"Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is One Step Closer to an End

Virginia A. Phillips, a U.S. District Judge in California has, today, issued an injunction against the U.S. Military's policy of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell, which means that the Pentagon must immediately stop the practice of banning openly gay soldiers from serving in its ranks. The Obama administration is expected to appeal the decision.
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(federal judge virginia a. phillips)
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We don't even have to read the reactions of the Republican right to know what they're going to say about this ruling. They're going to trot out that tired, old excuse that Judge Phillips is an "activist judge". Whatever that means. (To the Republicans, an "activist judge" is any judge who makes a ruling with which they disagree.) But let's get real, as we just wrote in a post yesterday, social change always comes, sooner or later, and often it comes from a judicial ruling. And for opponents of gay rights to say that a judge is being an "activist" for opposing discrimination is a little like Southern slaveholders in the 1860's trying to negate Pres. Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation by describing Lincoln as an "activist" president. Bitch, please!

Insert Dick Joke Here

(griffin at her d.c. rally to end "don't ask, don't tell").
On Tuesday, after writing about the need to end the U.S. military policy of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" we tuned in that night to watch "Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List", and it was the episode in which she travels to Washington, D.C. to head up a rally to end "Don't Ask, Don't Tell". The episode was funny, as usual; she discussed "snorkeling" with Colorado Rep. Jared Polis, she asked Barney Frank how long it had been since he'd called gay bingo, to which he answered, "A couple of summers ago in Provincetown", and she called Majority Whip Jim Clyburn "a queen", a remark for which she had to call his office and apologize..
Some critics are calling Griffin's act "old and tired", and it probably is a bit; the Washington Post critic was especially harsh when writing about last night's episode. Although, in true Kathy Griffin style, we'll digress for a moment to note that the Post's biggest back-handed swipe was taken at the Human Rights Campaign when it said that "the HRC, (on Griffin's show), was shown doing what they do best, trying to micro-manage the gay rights' movement". Ouch and me-ow! Anyway, okay, so yes, Kathy needs some new material, but let's face it, she's so gifted comedically, that even when delivering day old bread, she's still funnier than most comedians on t.v. with brand new stuff. And then there's the fact that she's a true friend to the gay community, and when she fights for us, she means it. Tuesday night's scene in which she interviewed the secretly gay military service members who were in attendance at her HRC dinner was genuinely moving, and Griffin was genuinely moved by their plight as well. So while the bitch might need some new jokes, and she's definitely not "D-List" any longer, we'll still always watch whatever she does, and usually end up on the floor laughing.

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(griffin with arianna huffington in washington, d.c.)

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And, of course, as you can see from the photos below, Miss Griffin wasted no time in taking advantage of the news that Bristol Palin and her "boyfriend", Levi Johnston, are engaged.

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Rachel Tells All

. It's all about the U.S. military this week. Rachel Maddow traveled to Afghanistan last week and broadcast an entire week of her shows from there, and the news wasn't heartening. She highlighted the extent to which we are paying millions and millions of dollars to bribe Afghans not to kill us, or to build Afghan city services, which is especially discouraging considering that so many American cities are begging for money to shore up desperately needed social services or crumbling infrastructure. Millions of our tax dollars are also finding their way into the pockets of the Afghani elite, who are using the money to build huge homes surrounded by high security walls. And then, of course, these are the same people who are quick to tell our military leaders whatever our leaders want to hear, because it's in the interest of those Afghani elite to keep us in their country as long as possible. Most shocking, though, was when Rachel interviewed an American military leader who explained our current strategy, afterwhich Rachel asked him, "Okay, if that plan doesn't work, what's our 'Plan B'?" The military leader didn't have an answer. Wow. People, we are fucked in Afghanistan; it's Vietnam all over again, period. It's time to get out. And our Plan B should be to get out.
. Coming on the heels of Rachel's stellar reporting, was the news that the U.S. military was about to issue a survey to current service members asking them their opinions about serving with openly gay service members. Typical questions were, "How would you feel about showering with a gay person?", and "What would you do if another service member brought someone of their own gender to a military-sponsored social event?". Multiple choice responses followed the questions, one being, "Would it make you less likely to want to serve in the U.S. military?". We couldn't believe it; it's truly difficult to imagine that this type of ignorance and homophobia is still so rampant in American society in 2010. First, can you believe that the military asked its members what they thought about a military order? Doesn't that fly in the face of everything we've ever heard about how the U.S. Military works? We always thought that once orders are given, it's the soldier's job to follow them. Period. We don't remember hearing very many examples of generals asking their soldiers in World War II, "Well, guys, I'd like to take that hill. What do you think? Would taking that hill make you less likely to want to be in my unit?" When the U.S. President issues the order that "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" has ended, and that openly gay people can serve openly in the U.S. military, isn't it the job of the soldiers to follow and respect that order, or be court-martialed? Or are we missing something here? Can you imagine if white soldiers were asked in the 1940's if Black people should be allowed to serve, or if male soldiers in the 1970's were asked how they felt about women serving beside them? . But even if you take the survey at face value, believing that the creators of the survey really believed they were helping to head off mass protestations and anger among the ranks of the military, even that notion is a little shocking. Because to believe that that was the motive of the survey creators is to realize that those creators are hopelessly mired in their own homophobia and 1950's-era ignorance. Gay people have served in the U.S. military since the beginning of American history, and in 2010, most "straight" service members know this, understand it, and for the most part, don't have a problem with it. Because as we all know, the quickest way to end homophobia is to place a straight with a gay, and in very little time, that straight person realizes that gay people aren't really very different from anyone else. We would venture to guess that most straight service members already know that they've been showering with gay service members, and sharing barracks and foxholes with them, for a long, long time, and are probably laughing their asses off at the thought that our military leaders are the very top think they can't handle it. It's time for Pres. Obama to end this ridiculous issue right now; he should end "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" immediately, and let us start to put this shameful chapter of our American history behind us.

A Moment on the Lips, Forever on the... History Books

It's a very interesting moment in the social evolution of our country. As our political and military leaders are about to end the military policy of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell", (the policy instated in 1993 which allowed gay persons to serve in the military as long as they weren't "out of the closet"), it's interesting to watch a social history of a nation unfold before our very eyes.

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For those of us who studied history in high school and college, we understand that the current American fight for gay civil rights is absolutely no different than our country's previous fights for the civil rights of African Americans, women and any other "minorities". In other words, slowly but surely, those rights are won for every minority, and as time passes, we look back and wonder what all the fuss was about. There are all those old photographs of the white people, standing on the sidelines, screaming hatefully at the nine black students as they entered the halls of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1957. And we look at the photographs of those people who screamed and spewed hatred, and we wonder how those people could have been so hateful and so unbelievably ignorant. But it's also interesting, how, as a new civil rights battle is being waged, as the one for gay civil rights is being fought now, no one thinks they are "the people in those photographs".

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Take, for instance, Colin Powell's appearance on this morning's "This Week" on ABC. Powell was asked about the nearing end of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, and he was shown a videotape of himself in front of Congress in 1993 testifying that gay persons being "open" in the military was incompatible with having an effective military. The commentator asked why Powell has now changed his mind and supports the end of Don't Ask, Don't Tell. We held our breath. And then came the very disappointing answer. Powell said all the polite things, that "times have changed", "society has changed", blah, blah, blah. Right. Just for once we'd like to hear someone like Colin Powell tell the truth. Powell should have said, "In 1993 I was ignorant. In 1993 I was homophobic. I didn't understand a lot about basic human sexuality back then, and I let my ignorance and homophobia rule my decision making process. That was wrong, and I was wrong. But now it's time to correct that wrong."

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But if you think you're going to hear anyone "in the photograph" admit later that they were ignorant, and didn't know what they were talking about in the past, you're going to be waiting a long time. Yes, society has changed, the general public is more accepting of homosexuality now. Hooray for society; let's hand out the medals. But the truth is that slavery was wrong in 1764, it was wrong in 1864, and it was wrong in 1964 when Pres. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act, and as a nation, we slowly started to make up for the wrongs of slavery. And homophobia was wrong in 1993, when Colin Powell was suffering from it, just as it's wrong now, when he's a little less homophobic. A sin against society is always a sin, whether the people of that society realize it or not, but when they do finally realize they've sinned, the only way to completely heal from it is for those people "in the photographs" to admit that they were wrong. Even George Wallace, the infamous Governor of Alabama who "stood in the schoolhouse doors" to keep black students from entering, later in life publically admitted he was wrong.

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So yes, Colin Powell, unfortunately when our grandchildren look back on this time and wonder how people could have been so ignorant about homosexuality, and why they went to such great lengths to perpetuate that ignorance, even to the point of hatred and discrimination, you're going to be one of those people "in the photographs". You're going to be one of the George Wallace's of the gay civil rights movement. The only way for you and others like you to reserve a place of dignity in the history books of our nation is to now admit that you were wrong. It's not too late.

Are You Sure It's Not Someone Hiding Out in That Scientology Building?

Oh no, major disappointment today. Well, sort of. A few days ago, we mentioned that Hollywood coming out" P.R. specialist Howard Bragman had a new celebrity who was ready to come out of the closet. We, and all of America, held our breath. Would it be Queen Latifah? (Finally!) Or would it be Taylor Lautner, Jake Gyllanhal? No. Hardly. Instead, it's country singer Chely Wright. So where's our disappointment? We've never heard of her.

Hey, that doesn't mean that Miss Wright's coming out is not tremendously important, especially considering that American sports and country music are the two areas of entertainment in which homophobia is the most entrenched. So Chely's honesty is groundbreaking and will have incredibly positive effects. Good for you, Chely!

But we really wish the "celebrity" had been someone we'd heard of, and who most of America had heard of. This kind of thing has a lot more impact when it's someone who is a household name. There is a fantastic article in this week's Sports Illustrated about the only "out" gay athlete currently on the team of a major sports franchise. The only one! Can you imagine the impact on American society if all the gay professional football, basketball and baseball players came out? It would be earth shattering. But hey, for now, we'll take what we can get, so Chely Wright deserves a huge congratulations.

On another note, Defense Secretary Robert Gates has cautioned against ending "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" for the military too quickly. He and others mentioned in a hearing before Congress a few days ago that when the ban on openly gay soldiers ends, the army might have to arrange for separate living conditions for the gay soldiers. They're afraid that if straight soldiers are told they have to share barracks with gay soldiers, the straight soldiers might rebel. Are you fucking kidding us? Whatever happened to soldiers following orders with no questions asked? Is this the American military or an "army by democratic vote"? Suck it up, straightie soldiers, your emotional instability and backwoods bigotry doesn't give you the right to weaken the American military.

Yes We Can! But Not Yet

Brett Michael Dykes, a national affairs writer for Yahoo News posted the following story on Yahoo News today. We'll paraphrase his story.
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President Obama showed up in Los Angeles on Monday night for a fundraiser for California Senator Barbara Boxer. Hecklers started yelling, "Repeal 'don't ask, don't tell!" Pres. Obama responded, "We are going to do that; hey, hold on a second, hold on a second." The rest of the crowd then began chanting Obama's signature campaign chant: "Yes we can! Yes we can! Yes we can!"
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During the 2008 campaign, Obama repeatedly pledged to kill the controversial policy, and in January's State of the Union address, he reiterated that vow. But progress has been slow. The administration claims that's because a full repeal would require a separate bill in Congress repudiating the congressionally approved 1993 law — and it's been hard to work such a bill into an already overcrowded Capitol Hill agenda. In March, the Pentagon announced it was relaxing enforcement of the ban, to clear the path for eventual repeal.
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Obama returned to the issue of repeal in his Monday speech. "When you've got an ally like Barbara Boxer and you've got an ally like me who are standing for the same thing, then you don't know exactly why you've got to holler, because we already hear you, all right," Obama remarked to applause. "I mean, it would have made more sense to holler that at the people who oppose it." But the hollering didn't let up. "It's time for equality for all Americans," shouted one. Obama again stressed his opposition to the ban, and again said, "I don't know why you're hollering." The group broke into another "Yes we can!" chant.
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Obama then sought to return to the event's main theme: Boxer's re-election. Sen. Boxer "didn't even vote for 'don't ask, don't tell' in the first place," the president noted. "So you know she's going to be in favor of repealing 'don't ask, don't tell.' "

Congressman Hastings Asks and Tells!

An Effort to End "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"

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On June 22, 2009, Congressman Alcee L. Hastings (D-Miramar) and 76 Members of Congress sent a letter to President Barack Obama urging him to stop the practice of discharging members of the U.S. military for being gay. This letter comes at a time when a majority of Americans favor allowing gay and lesbian service members to serve openly.

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"Approximately two service members are lost to this misguided, unjust, and flat-out discriminatory policy every day. At a time when we are engaged in two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, our lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender service members offer mission-critical skills that enhance our military's competence and readiness and ensure our national security. It is my sincere hope that President Obama, together with Congress, will take swift and meaningful action on the dishonorable and debilitating law that is Don't Ask, Don't Tell," said Hastings.

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Below is the Honor Roll of U.S. Congressmen and Congresswomen who signed Hasting's Letter to the President.

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Check the list carefully, is your Congressional Representative on the list? If so, email him/(her) and thank him, if not, email him and ask him why he didn't sign the letter.

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Congressional Reps from the following states added their names to the letter:
Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, New York, Nevada, North Carolina, New Jersey, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin.

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That's 28 states, although not every Rep. from those states signed the Letter. Even more sadly, that means that 22 states had NO signers of the Letter. Not one. There are currently 441 U.S. Representatives in Congress, and only 77 signed the Letter, which leaves 364 who did not. Shameful!

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In addition to the above listed states, Congressional Representatives from the District of Columbia, Marianas Islands and Virgin Islands also signed the letter. Only one Republican signed the Letter. You're not still one of those Log Cabin types who think the Republicans like gay people, are you?

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Homophobia is an ugly thing, people, and if we don't ask and expect our own Congressional Representatives to help us end it, then we're all in a lot of trouble. Go to www.House.Gov to find your Representative!

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Honor Roll of Congressional Representatives who signed Hasting's Letter:
Ed Pastor (D-AZ)
Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ)
Anna Eshoo (D-CA)
Bob Filner (D-CA)
Fortney "Pete" Stark (D-CA)
Jane Harman (D-CA)
Lois Capps (D-CA)
Lynn Woolsey (D-CA)
Barbara Lee (D-CA)
Brad Sherman (D-CA)
Grace Napolitano (D-CA)
Mike Honda (D-CA)
Linda Sánchez (D-CA)
Diane Watson (D-CA)
Laura Richardson (D-CA)
Doris Matsui (D-CA)
Jared Polis (D-CO)
Diana DeGette (D-CO)

John Larson (D-CT)
Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC)
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL)
Robert Wexler (D-FL)
Alan Grayson (D-FL)
Debbie Wasserman Schulz (D-FL)
Kathy Castor (D-FL)
Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI)
Mike Quigley (D-IL)
Phil Hare (D-IL)
Luis Gutierrez (D-IL)
Jan Schakowsky (D-IL)
André Carson (D-IN)
Donna F. Edwards (D-MD)
Barney Frank (D-MA)
Edward J. Markey (D-MA)
James McGovern (D-MA)
Bill Delahunt (D-MA)
Niki Tsongas (D-MA)
Michael Capuano (D-MA)
Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick (D-MI)
John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI)
Betty McCollum (D-MN)
Keith Ellison (D-MN)
Bennie Thompson (D-MS)
Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO)
William Lacy Clay (D-MO)
Gregorio Sablan (D-MP)
Yvette Clarke (D-NY)
Tim Bishop (D-NY)
Joseph Crowley (D-NY)
Gary Ackerman (D-NY)
Louise Slaughter (D-NY)
José Serrano (D-NY)
Anthony Weiner (D-NY)
Eliot Engel (D-NY)
Jerrold Nadler (D-NY)
Nydia Velázquez (D-NY)
Carolyn Maloney (D-NY)
Shelley Berkley (D-NV)
Melvin Watt (D-NC)
Rush Holt (D-NJ)
Marcia L. Fudge (D-OH)
Dennis Kucinich (D-OH)
David Wu (D-OR)
Chaka Fattah (D-PA)
Joe Sestak (D-PA)
James Langevin (D-RI)
James Clyburn (D-SC)
Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX)
Lloyd Doggett (D-TX)
Robert "Bobby" Scott (D-VA)
James Moran (D-VA)
Donna M. Christensen (D-VI)
Peter Welch (D-VT)
Jim McDermott (D-WA)
Tammy Baldwin (D-WI)
Gwen Moore (D-WI)

Don't Ask Me If You're an Ignoramus and I Won't Tell You

Oh God, here we go again! It was just announced on MSNBC that Pres.-Elect Obama plans to immediately do away with "Don't Ask, Don't Tell", the official policy concerning gay people in the U.S. military. Which means that gay people will be able to be openly gay and still serve in the military. Cue the right-wing army of screaming homophobes.

If you think Prop 8 was a controversy, wait until this issue hits the fan. We won't even bother to go into a discussion of the facts here, we'll hear about it ad naseum over the next few days. For now, just consider this: gay people have served in the U.S. military since the beginning of the nation, and have you ever heard of a problem really caused by gays in the military? Or certainly any problems worse than the widespread incidences of sexual assalts on our female soldiers by our own male (heterosexual) soldiers, or the number of illegitimate pregnancies among the ranks of our female soldiers? Maybe we should start focusing on the behavior of our soldiers and not their sexuality.

What's more, our military currently counts thousands of gay
people among its ranks, most have even served in Iraq and Afghanistan, and has it stopped our military from being the most powerful and potent fighting force on the face of the planet? I don't think so.

Regardless of common sense, gird your loins. The homophobes will come screeching out of their backwoods caves on this one.