GLAA Forum

Star Spangled Banner -- Whitney Houston

In the aftermath of the death of singer Whitney Houston on the eve of the Grammy Awards, her talents have been fittingly celebrated. Her early death, like that of too many other stars, presents a cautionary tale of the pressures of fame. What has annoyed me in the past few days, though, has been the endless series of short clips showing her singing just a few bars of this or that.

Here, then, is the complete video of her glorious rendition of the American National Anthem at the Super Bowl in 1991, in honor of those who served in the first Gulf War. Speaking of the troops, taking care of each other is one of the hallmarks of military training and bonding. The lesson to take from Houston's untimely death is not only to take care of yourself, but to look out for each other. Addiction is not something one can overcome alone.

In watching her performance again, the long-held final note is the most glorious thing of all. She had good teachers, including her mother. This was a young woman who knew the mechanics of singing and put it all together to make the absolute most of her gifts.

From deployed military in Bagram: It Gets Better

Bravo to these American servicemembers deployed in Bagram, Afghanistan for making this video. They are: SSGT Steven Procter, SSGT Shelise Harmon, AT2 Erin Jones, SPC James Velazquez, SPC Curtis Robinson.

Leaked video shows U.S. Marines urinating on dead Taliban members

Joe Jervis shares this latest dishonorable demonstration of a breakdown in military discipline. You can follow the link to view the video; I do not wish to show it. Jervis also links to news reports about this. As he notes, there will be blowback.

"Any President Mr. Romney? Really?"

From the Democratic National Committee.

DADT repeal one year later

Since all the problems predicted should DADT be repealed have failed to appear, you have to wonder why all of the Republican candidates seem to want to reinstate it. That is, other than pandering to the religious right.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Naval homecoming

The Virginian Pilot reports:

It’s Tuesday morning around 10:30 a.m. when the Oak Hill finally comes into view, its steel-gray bow peeking out from behind a grove of green trees at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek.

It’s been three months since the dock landing ship left home for Central America, and all of the usual fanfare is waiting to greet its crew: crowds of cheering families, toddlers dressed in sailor suits, and the lucky, excited woman who’s been chosen to take part in a time-honored Navy tradition, the first homecoming kiss.

In this case, that woman is 22-year-old Citlalic Snell. She’s a sailor herself, assigned to destroyer Bainbridge, but today she’s in civilian clothes – jeans, boots and a stylish leather jacket. Watching pierside as the Oak Hill pulls into port, she absent-mindedly twists the small diamond ring that’s on her left hand.

Ah, but it's the first lesbian homecoming kiss. This moment is a small but glowing example of what is at stake in the coming election.

BTW, this story is the top item at HuffPo as I write this.

Manning's lawyers raise red herring of gender identity disorder

Lou Chibbaro reports in the Blade:

Attorneys representing Pfc. Bradley Manning, a 24-year-old Army private previously identified as gay, startled observers at a pre-court martial hearing on Saturday by saying allegations that Manning leaked classified U.S. intelligence information could be linked to a personal struggle over his gender identity.

Revelations that Manning created a Facebook page under the name Breanna Manning, that he dressed in women’s clothes, and he told an Army supervisor that he was suffering from gender identity disorder surfaced on the second day of a military proceeding known as an Article 32 hearing at Fort Meade, Md.

The key passage in the article, though, is this:

Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, said she is concerned that revelations about Manning’s gender identity could be incorrectly interpreted as the cause for his alleged wrong-doing.

“It’s totally unrelated,” she said. “I don’t know him and all I know about this is what I’ve read in the papers. But whether he’s trans or not has absolutely nothing to do with whether he committed treason or whatever he’s accusing of doing.”

Amen, Mara.

Update: Dan Choi has been barred from the Manning hearing. Oh, the humanity!

Obama prepares pitch to gay voters

(President Obama with Frank Kameny in 2009. Photo by Getty Images)

Politico has an interesting article by Joseph Williams on President Obama's ongoing efforts to appeal to gay voters as the 2012 election looms:

It seemed at first a major violation of message discipline: Shaun Donovan, President Barack Obama’s secretary of housing and urban development, “absolutely” endorsed same-sex marriage in an interview last month, a position in contrast with his boss, who famously declared that his own views on the issue are “evolving.”

Perhaps more remarkable than Donovan’s statement is what happened in its aftermath: Nothing.

The White House merely said the cabinet secretary had spoken only for himself. And while he hasn’t elaborated on his statement since then, Donovan wasn’t compelled to walk it back, either — remarkable for an administration in which staying on message is sacrosanct.

Donovan’s statement came in the midst of a series of high-profile gay rights initiatives. Taken as a whole, the moves fit well into the sales pitch Obama’s 2012 campaign is ready to make to the gay and lesbian community: We’ve done more for gay rights in our first three years than most administrations do in eight — and we’re not done yet.

The article quotes blogger John Aravosis making a point that I made recently to the Blade — that the President might as well finish his evolution in the direction of supporting marriage equality because those who will be offended enough by such a move to not vote for him are already opposed to him. And as the article points out, Rick Perry's recent anti-gay ad (which denounces the newly won right of gay people to serve openly in the military) demonstrates that Obama's already taking the hit electorally for his existing pro-gay record. Going all the way with an embrace of marriage equality will help him fire up his base without having much cost that he isn't already paying. Go for it, Mr. President.

Line of the week: 44 fights back

President Obama succinctly responds to several Republican presidential candidates who accused him of appeasing Israel's enemies. The notion that this hawkish president is a weakling because he doesn't make himself a doormat for Bibi Netanyahu was always ridiculous. Now Newt Gingrich rejects the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian dispute which has been American policy since LBJ. Which brings up a candidate for runner-up line of the week — Rep. Ron Paul slamming Newt's statement that the Palestinians are "an invented people" as needlessly "stirring up trouble."

Defense bill's repeal of anti-sodomy provision brings out the beast in the radical right

Right-wing hysteria alert! The Advocate reported last week:

The [Senate version of the defense authorization] bill repeals Article 125 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, which bars troops from engaging in consensual sodomy, with offenders tried before a court-martial. LGBT activists have long campaigned for this provision to be removed from the code, pointing out that it has remained a part of military law years after the Supreme Court’s 2003 Lawrence v. Texas decision struck down sodomy laws that apply to civilians.

Servicemembers Legal Defense Network officials had hailed the repeal when it was approved by the Senate Armed Services Committee and did so again upon approval by the full Senate, noting that it has been recommended not only by advocacy groups but by legal scholars. The House version of the bill does not contain the repeal provision, so it is one of the things that must be reconciled between the two chambers before the bill goes to President Obama for his signature. Other differences to be worked out address whether same-sex weddings can be performed on military bases.

The repeal apparently scared many antigay groups, which are trying to scare their supporters even more. An article on the ultraconservative website CNSNews.com, headlined “Senate Approves Bill that Legalizes Sodomy and Bestiality in U.S. Military,” notes that Article 125 defines sodomy as “unnatural carnal copulation with another person of the same or opposite sex or with an animal.” As conservative leaders do allow that bestiality could still be prosecuted as an offense against good military order and discipline, it’s clear they’re using it as an attention-getter and that their true concern lies elsewhere — as evidenced by this quote from Family Research Council president Tony Perkins:

“It’s all about using the military to advance this administration’s radical social agenda,” Perkins told CNSNews.com. “Not only did they overturn don’t ask, don’t tell, but they had another problem, and that is, under military law sodomy is illegal, just as adultery is illegal, so they had to remove that prohibition against sodomy.”

Since then, the right-wing cries over the bill have escalated. Since the bill has to go to a House/Senate conference committee to resolve differences — the sodomy repeal provision is not in the House version — and GOP members of that committee can be counted on to demand that the Article 125 repeal be dropped, we need to push back on the hysteria mongering. I would like to ask those who are worked up on the issue of bestiality to explain to us who exactly they think is hot for which animals. This sure seems like a candidate for a non-existent problem.

OTOH, I just remembered that a popular motion picture just twenty years ago prominently celebrated the most depraved sort of human-animal coupling. See the video clip above, which shows it being singled out for honors. And the lyrics to the offending song were written by a gay man. Shocking! We're all going straight to hell!

A gay atheist responds to Rick Perry

Andy Cobb at Second City responds to Gov. Rick Perry's recent campaign ad.

Update: There's some nasty infighting on the right over Perry's over-the-top bigoted ad. Where's my popcorn?

Perry campaign ad attacks gay military service, "Obama's war on religion"

This lying, openly bigoted ad by Gov. Rick Perry is another illustration of why LGBT rights advocates cannot afford to be idle or silent during the 2012 campaign.

HRC responds to Perry:

The ad comes one day after Perry likened bold new steps by the Obama administration to tackle international human rights abuses of LGBT people to the president waging a “war with people of faith in this country.”

This is not the first time Perry has used Christianity as a means of advancing himself politically. Earlier this year, Perry held a Christian-only day of prayer in Houston. At the event, some of the nation’s most virulently anti-gay leaders and organizations addressed the crowd and even joined hands with Perry onstage. Perry worked with leading anti-gay extremist groups on the event, including the American Family Association and individuals from TheCall and the International House of Prayer.

Perry’s message is factually incorrect. Polling commissioned by HRC and conducted by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research found that nearly 90 percent of Christians believe their faith leads them to the conclusion that the law should treat all people equally, including LGBT people. Learn more about the broad amount of Christian support for issues of LGBT equality.

Log Cabin responds to Perry:

Log Cabin Republicans strongly object to the advertisement put out by Governor Rick Perry’s campaign about ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ and ‘traditional American values.’

“Governor Perry is running to be Commander-in-Chief, not Theocrat-in-Chief,” said R. Clarke Cooper, Log Cabin Republicans Executive Director. “Our nation was built upon individual liberty and individual responsibility, and open service by gay and lesbian servicemembers is directly in line with the vision of our Founding Fathers. It is wrong for Governor Perry to assume being a person of faith does not afford one to support equality. America is at a crossroads and our next President must be someone who is battle-focused on turning around the economy and enabling all Americans the freedom to succeed.”

Golden Hour

(Photo by Robert Dodge)

My column for Thanksgiving uses thoughts on the passing of Frank Kameny as a jumping-off point for a celebration of leadership and carrying on the fight. Here's a portion:

It was the "golden hour" of late afternoon on Nov. 3 during the viewing for gay rights pioneer Frank Kameny when I walked outside the Carnegie Library for some fresh air. I had been greeting people arriving to pay their respects. The sun hung low above the White House to the southwest, bathing the cars on New York Avenue in a golden light. Charles Francis, co-founder of the Kameny Papers Project, sat beside me as I searched for a WiFi signal for my new iPad. The first book I had downloaded was Frank’s 1961 petition to the U.S. Supreme Court, which Charles had published on Kindle. New tools, old struggle.

Two hours later, night had fallen when I walked behind Frank’s flag-draped casket. There at curbside under a half moon stood Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, Mayor Vincent Gray, several D.C. Council members, and an honor guard of gay servicemembers. They were a testament to how far we’ve come since Frank first fought back. Inside earlier, the Rock Creek Singers of the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington had sung three selections including a gorgeous a cappella "Star-Spangled Banner."

Speaking at a memorial gathering for Kameny on Capitol Hill on Nov. 15, Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) praised Kameny’s assertiveness, noting he was no "shrinking violet." He drew laughter when he said he appreciated Kameny for proving that effective activism did not require being a neat dresser.

We are all Kameny’s legacy. That is one of the blessings I count this Thanksgiving.

Read the whole thing here.

A man who would be President

Herman Cain here is not having a Perry-style brain freeze; he is simply an ignorant person bullshitting.

Frank Kameny in his own words

Here are a couple of interviews that Frank Kameny gave in recent years. Above, he lucidly summarizes fifty years of activism in a few minutes. Below, he talks about the struggle against the military gay ban and explains that Dan Choi was chaining himself to a fence at the wrong end of Pennsylvania Avenue, since DADT was statutory and needed action by Congress. If you and I live into our 80s, we can only hope to be as sharp and sensible as Frank was all the way to the end. It's hard to believe I can't call him up as I did so many times for so many years.

Gingrich on DADT

Thank goodness this hypocrite is unelectable.

Military chaplains granted religious freedom

The AP is reporting that military chaplains gotten the OK to perform same sex weddings both on and off-base.

The Pentagon says a military chaplain may officiate at any private ceremony, but isn’t required if it would conflict with his or her religious or personal beliefs.

All Christians do not oppose LGBT equality. This policy protects the religious liberty of everyone. The same way DC marriage equality law does.

Randy Philips comes out to his mom

Randy Philips, a 21-year-old soldier based at Ramstein Air Base in Germany drew quite a bit of attention when on September 20th he came out to his dad on the repeal of DADT.  He had been posting videos about his coming out process for several months and recorded the phone conversation with this dad.  The video of this was discussed on network TV and has had over 4 million views on YouTube.  Later that evening he came out to his mom, a much more difficult act, which you will see in this video clip.  The touching thing in both videos is his desire to not be rejected by his vamily.  He sought assurances that he was loved from both his mom and his dad.  Earlier generations often faced expulsion from the family for being gay.  It is a measure of social change that this would now be widely criticized.

Another interesting thing is that while the Marine Corps was reportedly the most resistant branch of the service to repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell, after repeal they seem to be the service most accepting.  The marines are also the most intensley bonded service, often thinking of themselves as like family.  In sociological terms this is called a high level of ethnocentrism, and tendency to see people in groups or as 'our people' versus 'those people'.  This is desireable since they see themselves opposing 'the enemy' which they are supposed to kill.  However, now that gay people are accepted in the family of marines you can expect they will be the service most protective of their family.  This will probably surprise a lot of politicians.

Ninth Circuit rules Log Cabin case moot

This just in from Log Cabin:

Ninth Circuit, Department of Justice Erase Ruling Upholding Constitutional Rights of Servicemembers
(Washington, DC) - Log Cabin Republicans are disappointed that the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled in favor of the Department of Justice, declaring Log Cabin Republicans v. United States moot and vacating the federal court ruling which declared "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" unconstitutional.

"Log Cabin Republicans v. United States said more than 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' should be repealed - it stood for the fundamental constitutional rights of servicemembers not to be discriminated against by the nation they serve. President Obama should be ashamed that he is responsible for undoing that important precedent," said R. Clarke Cooper, Log Cabin Republicans Executive Director. "The ruling in Log Cabin Republicans v. United States is the reason why Congress finally acted to end this failed and unconstitutional policy. This decision by the Ninth Circuit denies more than 14,000 discharged gay and lesbian servicemembers an important means of obtaining justice for the wrong perpetuated against them under the ban, and leaves open the possibility of future violations of servicemembers' rights. The court can vacate this ruling, but that does not change the fact that 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' was unconstitutional. Log Cabin Republicans are proud to have brought this case, proud of our victory at trial, and proud that the ruling in Log Cabin Republicans v. United States provided the necessary motivation to make repeal of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' a reality."

Lead plaintiff's attorney in Log Cabin Republicans v. United States, Dan Woods of White & Case, emphasized that the case is not over, saying, "We are, of course, disappointed by today's ruling but we will continue to fight on for the constitutional rights of all people impacted by Don't Ask, Don't Tell. This is an important issue for all Americans and we anticipate seeking re-hearing before the full Ninth Circuit."

# # #

I agree with Log Cabin. Let's hope that this ruling doesn't come back to bite us. That is, let's hope that the Republicans don't win control of both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue in 2012, after which — with no new legislation — a new President, a new Secretary of Defense, and a new Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff could simply return us to the status quo ante.

Chris Geidner reports at Metro Weekly.

Coulter defends booing of gay soldier, is defended by GOProud

Right-wing performance artist Ann Coulter, in her latest column, predictably springs to the defense of Republican debate audience members who booed gay soldier Stephen Hill last week:

At the time of the vote -- five minutes ago -- only eight Republicans in the entire U.S. Senate supported eliminating Don't Ask, Don't Tell. It's safe to assume that no one on the stage supported this sexualization of the military, except maybe one of the nut candidates polling at 3 percent.

This is not an anti-gay position; it's a pro-military position. The basic idea is that sexual bonds are disruptive to the military bond.

Soldiers, sailors and Marines living in close quarters who are having sex with one another, used to have sex with one another or would like to have sex with one another simply cannot function as a well-oiled fighting machine. A battalion of married couples facing a small unit of heterosexual men would be slaughtered.

Is Coulter unaware that straight soldiers are sexual beings? Has she somehow missed the massive cultural evidence (war movies, military humor) that straight soldiers are not celibate? Of course not. This is her standard shtick, which is fact-free provocation. It should nonetheless be noted, for the benefit of the easily misled, that her prejudicial assumptions are contradicted by a sizeable body of evidence that gay soldiers have been just as disciplined and effective as their straight counterparts. Remember, the facts are not erased by Coulter's scornful posturing.

As to her claim, "A battalion of married couples facing a small unit of heterosexual men would be slaughtered": First, no one is suggesting such a battalion, except perhaps for military historians familiar with the Theban Band. Second, why don't we test her assumption of gay weakness and indiscipline by setting up a contest along the lines she describes, but with non-lethal weapons? How about it, Ann? Give us our Billie Jean King moment. The thing is, though, that most straight soldiers do not agree with Coulter, and are quite happy to fight alongside their gay comrades. Nor is this particularly new. What is new is that gay servicemembers can no longer be drummed out of the service arbitrarily.

BTW, Coulter also says that "patriotic gays should come out against girls in the military." Pardon me, but those are women, not girls. Coulter also pretends that everyone who disagrees with her — that is, the overwhelming majority of the American people — is a crybaby.

One of the pleasures of next year's election will be in seeing this harpy's smug certitudes disappointed.

Incidentally, to quote Katie Couric (who was referring to someone else), will someone please give that woman a sandwich?

Meanwhile, Chris Barron of GOProud defends Coulter. Barron likes to imagine that he and his sidekick Jimmy LaSalvia enrage gay liberals. No, Chris, you are only causing embarrassment.

Obama knocks Perry, GOP debate audiences

President Obama had some choice words at a Silicon Valley fundraiser yesterday for Texas Gov. Rick Perry and the recent Republican debate audiences:

I mean has anybody been watching the debates lately? You've got a governor whose state is on fire denying climate change. It's true. You've got audiences cheering at the prospect of somebody dying because they don't have healthcare. And booing a service member in Iraq because they're gay. That's not reflective of who we are.

Gov. Perry, in response, is deeply offended that the President is playing, gasp, politics.

(Hat tip: Joe Jervis)

A question for GOP presidential candidates

MoveOn.org has an excellent question for Republican presidential candidates after last night's debate, where none of them spoke up in defense of an American soldier serving in Iraq after he was booed by the audience.

(Hat tip: Michael Crawford)

GOP debate audience boos gay servicemember after question on DADT repeal

The audience at the latest Republican presidential debate boos Stephen Hill, a soldier serving in Iraq, and lying bigot Rick Santorum says that sex should not be an issue in the military while making a big issue out of gay servicemembers' sexuality. Perhaps the most famous film portrayal of sex and the military is the beach scene in From Here to Eternity featuring Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr. Why is the idea of straight sex okay but the prospect of gay sex brings cries of outrage?

Remember these Republican debate audience reactions as the 2012 election heats up. If you stay home on election day, you are conceding the government of this country to them.

A soldier come out

A closeted soldier has been slowly coming out over the last few months and posting updates to YouTube.  With the repeal of DADT he can now show his face.  Except, he has one small thing to do first, come out to his family.  He finally shows his face as he tells his father he is gay.

Happy DADT Repeal Day

The discriminatory law known as Don't Ask, Don't Tell, which led to the forcible discharge of more than 14,000 gay and lesbian servicemembers and harmed our nation's military readiness, is now history. America finally joins the many nations where people can serve openly and honorably without regard for their sexual orientation.

The Servicemembers Legal Defense Network comments here. SLDN Executive Director Aubrey Sarvis writes at HuffPo on "Obama's Measured Path to DADT Repeal". Servicemembers United comments here. AMERICAblog Gay comments here.

NYT reports on 1st Lt. Josh Seefried, an Air Force officer who helped organize an undercover group of 4,000 GLBT servicemembers, and who this morning dropped his pseudonym. AP reports on the ho-hum reaction of the military academies.

Arianna Huffington touts the Palm Center's Aaron Belkin's eBook, How We Won: Progressive Lessons from the Repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell. CNN tells the story of former Air Force Staff Sgt. David Hall here. NPR looks ahead here. HRC comments here and looks at next steps here.

Chris Geidner of Metro Weekly reports here and here. Chris Johnson of the Blade reports here. The Army letter announcing the new era is here.

There's a lot to absorb. This is a great day. Celebrate safely and congratulate our servicemembers — current and former — and our allies. An awful lot of people worked to make this day possible.

President Obama has issued a statement.

Tonight's DADT Documentary

Trailer

The HBO documentary The Strange History of Don't Ask, Don' Tell, will be broadcast tonight at midnight tonight and then rebroadcast tomorrow at 8pm.  Check here if you want to enlist.  Of course, many Republican presidential candidates would like to reinstate it.  Seeing that 29 of our key allies allow the open military service by gay people (and six of them allow transgender individuals to serve) the history might become even stanger should Michele Bachmann be elected.

Government files motion to stop "Vindictive Prosecution" defense in Choi trial

Chris Geidner reports at Metro Weekly.

Subtle Acts Reshape Military Society Amid Repeal

The Associated Press reports:

Night-long celebrations will mark the final countdown to the historic end of the U.S. military's ban on openly gay troops, and even more partying will take place once it is lifted Tuesday. But in many ways change is already here.

Countless subtle acts over the past months have been reshaping the military's staunchly traditional society in preparation for the U.S. armed forces' biggest policy shift in decades. Supporters of repeal compare it to the racial de-segregation of troops more than 60 years ago.

(Hat tip: Craig Howell)

HBO Documentary on Don't Ask, Don't Tell

The repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell is still scheduled for September 20th.  However, there are Republicans who want to delay it.  A large majority of the public favor the repeal of DADT, including a majority of Republicans.  However, the Republican base (who vote in Republican primary elections) want to stop the repeal. These efforts of halt or delay the end of DADT have nothing to do with military readiness (how could a military that wouldn't accept Alexander the Great or Frederick the Great be the best it could be?), and everything to do with politics.

September 20 - DADT Repeal Celebrations with SLDN

This just in from National Stonewall Democrats:

On September 20 - one week from today - the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell will be fully implemented, meaning gay and lesbian servicemembers will no longer have to deny who they are in order to serve their country. We are excited to be celebrating this victory around the nation with Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN).

SLDN is coordinating repeal celebrations throughout the country and many of our Stonewall Democrats affiliates are joining them. There are parties happening in almost every state, so be sure to stop by the SLDN website to find the one nearest you: http://www.sldn.org/page/event/search_simple

If you can't find a gathering nearby, contact your local Stonewall Democrats affiliate to find out if they are planning a party of their own or if you can help put one together. This is a victory celebration more than 17 years in the making - you won't want to miss it: http://www.stonewalldemocrats.org/chapters

Countdown to DADT Repeal: 8 days

The Marine Corps Times is covering it.

‘History could repeat itself’ on DADT, warns Log Cabin attorney

Lisa Keen reports:

“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” will be off the books September 20, when a 60-day review period has ticked away following certification of military readiness to implement repeal. But there is still concern among some that the removal of that specific law barring gays from the military will not stop discrimination against gays in the military.

Log Cabin Republicans’ attorney Dan Woods argued as much on September 1, when he urged a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to uphold a district court ruling that found “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” unconstitutional.

Woods noted that, before passage of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT) in 1993, there was a military regulation—not a federal law—that banned “homosexuals” from the military.

“That ban had existed for decades,” noted Woods.

DOJ attorneys insist that the DADT repeal bill renders Log Cabin's case moot. But Log Cabin is right in fighting this: DADT repeal did not ban anti-gay discrimination outright, but relied on a mechanism where the President, DefSec, and Joint Chiefs Chairman make a certification. But another group of them could certify differently. The absence of DADT does not equal the presence of justice. Anti-gay discrimination by regulation would be just as noxious as discrimintion by statute.

Log Cabin asks 9th Circuit to declare DADT unconstitutional

HuffPo reports:

The military's ban on openly gay troops will be lifted within weeks, but the policy can still be re-enacted in the future.

That's why a Republican gay rights organization that sued the Obama administration to stop enforcement of the policy says it will ask the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals during a hearing Thursday to declare the nearly 18-year-old law unconstitutional, affirming a lower court's ruling last year.

With several Republican presidential candidates, including Rep. Michele Bachmann, indicating they would favor reinstating the ban if elected, such a ruling is needed, said Dan Woods, the attorney for the Log Cabin Republicans. Declaring the law unconstitutional would also provide a legal path for thousands discharged under the policy to seek reinstatement, back pay or other compensation for having their careers cut short, Woods said.

"The repeal of `don't ask, don't tell' doesn't say anything about the future," Woods said before the hearing in Pasadena, Calif. "It doesn't (explicitly) say homosexuals can serve. A new Congress or new president could come back and reinstitute it. We need our case to survive so there is a constraint on the government to prevent it from doing this again."

Log Cabin is right to hammer on this point. It is fitting that a Republican group is doing this, given the source of the threat.

Moammar, crazy in love

(Photo by Sergey Ponomarev, File/Associated Press)

Libyan rebels who overran Moammar Gadhafi's compound yesterday found a variety of goodies, but one bit of booty showed the despot's soft spot for former American Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. This is not new. Look at how smitten he sounded in a 2007 Al-Jazeera interview:

I support my darling black African woman. I admire and am very proud of the way she leans back and gives orders to the Arab leaders. ... Leezza, Leezza, Leezza. ... I love her very much. I admire her, and I’m proud of her, because she’s a black woman of African origin.

Hey, even a murderous madman is only human. I remember how hot Condi looked in her dominatrix outfit, especially the boots.

DADT Drama - coming out in the military

This guy has been making videos for a month or so about his process of coming out while being in the military.

The fears he expresses seem so authentic it really takes me back. September 20th is still a ways off.

Obama and the lessons of Libya

(Barack Obama addresses 100,000 people in Berlin on July 24, 2008. Photo by EPA/Rainer Jensen)

Zack Beauchamp at Andrew Sullivan's blog considers the lessons of Libya. He also knocks down the extremely foolhardy suggestion that America seize Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Mohmed Ali al-Megrahi.

It is pretty clear that for many hawks on the right, a peaceful and prosperous world order is less important than the need for America to stomp around the globe noisily demonstrating how big and powerful it is. Obama does not suffer from their Superpower Insecurity Complex, and his quiet strength borne of cooperation is being vindicated in Libya. BTW, what's with this angry insistence by the right wing that America must never apologize? If we expect other countries to correct their wrongs, shouldn't we acknowledge our own? It's a brittle America that cannot afford to be honest about its past mistakes. Obama, who is highly popular around the world, is trying to rebuild America's relationship with the rest of the world. As is his habit, he is playing a long game and is being underestimated by his political opponents.

On Libya, right-wing hawks unfazed by the facts in their scorn for Obama

As President Obama's approach to the rebellion in Libya appears on the verge of success, right-wing hawks cling to their Obama-is-weak-and-apologetic talking point and scorn the President for not going all-out and knocking off Muammar Gadhafi sooner — as if that approach had been a brilliant success the last two times out under Obama's Republican predecessor.

Steve Kornacki writes in Salon:

French President Nicolas Sarkozy [said] on Monday that "the end of Gadhafi and his regime is now inevitable and near."

If Sarkozy is right, then it will be the outcome that hawks on the right have been saying they wanted all along. That it is now on the brink of being achieved five months after the implementation of the no fly zone would seem to suggest that, just maybe, there was actually some wisdom to "leading from behind." At the very least, it exposes the attacks of Krauthammer, Romney and others for what they were: overheated efforts to reinforce the Obama-as-Carter caricature they’ve been pushing since the start of his presidency. Nor is it the first time Obama has defied this caricature: Remember when our "weak" and "naïve" president announced that Osama bin Laden -- the man who had eluded George W. Bush for nearly eight years -- had been killed?

And Alex Pareene writes:

There's no point in countering McCain and the Journal's arguments with reason, of course, because these are not actually fact-based responses to news, they're just rote recitations of Republican dogma: Obama weak! (Except domestically, where he is an autocrat.)

And this is the "respectable" Republican talking point. The line from the real nuts -- I'm guessing something along the lines of "radical Obama allows Muslim Brotherhood to seize control in Libya" -- will begin bubbling up from the sewers to talk radio and Fox News and Michele Bachmann's campaign soon enough.

In other words, Republicans will slam Obama as incompetent or treasonous no matter what he does, and no matter how successful he is in achieving goals the Republicans share. Boy oh boy, do we need to punish them for this cynicism. Remember the GOP campaign slogan in 2008, "Country First"? They clearly don't.

DADT ends September 20th

Ii's less than a month away.

Reinstating military gay ban wouldn't be hard for Bachmann to do

NYT's The Caucus blog reports:

[T]he law repealing the ban that President Obama signed last December did not expressly order the Pentagon to allow openly gay or lesbian troops in the armed forces. Congress merely laid out a process under which the ban could be lifted. Under that process, the president, secretary of defense and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff had to certify that repeal would not undermine recruiting, retention, morale and other indicators of what is commonly called military readiness.

Once that certification was made and sent to Congress, the secretary of defense then had to prepare and issue new regulations allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly. That is where the process is now: the regulations are being written and the ban will be lifted on Sept. 20.

But because Congress did not require the military to allow open service, a new president could order his or her new secretary of defense to issue new regulations that effectively reinstate the ban, said Aubrey Sarvis, executive director of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, which advocates for gay and lesbian troops.

As Sarvis points out, the military gay ban was done by regulation for decades before Congress enacted "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" in 1993. There would be resistance in the military to reversing course so quickly; but this is a reminder of the stakes in next year's campaign.

For the fallen Navy SEALs

It is being reported that thirty U.S. servicemembers, most of them special ops and Navy SEALs, were killed when their Chinook helicopter was shot down over Afghanistan. These highly trained men have run thousands of missions for our country, the most famous of which was the May 1 raid at Osama bin Laden's compound in Abbottobad, Pakistan. They are the finest commandos in a dangerous world where they are very much needed. Like the first responders on 9/11, they chose careers that have them routinely going toward danger when others are fleeing it. Whatever may be wrong with American policy, the existence and vigilance of these disciplined and dedicated warriors and those who command them allow their fellow countrymen to rest more easily. Sometimes, as on that awful day and this, they make the ultimate sacrifice. Condolences to their loved ones on their loss, and gratitude for their service, their courage, and their excellence.