Friday, December 10, 2010
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Via Senator Boxer: Now is the Time to Repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”
Now is the Time to Repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”
by U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer
In 2003, Air Force Major Margaret Witt, a decorated flight nurse, saved the life of a critically ill Defense Department civilian who collapsed during a commercial aircraft flight coming home from Seeb Air Base in Oman.
For her actions, Major Witt received the Air Force Commendation Medal. But, shockingly, she was later discharged from the Air Force because of the ill-advised “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. After a lengthy court battle, Major Witt last week learned that she will be able to rejoin our military.
“The men and women in the unit are like family members to me,” she said, “and I’ve been waiting a long time to rejoin them.” Major Witt and thousands of other brave service members have been waiting far too long.
The United States Senate has a historic opportunity right now to repeal the Pentagon’s discriminatory “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy once and for all. Now that the Pentagon has completed its comprehensive review of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” we have a chance to move our country forward toward full equality – and we must not waste it.
According to a recent CNN poll, 78 percent of the American people think we should allow gays and lesbians to serve openly in our armed forces. The vast majority of our brave men and women in uniform believe this change will not hurt our military's effectiveness. When they were asked as part of the Pentagon's just-released review of "don't ask, don't tell," 70 percent of our service members said repealing this discriminatory policy would be positive, mixed or have no impact on their ability to do their jobs.
They understand that we cannot keep expelling stellar service men and women from the military for reasons that have nothing to do with their ability to protect our nation. It harms our national security.
We know that U.S. service men and women are already fighting in Afghanistan alongside gays and lesbians who serve openly in the armed forces of our allies, such as Australia and the United Kingdom.
Not only does "don't ask, don't tell" hurt our military, it costs our nation.
At a time when our nation is confronting record deficits, American taxpayers have been forced to pay up to a half a billion dollars to replace the 13,000 service men and women discharged under this policy.
"Don't ask, don't tell" simply does not reflect who we are as Americans - which is why I have opposed the policy since it was proposed back in the 1990s. The strength of our military, just like the strength of our nation, is grounded in a fundamental belief that all people are created equal and deserve the same rights and opportunities. Denying someone the opportunity to serve our country because of who he or she may love runs counter to our values.
President Obama has said that he wants to repeal "don't ask, don't tell." The courts are increasingly striking down parts of the law. The House of Representatives has passed legislation to repeal it. And the Pentagon has extensively prepared to implement this change. As Admiral Michael Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has said, repealing "don't ask, don't tell" is simply "the right thing to do." All that remains is for the Senate to act.
Via JMG: UTAH: Parents Upset Over Gay Suicide Signs Posted Near Elementary School
Administrators and parents at a Utah elementary school are upset because a man who lives adjacent to the school has posted the above signs. Leonard Ridley lives next to Art City Elementary in Springville. He recently posted three signs on his fence, facing the playground after he read news about the recent rash of gay suicides. "The signs of course say stop gay suicide, tell the truth, gays are born gay," Ridley said. "I realized at that point that I was in an enviable location in back of the school and this would be an opportunity to provide information to the children tat would be carried to the adults in their lives, to the teachers, to their parents in particular and carry information concerning homosexuals and homosexuality that would perhaps contradict with the mistaken ideas that they already had."Saying that many parents had complained, school officials said that suicide was an inappropriate subject for elementary school students. The city has declared that the size of the signs exceed zoning codes and Ridley has agreed to post only one sign at a time.
(Tipped by JMG reader Alan)
Via JMG: Motion To Consider DADT Fails 57-40
Sen. Susan Collins did vote YES. Sen. Scott Brown voted NO. I'll have the full roll call shortly.via JMG: DADT Failure Reactions
GetEQUAL
I have to be honest -- I just vomited a little in my mouth. The Senate just voted on whether to bring the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) up for conversation. Not for passage -- just for conversation. It failed. We all laid everything we could on the line for this bill -- a piece of legislation that would have repealed "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." We all know that gay and lesbian Americans are just as patriotic and capable as straight Americans -- but dysfunctional Senate processes, a homophobic Republican Party, and a spineless Democratic Party got in the way of equality once again.Human Rights Campaign
"The Senate’s apparent refusal to act on ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ repeal makes Presidential action imperative in order for him to fulfill his state of the union promise,” said HRC President Joe Solmonese. “The only measure of success is an end to the discharges and anything less is unacceptable.” Under his powers to ensure national security following the September 11 attacks, the President has the ability to issue stop-loss orders preventing certain service members from discharge. Pending an enduring solution to this unjust and discriminatory law, the President can and should suspend DADT-related discharges under the stop-loss provision. “In this time of war, we cannot sustain a policy that has already deprived our military of thousands of service members, many with critical skills in fighting terrorism,” said Solmonese.OutServe
Today’s vote is heartbreaking and demoralizing to all members of OutServe - and the tens of thousands of gay, lesbian, and bisexual service members - who must continue to serve in silence and live a lie. No words can describe how it felt to watch our U.S. senators uphold discrimination and perpetuate the deceit and compromised integrity that consistently result under "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." We had more faith in our elected officials to heed the advice of military leadership and vote against prejudice. Instead, a minority of senators have successfully blockaded the entire defense spending bill on the basis of prejudice and politics.Servicemembers United
"This was a major failure on the part of the Senate to simply do its job and pass an annual defense authorization bill. Politics prevailed over responsibility today, and now more than one million American servicemembers, including tens of thousands of gay and lesbian troops, are worse off as a result," said Alexander Nicholson, Executive Director of Servicemembers United and a former U.S. Army interrogator who was discharged under "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." "Since the votes are there in isolation, the Senate should still consider a stand-alone bill to repeal the 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' law before adjourning for the winter holidays."
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Via JMG: Obama Calls Senators On DADT
Metro Weekly's Chris Geidner reports that President Obama today contacted members of the Senate asking for their support of the Defense Authorization Act, which includes the repeal of DADT.
White House spokesman Shin Inouye tells Metro Weekly, "The President has been reaching out to Senators from both sides of the aisle to reiterate his desire to see Congress pass the National Defense Authorization Act, including a repeal of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell', during the lame duck."This morning Sen. Harry Reid indicated that he may bring the cloture vote on the bill to the floor this evening.
Aubrey Sarvis, the executive director of Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, said in a statement this morning, "Reid is actively reaching out to his Republican colleagues to reach an agreement on how to proceed. We also know from Hill sources the President is actively working today's vote with key Republican senators. Today the Senate has an opportunity to make the nation's defense funding and our service members a higher priority than tax cuts for millionaires."
Via JMG: HomoQuotable - Dustin Lance Black
"Harvey Milk spent the last years of his life fighting not only for rights for gays and lesbians across the nation, but also against the idea that the only way to achieve those rights is to lobby the government and financially support so-called 'straight allies'. Harvey believed the best way to secure our rights was through grassroots action, coalition building and the election of LGBT people to office at all levels of government. He encouraged people to come out of the closet and be vocal about who they were and why they deserved full equality, not partial equality or crumbs. For the HRC leadership, which still advocates a piecemeal, wait-and-see approach to try and co-opt and profit from Harvey's legacy is an outrage." - Oscar winning Milk screenwriter Dustin Lance Black, in a joint statement with the Log Cabin Republicans denouncing HRC's move into Harvey Milk's camera store.RELATED: Wayne Besen of Truth Wins Out is denouncing the LCR's denouncement.
Before I hear the Log Cabin Republicans whine about HRC, I want to see these Uncle Marys pave the way by making the Republican Party more friendly towards LGBT Equality. When Log Cabin recruits and puts forth viable candidates that can actually be endorsed, we can begin an honest discussion. Until then, they are just blowing smoke where the sun don’t shine. As for Black, he ought to pick his fights and friends more carefully. Right now he is a hero. I would hate to see his moral authority erode by getting bogged down in community infighting when he ought to keep his eye on the ball by battling our real enemies — most of whom happen to be Republicans.
Via JMG: KANSAS: "Little Apple" Gets LGBT Rights
With the backing of Kansas State University, the city commission of the small town of Manhattan, Kansas, known locally as the "Little Apple," has narrowly approved a sweeping LGBT rights ordinance by a vote of 3-2. The vote was hotly followed across major anti-gay websites as a possible harbinger of the continued march for equality out of the big cities and into the heartland.The American Family Association laments:
In Manhattan, Kansas, city commissioners have passed a controversial "anti-discrimination" ordinance creating a special protected class for the sexually confused. The move has many Christian leaders dismayed at the direction of their rural Kansas town. Kansas Family Policy Council director Donna Lippoldt attended the meeting. She shares her reaction to the vote. "I don't think that the rest of the people in the state have any idea that they're sending their children to a university that has [endorsed] the gay agenda -- and [that] they just want more and more people to come who have this lifestyle," laments the family advocate. "It was very, very disappointing."The virulently anti-gay Canada Free Press weighs in:
If you are simply shaking your head and giving thanks this debacle is not taking place in your town, be ready for a scary surprise in your morning paper. In April of 2010 Manhattan, Kansas, deep within the Bible Belt of the heartland, had its first gay pride parade. Then, by political fiat, the month of June was name by the Manhattan mayor pro tem as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Month. Now in December, three out of five liberal politicians, on behalf of a minority group with a political agenda, are about to create a liberal city ordinance more extreme than anything seen in San Francisco. This new ordinance will be used as a civil hammer to beat traditional values into submission, and the shock waves will be felt around the country. Toto, we are in a big fix, because Kansas is about to be no longer in Kansas anymore.Welcome out of the woods, Little Apple.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Via JMG: Tom Brokaw: Networks Should Continue Giving Airtime To Anti-Gay Hate Groups
Speaking to the Advocate's Julie Bolcer, former NBC anchor Tom Brokaw said that networks should continue to give airtime to vicious anti-gay hate groups because that may spark outrage and create a national discussion. "I don’t think you can shut down free speech,” he said. “We’re a free speech society. They’re entitled to their positions however wrong they may be. How do you begin to censor things?” Last month, Dan Savage of the It Gets Better campaign criticized CNN on air for interviewing antigay leaders such as Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council, which the Southern Poverty Law Center has labeled a hate group. He said the attention legitimized the idea that there are “two sides” to gay and lesbian issues.This Friday, Brokaw will host a documentary on the USA network titled Bridging The Divide, in which will cover various civil rights issues including LGBT rights. The Advocate notes that Brokaw does not interview anti-gay groups in the documentary.
Brokaw argued that coverage of antigay viewpoints serves a purpose in that it can generate the kind of outrage that prompts nationwide conversations. He said the issue reminded him of his earlier years reporting on the civil rights movement, although he declined to draw a direct comparison. “I was called a Communist, but there were people who used the n word and said, ‘It’ll never happen in my lifetime,’ and in some ways, that was useful, because the rest of the country saw how outrageous it was and how intolerant it was,” he said. Asked how antigay views should be presented, he said, “You just say that they’ve got strong opinions. You treat like them like anyone else. You cross-examine and ask them the right questions.”
Monday, December 6, 2010
Via Courage Campaign:
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The so-called National Organization for Marriage has declared war on the judicial branch of America's government, in its neverending quest to shred the 14th Amendment's guarantee of equal protection under the law.
First, NOM attacked Judge Vaughn Walker's perceived sexual orientation. Then they organized a judicial jihad in Iowa, abusing the purpose of a retention vote to force three state Supreme Court justices off the bench for their historic unanimous decision to allow same-sex marriage.
Now, in the last 96 hours, NOM mobilized 300,000 members to attack one of the three appeals court judges who will determine the fate of Prop 8. Prior to today's hearing before the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, the "Yes on 8" attorneys attempted to disqualify Judge Stephen Reinhardt from the case. The reason? His wife works for an organization that opposes Prop 8.
Their weak legal motion was immediately denied, but that didn't stop NOM from mobilizing their members to crush the Ninth Circuit's phone lines in an egregious attempt to bully the court, to no apparent end. As Adam Bink wrote Friday on Courage's Prop 8 Trial Tracker web site:
"If a judge is about to do something that NOM doesn't like, NOM will viciously attack the judge on any grounds it can find -- judicial independence be damned."
With NOM declaring war on the judicial branch, it's up to you to stop them. That's why we launched the Prop 8 Trial Tracker -- to hold NOM and the Yes on 8 attorneys accountable for their outrageous attempts to undermine the case against Prop 8. But without donations from people like you, the site would not exist. To keep coverage going, we need your help urgently. Please show your support by contributing $25, $50, $100 or more right now:
http://www.couragecampaign.
Today, the Prop 8 Trial Tracker is the eyes and ears of marriage equality supporters, with more than 3.7 million views and 84,000 comments and counting. If you haven't been reading Prop8TrialTracker.com on a daily basis, you've missed some amazing moments.
The best part might actually be what's happening in the comment threads of each Prop 8 Trial Tracker post. The relationships that have formed in the comments -- and the discussions and debates that have developed -- are sometimes quite moving and emotional. Two people even met on the site and have been dating ever since.
Meanwhile, NOM is spending $10 million a year attacking LGBT families, while cultivating the animus and isolation that leads to tragedies like the recent spate of LGBT teen suicides. Right now, even with the Prop 8 case potentially on its way to the Supreme Court, NOM is moving to roll back marriage equality in New Hampshire and other states.
We can't continue to hold NOM accountable and bring you breaking news on the Prop 8 case if we aren't able to cover the costs of the Prop 8 Trial Tracker. To continue our relentless coverage, we urgently need your financial support. Please show your support right now by making a tax-deductible contribution of $25, $50, $100 or more today:
http://www.couragecampaign.
Thank you so much for supporting our work to hold NOM accountable and bring the case against Prop 8 into the lives of Americans. We can't do it without you.
Rick Jacobs
Chair, Courage Campaign Institute
The Courage Campaign Institute 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 support the Prop 8 Trial Tracker, please chip in what you can today:
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