The USC School of Social Work and the USC Center for Innovation and Research on Veterans and Military Families is hosting Admiral Mike Mullen, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, for a free event that is open to the public on Friday, June 11.
Space is limited so RSVPs must be made by Friday, June 4 by clicking here and using the event code “Mullen,” or by calling (213) 740-1744.
The event is from 1:45pm to 3:00pm at the University Park Campus, Town and Gown
Mullen will hear a presentation on a new program being developed at USC on training social workers on how to help veterans and soldiers returning from wars on how to discuss and handle Post Traumatic Stress.
Last month I argued that Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell causes or exacerbates trauma and PTSD and sets up a Catch 22 since the military personnel who need help won’t seek it for fear of being exposed and losing their benefits. Perhaps this is something Mullen will be asked about during the post-presentation Q&A with the audience or the reception. Certainly treatment of vets and soldiers suffering under DADT deserve to be included in the Pentagon’s Dec. 1 study.
“Stories from the Frontlines: Letters to President Barack Obama” is a new media campaign launched to underscore the urgent need for congressional action and presidential leadership at this critical point in the fight to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT). Every weekday morning as we approach the markup of the Defense Authorization bill in the Senate, SLDN and a coalition of voices supporting repeal, will share an open letter to the President from a person impacted by this discriminatory law. The Defense Authorization bill represents the best legislative vehicle to bring repeal to the president’s desk. It also was the same vehicle used to pass DADT in 1993. By working together, we can help build momentum to get the votes! We ask that you forward and post these personal stories.
Please click inside to read the letter for Major Gen. Vance Coleman who wrote: “As Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” Mr. President, do all you can; stand with us and work with us to end this denigration of our American values.”
If repealing the odious antigay Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell wasn’t so deadly serious, the effort could be compared to riding a rickety Coney Island roller coaster. Rep. Patrick Murphy, who is championing the compromise repeal amendment attached to the Defense Appropriations Bill in the House, was upbeat on Rachel Maddow’s show – even as Roll Call wrote, “Prospects for a repeal of the military’s ban on openly gay service members remained very much in doubt Tuesday as Senate Democrats met resistance for the move on the Armed Services Committee and House Democrats faced defections of their own amid nearly unified Republican opposition.”
TheWashington Blade also noted the rocky ride before Thursday’s debates – despite compromises to the amendment such as built-in delays, a required “certification” from the President, the Secretary of Defense and the chair of the Joints Chiefs that the implementation plan passed muster with the military before taking effect, and the non-discrimination clause stripped out to make it more palatable to congressional holdouts. That was apparently not enough for Senators Scott Brown (R-MA) and Jim Webb (D-VA), who said they would vote against the DADT repeal.
Then Wednesday morning, Adam Bink at Open Left reported that Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson was a “yes” vote. Bink wrote: “Big, big, big news. As I reported last night, Sen. Bayh is a “soft yes”, and if he fully commits, we will have the votes in hand on the [Senate] Armed Services Committee.”
The ups and downs of playing politics with LGBT equality is prompting some to consider sitting out the November mid-term elections.
Lt. Dan Choi, Cpl. Evelyn Thomas and the GetEqual crew issued the following press release about the proposed compromise Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell repeal introduced Tuesday by Rep. Murphy. The press release seems in response to calls by many in national LGBT leadership is accept the proposal as a good first step.
Please click inside to read the entire GetEqual press release. Here’s Lt. Dan Choi:
During a follow-up endorsement meeting for the June 8 primaries, Stonewall Democratic Club of Los Angeles, which has been around since 1975, also voted on whether or not to endorse the proposed Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell repeal amendment introduced in the House Tuesday. They voted to support the repeal – but with a huge caveat: “any policy, bill, compromise, or executive order that does not ensure that our service members are able to serve fully, openly, and equally is not acceptable to our community and should not be to our elected officials either.”
Please click inside to read the full statement, plus a followup with Stonewall President John Cleary.
CORRECTED: President Obama is flying back to California Tuesday night to appear at two fundraisers in San Francisco for Sen. Barbara Boxer’s re-election campaign. MSNBC describes Boxer as an “imperiled incumbent” as she seeks her fourth-term. The last time Obama stumped for Boxer, he was confronted by GetEqual protesters calling for an immediate repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell through an amendment to the Defense Appropriations Bill. Late Monday, Obama signed off on a compromise repeal amendment that would repeal the law, but not take effect until after the Pentagon’s study on Dec. 1 – as well as a host of other conditions that have since cause concern.
Rep. Patrick Murphy introduced a repeal DADT amendment to the DOD bill Tuesday – he’s scheduled to appear on Rachel Maddow’s Tuesday night to discuss the repeal. Murphy’s amendment is expected to be debated on Thursday, as is a similar DADT amendment, introduced in the Senate Armed Services committee by chair Sen. Carl Levin and Sen. Joe Lieberman.
(CORRECTED) A number of activists are “VERY displeased and are tired of being a political football” – saying the compromise repeal amendment is “far from equal and removes any accountability to the people.” Please click inside to see their call to action to protest this compromise repeal DADT amendment.
Kerry Eleveld at The Advocate reports that “concurrent meetings took place Monday morning at the White House and on Capitol Hill that could help clear the way for “don’t ask, don’t tell” repeal to be attached to the Department of Defense authorization bill later this week.”
Kerry’s report is pretty optimistic – obviously welcome news. I summarized the debate up to this point in a story I posted over the weekend. But truthfully, I was angry at President Obama for failing to use his platform speaking before the graduating class at West Point to make clear he wants DADT repealed this year – meaning before Democrats possibly lose seats in the November election. I also wrote about how no one seems to be linking the spike in military sexual trauma and suicide rates to DADT – borrowing an old ACT UP slogan to say Enforced Silence = Death.
This is our LAST CHANCE to flood congressional offices with phone calls to send the message that support for repealing DADT is overwhelming.
We are no longer asking. We are DEMANDING that DADT be repealed THIS YEAR. We all have worked long and hard for this time to come. Now that it’s here, we cannot let the opportunity slip. Please join us on Monday, May 24th and help us flood our congressional offices with phone calls demanding repeal of DADT immediately.
Step 1) Call the DC offices of each of your state’s two Senators.
President Obama spoke at West Point Academy graduation ceremonies Saturday, noting that for the first time in the Academy’s 208-year history, “your two top awards have been earned by female cadets” – 32 years after the first women enrolled in the graduating class of 1980. Women in uniform, Obama said, “play an indispensable role in our national defense.”
Obama’s speech was about his approach to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, where many of the graduates may be headed. But with the impending congressional action on Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell infusing every military-related word with the prickly heat of expectation, it was once again excruciating to see gays expressly written out of the American experience.
There were hints that Obama might talk about the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell when he said, “America’s armed forces are adapting to changing times.” But Obama failed to use this largest of platforms to urge Congress to repeal DADT this week – though Speaker Nancy Pelosi told Equality California that DADT will be history by Christmas. There is mounting pressure from groups such as Servicemembers United and their “GIVE ‘EM HELL campaign.
But in this piece, I look at the unreported silence behind DADT and conclude that the disgrace and unemployment resulting from a DADT discharge are not the two worst consequences of a law and policy the president promised to repeal this year. The enforced silence of DADT can lead to the death of dignity, the death of patriotism, the trauma of unreported sexual assault and PTSD in thousands of individuals. And yes, the enforced silence of DADT can lead to suicide. Repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell isn’t just a political “issue” about official LGBT second class citizenship. It’s about life and death. Indeed, Enforced Silence = Death! And refusal to repeal DADT amounts to complicity for which there must be consequences.
There are political pundits a plenty who are dissecting the significant defeat of 30-year incumbent Arlen Specter to upstart Democratic Rep. Joe Sestak – though call a former Navy Admiral an “upstart” is quite amusing. Washington will also be all aflutter with how the Specter defeat reflects an “anti-Obama sentiment” as well as an anti-Washington anger, as Democratic pollster Doug Schoen pontificated to Fox News.
Please click inside to read my analysis and about a new campaign by Courage Campaign, CREDO, AMERICAblog, and Open Left to pressure the Democrats to pass LGBT equality bills. And please find my suggestion that Specter’s defeat is sweet for those who remember his prosecution of law Professor Anita Hill during the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings:
Every time I saw Arlen Specter on television after that, I got queasy. The man had no shame or even an understanding of how flat-out sexist he was. I confess that I was thrilled to see him defeated, especially with all the Democratic Establishment supposedly having his back.
I suggest that a similar disgust is stewing in the guts of gays watching straight Democrats – who give love when they want votes and money – fidget and squirm out of their promises. They may not even know they’re being homophobic – much as Specter was infused with sexism. But the result is the same: LGBTs are humiliated and abandoned for straight political expediency. There are some notable exceptions, of course – Rep. Patrick Murphy and Sen. Carl Levin on repealing DADT, are extraordinary examples.
But in 2010, the silence and backtracking of cowardly Democrats is just as painful and nauseating to LGBTs as the prosecution of Anita Hill by Arlen Specter in 1991. That may seem over the top to some – but that’s the reaction bred by festering rage. And it may take a long time for revenge, as it did with Specter – or it may just take until November.
AmericaBlog’s Joe Sudbay provides an excellent summary of a conference call with Servicemember Legal Defense Network Executive Director Aubrey Sarvis, which I encourage you to read in full. Sarvis talked about the logistics of the movement to repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t’ Tell. The discussion focused on the effects of the letter Defense Sec. Robert Gates sent to the House Armed Services Committee on April 30 saying he does not favor a legislative repeal until after the Pentagon has completed its report on repeal implementation, expected on Dec. 1. The committee marks up H.R. 5136, the National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2011, Wednesday but no movement on DADT-repeal action is expected, though Sarvis said there is a possibility that Republicans might offer a hostile amendment.
Levin “is beginning to feel more confident but we’re still not there,” Sudbay reported. Sarvis said “we’ve got to keep pushing…..we’re still not there yet.” The Congressional switchboard is 202-224-3121; tell them where you live and ask to speak first with your representative and then your senator. On their site, SLDN provides a script, if you don’t know what to say.
I joined the conference call late but heard Sarvis talk about needing President Obama to step up are urge Senators to repeal DADT. Sarvis said: “That’s not happening and the question is why?”
Please click inside for more – but here’s a sound bite from Sen. Carl Levin at a March 3 news conference where Levin said he doesn’t find the arguments used to justify DADT convincing:
Today – until 5 p.m. Eastern, 2 p.m Pacific – about 300 gay and straight veterans are in Washingon DC participating in Veterans Lobby Day to end “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and to repeal the discriminatory law this year. Chris Geidner has a good piece on a meeting between gay and lesbian veterans and members of the Pentagon Working Group on Monday.
The vets need your help and ask you to “light up the Congressional switchboard in a virtual lobby day” to support the vets who are meeting with lawmakers. The Human Rights Campaign, which organized Veterans Lobby Day with Servicemembers United, gives these instructions – PLEASE CLICK INSIDE – on HOW to lobby from where you are.
“Stories from the Frontlines: Letters to President Barack Obama” is a new media campaign launched to underscore the urgent need for congressional action and presidential leadership at this critical point in the fight to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT). Every weekday morning as we approach the markup of the Defense Authorization bill in the Senate and House Armed Services Committees, SLDN and a coalition of voices supporting repeal, will share an open letter to the President from a person impacted by this discriminatory law. We are urging the President to include repeal in the Administration’s defense budget recommendations, but also to voice his support as we work to muster the 15 critical votes needed on the Senate Armed Services Committee to include repeal. The Defense Authorization bill represents the best legislative vehicle to bring repeal to the president’s desk. It also was the same vehicle used to pass DADT in 1993. By working together, we can help build momentum to get the votes! We ask that you forward and post these personal stories.
Please click inside to read First Lt. Laura Slattery’s story about the confusion of love.
“Stories from the Frontlines: Letters to President Barack Obama” is a new media campaign launched to underscore the urgent need for congressional action and presidential leadership at this critical point in the fight to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT). Every weekday morning as we approach the markup of the Defense Authorization bill in the Senate and House Armed Services Committees, SLDN and a coalition of voices supporting repeal, will share an open letter to the President from a person impacted by this discriminatory law.
We are urging the President to include repeal in the Administration’s defense budget recommendations, but also to voice his support as we work to muster the 15 critical votes needed on the Senate Armed Services Committee to include repeal. The Defense Authorization bill represents the best legislative vehicle to bring repeal to the president’s desk. It also was the same vehicle used to pass DADT in 1993. By working together, we can help build momentum to get the votes! We ask that you forward and post these personal stories.
Please click inside to read Danny’s letter in which he tells President Obama: “Not only am I willing and anxious to go overseas, but I am prepared to pay the ultimate sacrifice in order to protect our freedoms. I have remained faithful to my country; please be faithful to me.”
Shame on me for thinking that military journalists are inherently biased toward the military’s antigay Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy instead of being good old fashioned journalists. While bias may have existed at one time – now, with Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Joint Chief of Staff Mike Mullen telling Congress that they support a repeal of DADT, the venerable and independent Stars and Stripes newspaper is fairly reporting both sides of the debate.
Please click inside for more. UPDATE: The LGBT Servicemembers United just issued a press release saying the total official number of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell discharges for 2009 now stands at 443. That’s the total reported by the Department of Defense – 428 – plus 15 discharges from the Coast Guard. The official 17-year total is now 13,425 discharges.
Towleroad is on top of this. Apparently Lt. Dan Choi spoke at Kathy Griffin/HRC’s rally about ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ and then lead a march to the White House where Choi and Captain Jim Pietrangelo are reportedly both handcuffed to the White House fence. Choi and GetEqual’s Robin McGehee were subsequently arrested. (Photos via Towleroad, via Twitter)
… 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.”…
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.
Could that odd sound you hear be the creaking hands of time clicking over to a new day?
Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) announced on Monday that he will soon be introducing a bill in the U.S. Senate to repeal the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
“I will be proud to be a sponsor of the important effort to enable patriotic gay Americans to defend our national security and our founding values of freedom and opportunity.
I have opposed the current policy of preventing gay Americans from openly serving in the military since its enactment in 1993. To exclude one group of Americans from serving in the armed forces is contrary to our fundamental principles as outlined in the Declaration of Independence and weakens our defenses by denying our military the service of a large group of Americans who can help our cause. I am grateful for the leadership of President Obama to repeal the policy and the support of Secretary Gates and Chief of Staff Admiral Mullen.”
Please click inside for more on DADT and the CPAC conference.
But back to that creaking clock of time. Who would have ever imagined that an antigay message delivered from the podium of the conservative CPAC stage would ever be met with the sweet sound of boos? And what prompted the boos? This guy condemning CPAC for allowing GOProud to participate. Best line: “The lesbians at Smith College protest better than you do. Bring it!” This video should be on the laptop of every LGBT person who lobbies Congress for LGBT rights.
Despite support from President Barack Obama, Sec. of Defense Robert Gates, top Pentagon leaders and former Vice President Dick Cheney for a repeal of the military’s antigay policy “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” the Associated Press reports that a repeal “is probably years away.”
That’s not good enough, says a coalition of LGBT and straight bloggers who want readers to call HRC to pressure the Administration, Congress and the military to move faster.
Please click inside for more info, including who’s swarming, why and other ways to respond to DADT. UPDATED with new information and resource.
The USC School of Social Work and the USC Center for Innovation and Research on Veterans and Military Families is hosting Admiral Mike Mullen, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, for a free event that is open to the public on Friday, June 11.
“Stories from the Frontlines: Letters to President Barack Obama” is a new media campaign launched to underscore the urgent need for congressional action and presidential leadership at this critical point in the fight to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT). Every weekday morning as we approach the markup of the Defense Authorization bill in the Senate, SLDN and a coalition of voices supporting repeal, will share an open letter to the President from a person impacted by this discriminatory law. The Defense Authorization bill represents the best legislative vehicle to bring repeal to the president’s desk. It also was the same vehicle used to pass DADT in 1993. By working together, we can help build momentum to get the votes! We ask that you forward and post these personal stories.
If repealing the odious antigay Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell wasn’t 
Lt. Dan Choi, Cpl. Evelyn Thomas and the GetEqual crew issued the following press release about the proposed compromise Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell repeal introduced Tuesday by Rep. Murphy. The press release seems in response to calls by many in national LGBT leadership is accept the proposal as a good first step.
During a follow-up endorsement meeting for the June 8 primaries, 
CORRECTED: President Obama is flying back to California Tuesday night to appear at two fundraisers in San Francisco for Sen. Barbara Boxer’s re-election campaign. 
Kerry Eleveld at 
President Obama spoke at West Point Academy graduation ceremonies Saturday, noting that for the first time in the Academy’s 208-year history, “your two top awards have been earned by female cadets” – 32 years after the first women enrolled in the graduating class of 1980. Women in uniform, Obama said, “play an indispensable role in our national defense.”
There are political pundits a plenty who are dissecting the significant defeat of 30-year incumbent Arlen Specter to upstart Democratic Rep. Joe Sestak – though call a former Navy Admiral an “upstart” is quite amusing. Washington will also be all aflutter with how the Specter defeat reflects an “anti-Obama sentiment” as well as an 
Today – until 5 p.m. Eastern, 2 p.m Pacific – about 300 gay and straight veterans are in Washingon DC participating in Veterans Lobby Day to end “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and to repeal the discriminatory law this year. 
“Stories from the Frontlines: Letters to President Barack Obama” is a new media campaign launched to underscore the urgent need for congressional action and presidential leadership at this critical point in the fight to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT). Every weekday morning as we approach the markup of the Defense Authorization bill in the Senate and House Armed Services Committees, SLDN and a coalition of voices supporting repeal, will share an open letter to the President from a person impacted by this discriminatory law. We are urging the President to include repeal in the Administration’s defense budget recommendations, but also to voice his support as we work to muster the 15 critical votes needed on the Senate Armed Services Committee to include repeal. The Defense Authorization bill represents the best legislative vehicle to bring repeal to the president’s desk. It also was the same vehicle used to pass DADT in 1993. By working together, we can help build momentum to get the votes! We ask that you forward and post these personal stories.
“Stories from the Frontlines: Letters to President Barack Obama” is a new media campaign launched to underscore the urgent need for congressional action and presidential leadership at this critical point in the fight to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT). Every weekday morning as we approach the markup of the Defense Authorization bill in the Senate and House Armed Services Committees, SLDN and a coalition of voices supporting repeal, will share an open letter to the President from a person impacted by this discriminatory law.
Shame on me for thinking that military journalists are inherently biased toward the military’s antigay Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy instead of being good old fashioned journalists. While bias may have existed at one time – now, with Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and 
… 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?
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.”
Could that odd sound you hear be the creaking hands of time clicking over to a new day?
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