the policy at DOD first." He will emphasize that nothing will happen until after the review is completed and implementation is planned, and that's the way it oughta be handled. He will further emphasize that the current policy is "just not honest" and "just not the way it should be handled". Big, big, big news. As I reported last night, Sen. Bayh is a "soft yes", and if he fully commits, we will have the votes in hand on the Armed Services Committee.

In the House, repeal sponsor Rep. Patrick Murphy says he has the necessary votes to pass the bill.reposted by JMG

Via JMG: TONIGHT: Missionaries Of Hate

Tonight at 10PM CurrentTV will air Missionaries Of Hate, a documentary about anti-gay American evangelicals working in Africa to further the brutalization of LGBT people there.

Just as it was during the life and times of Harvey Milk, the movement against homosexuality in Uganda is being led by a group of conservative Christian evangelicals. And the arguments they’re using are an echo of Anita Bryant and the Save Our Children campaign. "I know that homosexuals cannot biologically reproduce children,” Bryant said in 1977. “Therefore, they must recruit our children.” More than 30 years later, our cameras were rolling as Ugandan pastor Martin Ssempa brought a young woman to a press conference to testify about how she had been allegedly recruited to be a lesbian. “American money...is being used to seduce our children into homosexuality,” Ssempa said. “This bill is in response and desire to protect our children.” The connection, while decades apart, is perhaps not so surprising if you believe those who trace the current anti-gay campaign in Uganda back to March 2009. That’s when three American evangelicals were invited to speak at a conference in the country about how Africans can protect themselves from homosexuality. Being gay in Uganda was never easy. But according to many local gay and human rights advocates, it was that conference where the depiction of homosexuality as predatory by nature gained currency in Uganda.

Here is the trailer for tonight's show.
reposted from Joe