LGBT POV

The first time I heard David Mixner raise the issue of gays in the military in 1991 as he was pitching why LGBTs should elect Bill Clinton president, I thought – what the hell? Why in the world would an anti-war activist care about THE MILITARY? And then I learned about Leonard Matlovich – and then I met some of the patriotic heroes whose lives were directly impacted by the ban on gay servicemembers being open – extraordinary people such as Rev. Dusty Pruitt, Joe Steffan, Tracy Thorne, Margarethe Cammermeyer, Zoe Dunning, Perry Watkins, and Tom Swann.

I should note that my father was a “lifer” in the Air Force. He was one of the first Americans to join the RAF before the US joined World War II, after which he transferred to the Army Air Corps. After the war, he went to the Air War College and then rose through the ranks until retiring as a colonel and joining the military industrial complex. In short, I am a military brat. After Mixner opened my eyes to the plight of gay people serving in silence, I thought of my father and how proud he was of serving his country – our country – and the automatic assumption of integrity that afforded him. I suddenly understood the issue in a whole new way.

Later, covering Clinton’s “compromise” of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, I spoke with numerous soldiers under condition of anonymity who told me they lied to get into the military to escape the trap of near-poverty or violence at home or to get an education and learn a skill to get a job when they got out. Then I realized the military is America’s largest employer and it is closed to those LGBTs who need to tell the truth about who they are. This is just fundamentally unfair.

I am a journalist and do not usually join in campaigns sponsored by organizations I cover. But this is personal. It is not fair that members of my family of choice should be denied something so profoundly important and available to my biological family. So I will be posting the open letters that Servicemembers Legal Defense Network is sending to President Obama in the campaign they are launching today. SLDN is hoping to convince Obama to take leadership by adding DADT repeal language in the upcoming Defense Authorization Bill and to call the 15 critical votes on the Senate Armed Services Committee. The timing is urgent – before the window of opportunity closes with the November election.

Please click inside for the letter from Air Force Major Mike Almy and information about how you can help.

A hearty congratulations to Pastor Samuel Chu who was just named Executive Director of the important inter-faith LGBT/straight allies organization, California Faith for Equality. Syd Peterson profiled Chu for LGBT POV last October.

Chu, who is straight, said in a press release:

“People of faith have always worked powerfully and provocatively at the intersections of various struggles for justice and equality. I am honored to be part of CFE’s commitment to continuing that tradition as we work for full equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in California. We know that commitment will require the very best of what people of faith have to offer and contribute — and we look forward to partnering with our secular allies as we work together toward our common goal of equality for LGBT Californians.

It has been my deep belief that faith should always be a force for good — not to be used to harm or to deny a person’s humanity. I am honored to continue to lead California Faith for Equality at this critical moment when we must reclaim this powerful force — not just for those on the religious left or the religious right – but for all people.”

Please click inside for more information and several photos of Chu at various Prop 8-related events.

Dear Unite the Fight Readers,

These past two years have been filled with many highs and many lows – we won the right to marry in California only to have it stripped away in months by the ignominious Proposition 8, the latter galvanizing our community into action that hasn’t been seen in years.

Despite another amazing high point of numerous demonstrations and actions attended and organized by thousands, the California Supreme Court, having once given us the right to marry, would later side with the discriminatory Proposition 8 and uphold it, creating yet again another low point. In spite of all this, our movement has encouragingly moved forward, and not just focused on marriage, but working state by state and on the federal level with a goal of full equality under all laws….

PLEASE CLICK INSIDE TO READ THE REST OF PHILLIP’S MOVING FAREWELL TO HIS UTF READERS.

All this talk about repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” – and the spotlight on Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain’s very public and embarrassingly obvious flip-flop over gays and lesbians serving openly in the military made me think about McCain’s predecessor – the late Sen. Barry Goldwater, the political “father” of the conservative movement. Perhaps his most famous quote from the early 1990s is, “You don’t have to be straight to be in the military; you just have to be able to shoot straight.”

But few remember that Goldwater wrote an op-ed calling for the ban on gays serving openly in the military to be lifted immediately. Click inside to read more about Goldwater and his entire op-ed.

Note from Syd: I first met Vincent Jones, 33, at Camp Courage LA this past January. Others may know him as the moderator for the California Leadership Summits in Fresno and San Bernadino this summer, or from his work at Liberty Hill Foundation. But Vincent’s grassroots work goes back much farther– to the 1990s in Los Angeles and DC. Let’s hear his story…

If you looked up “quiet leader” in the dictionary, you’d find a photo of Christine Marge. In this profile, she speaks about how her social work roots led to her current work: ending homelessness and fighting for marriage equality.

J.T. Chestnut talks about growing up in North Carolina, his current grassroots work, and standing up for what he believes in.

For our next Grassroots Profile, meet Marni Zimlin, a full-time volunteer at Vote for Equality. Marni traveled to Maine this Spring to help LGBT activists successfully lobby the state legislature for marriage equality.

Last Sunday, activist Syd Peterson launched a new series for LGBT POV to introduce you to grassroots activists working hard for justice and equality on the ground. His first profile was of Pastor Samuel Chu. This morning meet Matt Palazzolo, co-founder of the Equal Roots Coalition. Click inside for Matt’s brief profile.