… The irony of the placement in the speech did not escape me. President Obama, in the same breath, was proposing to allow openly LGBT people to serve their country and to make sure women get fair pay for a day’s work. Why is either of these things even an issue? And why are we still talking about them in major policy speeches?
The simple answer is simple: no matter what promises are made, no matter how far our society advances to accept the concept of women in the workplace and LGBT folks in the military, in practice, structure, and – in the case of LGBT service members – the law, inequality still remains.”…
The flint that sparked national Sunshine Week was ignited in Florida in 2002 when newspaper editors fought back against efforts by state legislators to create exemptions to Florida’s public records law. The commitment to transparency and open government now is acknowledged by most movers and shakers, including President Barack Obama.
President Obama and First Lady Michelle celebrated International Women’s Day at a White House reception on Monday. In his remarks, Obama noted the contributions of from First Lady Abigail Adams to Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, and longtime African American activist, Dorothy Height. Also at the reception were actress Kerry Washington, Afghan singer Mozdah Jamalzadah and singer Katharine McPhee.
USA Today reported that the First Couple, who have two daughters, also revealed their more humorous side – telling “one-liners reminiscent of the old vaudeville routines of George and Gracie Allen, or perhaps of Sonny and Cher Bono.”
The President also includes lesbians and gays:
“The story of America over the past 200 years — past 233 years is one of laws becoming more just, of a people becoming more equal, of a union being perfected. It’s a story of captives being set free and a movement to fulfill the promise of that freedom. It’s a story of waves of weary travelers reconsecrating America as a nation of immigrants. It’s a story of our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters making the most of that most American of demands –- to be treated the same as everybody else. And it’s a story of women, from those on the Mayflower to the one I’m blessed to call my wife, who looked across the dinner table, and thought, I’m smarter than that guy. (Laughter.)”
On Thursday, the White House nominated open lesbian Laura E. Duffy to be the next U.S. attorney in San Diego.
From the White House press release:
Today, President Obama nominated Laura E. Duffy, Wifredo A. Ferrer, Alicia Limtiaco, and John B. Stevens, Jr. to serve as U.S. Attorneys.
President Obama said, “These distinguished men and women have shown extraordinary commitment and integrity in their pursuit of justice. I am confident they will serve the American people wisely and effectively as United States Attorneys.”
Click inside to read more about Laura Duffy and progressive US Berkeley law professor Goodwin Liu, a prospective nominee to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Scottish poet Sir Walter Scott once wrote: “Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive.” Please – I beseech you – try to follow the logic of this Family Research Council minister who tries to make it OK to hate gays, as long as it’s done with Christian love. Pray on it, in fact. FRC sends out regular missives to their Christian “Prayer Warriors” specifying what “targets” to pray at each week. These guys are making it really, really hard to believe that old Sunday School song, “Jesus loves me, this I know – for the Bible tells me so.” You decide.
Dear Praying Friends,
Opposing the radical homosexual rights agenda is distasteful to Bible-believing Christians and leaders. Eager to follow the law of love, they sometimes sympathize with those who accuse opponents of homosexual rights as guilty of “hate.” These believers prefer to hold their tongues regarding this and other cultural sins that Scripture condemns, preferring to preach “grace.” But without God’s law there is no grace. And God’s warnings to society must not be ignored. We genuinely love those caught in this and other aberrant sinful addictions, but we cannot cease to warn society of the consequences of approving such behaviors. We must neither keep silent, nor compromise, nor succumb to those who seek to “normalize” homosexuality. The consequences are simply too great. Bible-believing Christians are motivated by love, not hate. But in a culture in which speaking the truth in love on such matters is viewed as “hate,” we must risk the accusation and speak the truth in love, accompanied by much prayer (see Mt 10:12-42; Eph 6:1-20; 2 Tim 2:24-4:5).
Be your own Rachel Maddow!Fans of the brilliant MSNBC commentator know that one reason Maddow is so popular is because she confronts lies with the truth. Now LGBTs and their allies can do the same thing when it comes to the debate about the military’s antigay policy, “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
Consider, for instance, the February 23 edition of Fox News’ Special Report where Bret Baier uncritically reported that Gen. George Casey stated that repeal of the military’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT) policy “might … adversely affect readiness.”
Lest anyone shrug this off as just another Fox News-Republican spin machine story, remember that the father of modern political conservatism – the late Arizona Republican Sen. Barry Goldwater – also called for lifting the ban against gays serving openly, crystallized in this famous quote: “You don’t have to be straight to be in the military; you just have to be able to shoot straight.”
It’s one thing that the Fox News reporter didn’t know about Goldwater. But he should have known and reported that Gen. David Petraeus, commander of U.S. Central Command, appeared two days earlier (Feb 21) on NBC’ Meet the Press and was asked whether “soldiers on the ground in the field care one way or the other if their comrades in arms are gay or lesbian.” Petraeus said: “I’m not sure that they do….I served, in fact, in combat with individuals who were gay and who were lesbian in combat situations and, frankly, you know, over time you said, ‘Hey, how’s, how’s this guy’s shooting?’ Or ‘How is her analysis,’ or what have you.”
Please click inside to read more and see how you can help.
I have not been reticent about criticizing Barack Obama, especially when it comes to his failure to move quickly on HIV/AIDS. But now we may be turning a corner. The final draft of a National Strategy on AIDS – crafted by a diverse group of 34 experts and stakeholders – is expected to be released Friday.
That was followed five days later with the release of the President’s Budget on HIV/AIDS. And that was followed three days later – on Feb. 10 – by an announcement that Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) was rescinding enforcement of its 24-month cumulative cap on short-term and emergency housing assistance under the Ryan White program – the first step in a broader review of Ryan White housing policies. Please click inside for more on all of this.
As expected, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, Sen. John McCain’s running mate in the 2008 presidential election and a parallel star on Saturday Night Live, was a huge hit at the first Tea Party convention in Nashville, Tenn. Saturday night.
I watched on C-SPAN as the largely white, older crowd facially fawned over every mention of “the Constitution” and “the people,” as if they were insiders watching the run-up to a presidential bid. — Please click inside to read the rest of my quick thoughts on the event.
The LGBT blogospher exploded Wednesday morning with reaction to the historic Senate Armed Services hearing Tuesday during which Defense Sec. Gates and Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mullen announced their desire to repeal the discriminatory Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy, pursuant to President Obama’s State of the Union address saying he wanted to repeal DADT this year.
Retired General Colin Powell, the former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who supported congressional passage of DADT in 1993, also issued a statement Wednesday saying he supported the new approach.
The reaction to the repeal has been excitement that the end of DADT seems in sight mixed with cautious pushback over why the high commanders didn’t announce a suspension of enforcement while the policy is under review.
But for me – a military brat who’s been covering this issue since David Mixner first raised the prospect of lifting the ban on gays serving openly with presidential candidate Bill Clinton in 1991 – two developments I never thought I’d see also happened Wednesday: Mullen posted his opinion about DADT on his blog on the Joint Chiefs of Staff website (with a link to the full hearing transcript, video is coming) and the Pentagon featured a “straight” news report about DADT.
And here’s Rachel Maddow’s interview with Lt. Col. Fehrenbach:
At his Inauguration in 1960, President John F. Kennedy said the torch had been passed to a new generation. “Ask not what your country can do for you,” Kennedy said, “ask what you can do for your country.”
And young people by the thousands responded, joining the Peace Corp and creating a counter-culture that cared about eliminating racism and sexism and poverty. LGBT people were there, too – some on the frontlines like the late Morris Kight and Don Kilhefner who created the Los Angeles Gay Community Services Center as a refuge for those coming to terms with their gay identity.
But now, after 50 years of serving America in numerous ways – including automatically paying into Social Security – tax-paying LGBT seniors are asking their country to do something for them: they want – and need – the Social Security they deserve when a partner passes away. Many seniors are used to two-household incomes and without the Social Security supplement – especially in this economy – many seniors are finding themselves with huge bills, no money and living in their cars while awaiting precious and scarce affordable housing.
Leading a new campaign to bring awareness to the urgency of this issue is the LA Gay & Lesbian Center with the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. Wednesday they launched Rock for Equality, a rally & rock-in to call attention to and end the severe economic discrimination that is embedded in Social Security Administration policies and to secure equal recognition of same-sex relationships.”
They are producing a national event on either side of Tax Day. The first rocking rally will be held in Los Angeles on April 11, 2010, followed by another in Washington, D.C. on April 18.
Rock for Equality is also being lead by seniors themselves, some of whom are featured in this video and on the website. They are billing the event as “a new kind of protest for one of the most critical civil rights issues of the 21st Century: equal rights, equal recognition and economic fairness for LGBT Americans.” Please click inside for more info.
Secretary of Defense Gates says changes to “don’t ask, don’t tell” process will take over a year. In 45 days, a report is due back on how to make current policy “more fair.”
Watch the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing live now here:
http://armed-services.senate.gov/Webcasts.htm
UPDATE: ARCHIVE OF HEARING HERE: http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/291857-1
Admiral Mike Mullen, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at the first Congressional hearing on the military’s Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy in 17 years that “my personal belief is that allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly would be the right thing to do.” However, he cautioned that a year-long process in studying the effects of repealing the policy would be necessary.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates, saying that “the question is not whether the military prepares to make this change, but how we prepare for it,” named two Pentagon officials to head the study, which would focus on a variety of issues. Jeh Johnson, the legal counsel for the Defense Department, and Gen. Carter Hamm, the commander of US Army Europe, would lead that process.
Mullen’s statement, which Sen. Mark Udall (D-CO) said would be “long remembered for its courage,” stands in sharp contrast to the response of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the beginning of the Clinton Administration, the last time this policy was reviewed. Saying that he “understands perfectly the President’s desire to see the law repealed,” he stated his personal belief that the current policy “forces young men and women to lie about who they are.” In the end, Mullen said, “It comes down to integrity.”
SENATE ARMED FORCES COMMITTEE CHAIR CARL LEVIN LATER SPOKE TO REPORTERS :
Tony Perkins, head of the antigay Family Research Council, is hosting a webcast tonight to enable “the people” to respond to President Obama’s recent State of the Union address. Since Obama spoke about working with Congress and military leaders to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” – and the Senate Armed Services Committee is holding a hearing on DADT today – one might image DADT might come up during the webcast tonight. Here’s the invitation to join:
Webcast Tonight at 8 p.m. ET: The State of The Union, The Voice of the People
February 01, 2010
Last week, you heard President Obama’s take on where we are as a nation after his first year in office. Now hear the American people respond! Tonight at 8 p.m. (EST), FRC headquarters will be the site of a special webcast, “State of the Union, Voice of the People,” hosted by Herman Cain and tvTownhall.com. FRC and seven other organizations will give their response to last week’s address by the President, along with select video responses from across the nation.
Join me tonight at 8:00 p.m. EST for this live webcast, which will provide a voice to the American people and an opportunity for them to give their own State of the Union response.
Health and Human Services’ Secretary Sebelius announced the members of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS and included are Mario Pérez, Director of the LA County’s Office of AIDS Programs and Policy (OAPP), Phill Wison, founder and Executive Director of the Black AIDS Institute, and actor Rosie Perez.
Click inside to find out who else is on the council.
Let’s face it: the Commander-in-Chief and Congress are secretly afraid of the old men in the military. And the old men in the military, so accustomed to automatic deference by all branches of the US government, are afraid of losing their power as times and the culture change. They cannot fathom that younger soldiers and leaders, the ones the old men are sending to fight two wars, are no longer afraid of dropping their soap bar in the shower.
How else explain the compromise the Obama Administration, the Pentagon and Congress are expected to announce at Tuesday’s Senate Armed Services Committee hearing?
The military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy was a so-called “compromise” cooked up 17 years ago after Democratic Sen. Sam Nunn and Republican Sen. John Warner decided to teach the upstart new President Bill Clinton – who escaped military service during the Vietnam War – exactly how Washington worked. In an unprecedented publicity stunt that ignored eons of the military’s top-down structure, Nunn (angry at not being named Secretary of Defense) and Warner went into the bowels of a submarine and asked for the opinions of sailors whose training drilled into them that their opinions do not matter, they must only follow orders.
Here’s how that first hearing went, as reported by NBC’s Lisa Meyers (hat tip to the site devoted to Leonard Matlovich):
Please click inside to read my essay previewing the hearing Tuesday.
At the historic August 2007 forum in which Democratic presidential candidates were questioned about their beliefs and policies on LGBT issues, singer Melissa Etheridge talked to Sen. Hillary Clinton about how wonderful gays felt finally being recognized under President Bill Clinton.
“We were very, very hopeful – and in the years that followed, our hearts were broken. We were thrown under the bus. We were pushed aside. All those great promises that were made to us were broken. And I understand politics. I understand how hard things are, to bring about change. But it is many years later now, and what are you going to do to be different than that? I know you’re sitting here now; it’s a year out — more than a year. A year from now, are we going to be left behind like we were before?”
Please click inside to see where I’m going with this. UPDATE: THE WASHINGTON POST REPORTED LATE THURSDAY THAT THE SENATE ARMED SERVICES WILL HOLD A SEPARATE HEARING WITH DEFENSE SEC. ROBERT GATES AND ADMIRAL MIKE MULLEN, CHAIR OF THE JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF ON DADT. RACHEL MADDOW LATER SAID THE RESULT COULD BE A DADT-LITE WITH RESTRICTIONS PLACED ON THE INVESTIGATORY PROCESS.
Trevor Yager is late calling in for the interview. Amid all the whoopla in the LGBT world that he’s been invited to sit in First Lady Michelle Obama’s box during Wednesday night’s State of the Union address, Yager and his partner of seven years, Tyler Murray, are also in the final stages of Home Study to qualify as adoptive parents. With the Home Study due Monday, Yager’s first priority was answering in-depth process questions for three hours.
Yager laughs when asked how it feels to represent the entire LGBT community during President Obama’s State of the Union. “Oh, thanks. Pressure much?”
Actually, Yager laughs a lot during the 40-minute interview late Tuesday night. He seems like a confident yet humble 35-year-old man, comfortable in his own skin. More importantly, he seems happy.
Yager is one of 27 diverse quests sitting in the First Lady’s box – the only one officially representing LGBT America. Click inside to meet him.
MBNBC’s Rachel Maddow on President Barack Obama on Thursday night’s David Letterman show:
“The most interesting thing about Obama’s first year is how crazy the opposition has gone in reaction to him. And that’s been so exciting – the Sarah Palin, Michael Steel, Tea Party thing on the right – that I think that nobody’s noticed that he’s quietly put together the most legislatively accomplished first year of any president in a generation.”
This week, a compromise is expected to be hammered out to reconcile the US Senate and House versions of what will surely being touted as a landmark healthcare reform bill. President Obama is hoping to have the bill on his desk by Jan. 19 when he delivers his State of the Union address.
And right now, it looks like LGBTs and people with HIV/AIDS may be left out – without a murmur of protest from the LGBT community. Please click inside to see how this could effect the AIDS Drug Assistance Program and read the story of one gay man with AIDS who almost lost his ADAP and insurance coverage over a $9 cost of living increase. Meanwhile – here’s a little refresher on the back and forth over the public option – courtesy Rachel Maddow:
The hotly debated and contested healthcare reform bill passed the US Senate this morning. But progressives are NOT happy. Sam Stein reported on Huffington Post Wednesday about a group that is now running ads slamming President Obama for his broken promise to champion the public option:
The health care reform debate may be dying down in Congress, but the ad wars continue.
On Wednesday, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee unveiled a new spot in which it all but accuses the president of abandoning the principles of his health care reform agenda. Tackling the two provisions that rankle liberals the most, the PCCC highlights footage of Obama himself rejecting the efficacy of an individual mandate and insisting that a public option for insurance be part of the final legislative package.
In this speech, Clinton not only discussed the situation in Uganda – where it is now reported that the death penalty for homosexuals remains in the Anti Homosexuality Bill 2009 – but she also talked about how the State Department has “elevated” its dialogue about LGBT rights. Remembering what then-First Lady Clinton said in Beijing in 1995, “human rights are women’s rights, and women’s rights are human rights” – one might argue that in this speech Clinton says LGBT rights are human rights and human rights are LGBT rights. Please click inside to see her response to a student on the situation in Uganda and how LGBT rights are “at the top of our list,” as well as the full transcript of her remarks. Here’s the video, which runs about 55 minutes.
… The irony of the placement in the speech did not escape me. President Obama, in the same breath, was proposing to allow openly LGBT people to serve their country and to make sure women get fair pay for a day’s work. Why is either of these things even an issue? And why are we still talking about them in major policy speeches?
The flint that sparked national 
President Obama and First Lady Michelle celebrated International Women’s Day at a White House reception on Monday. In his remarks, Obama noted the contributions of from First Lady Abigail Adams to Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, and longtime African American activist, Dorothy Height. Also at the reception were actress Kerry Washington, Afghan singer Mozdah Jamalzadah and singer Katharine McPhee.
Scottish poet Sir Walter Scott once wrote: “Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive.” Please – I beseech you – try to follow the logic of this Family Research Council minister who tries to make it OK to hate gays, as long as it’s done with Christian love. Pray on it, in fact. FRC sends out regular missives to their Christian “Prayer Warriors” specifying what “targets” to pray at each week. These guys are making it really, really hard to believe that old Sunday School song, “Jesus loves me, this I know – for the Bible tells me so.” You decide.
Be your own Rachel Maddow! Fans of the brilliant MSNBC commentator know that one reason Maddow is so popular is because she confronts lies with the truth. Now LGBTs and their allies can do the same thing when it comes to the debate about the military’s antigay policy, “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
I have not been reticent about criticizing Barack Obama, especially when it comes to his failure to move quickly on HIV/AIDS. But now we may be turning a corner. The final draft of a 
As expected, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, Sen. John McCain’s running mate in the 2008 presidential election and a parallel star on Saturday Night Live, was a huge hit at the first Tea Party convention in Nashville, Tenn. Saturday night.
The LGBT blogospher exploded Wednesday morning with reaction to the historic Senate Armed Services hearing Tuesday during which Defense Sec. Gates and Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mullen announced their desire to repeal the discriminatory Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy, pursuant to President Obama’s State of the Union address saying he wanted to repeal DADT this year.
At his Inauguration in 1960, President John F. Kennedy said the torch had been passed to a new generation. “Ask not what your country can do for you,” Kennedy said, “ask what you can do for your country.”
Tony Perkins, head of the antigay Family Research Council, is hosting a webcast tonight to enable “the people” to respond to President Obama’s recent State of the Union address. Since Obama spoke about working with Congress and military leaders to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” – and the Senate Armed Services Committee is holding a hearing on DADT today – one might image DADT might come up during the webcast tonight. Here’s the invitation to join:
Health and Human Services’ Secretary Sebelius
Let’s face it: the Commander-in-Chief and Congress are secretly afraid of the old men in the military. And the old men in the military, so accustomed to automatic deference by all branches of the US government, are afraid of losing their power as times and the culture change. They cannot fathom that younger soldiers and leaders, the ones the old men are sending to fight two wars, are no longer afraid of dropping their soap bar in the shower.
At the historic 
Trevor Yager is late calling in for the interview. Amid all the whoopla in the LGBT world that he’s been invited to sit in First Lady Michelle Obama’s box during Wednesday night’s State of the Union address, Yager and his partner of seven years, Tyler Murray, are also in the final stages of Home Study to qualify as adoptive parents. With the Home Study due Monday, Yager’s first priority was answering in-depth process questions for three hours.
This week, a compromise is expected to be hammered out to reconcile the US Senate and House versions of what will surely being touted as a landmark healthcare reform bill. President Obama is hoping to have the bill on his desk by Jan. 19 when he delivers his State of the Union address.
Four days after President Obama delivered his well-received 
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