LGBT POV

Is there such a thing as a polite slug-fest? That’s how Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer and Republican challenger Carly Fiorina sparred in their first and perhaps only debate Wednesday night for the US Senate seat Boxer has held for three terms. Boxer has faced tough re-election battles before, but this one is particularly hard in an anti-incumbent year with a very rich opponent and an independent, Karl Rove-back 527 group swift-boating Boxer in TV ads on Medicare.

Right now, as Boxer pointed out during the debate, Senate Democrats need 60 votes to pass legislation and most of their Republican colleagues have just said “No” without offering solutions. Some pundits predict that if Boxer loses, the Senate will revert to 1994-style hard line conservative Republican control.

Please click inside to read more about my take on the debate.

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Right wing-leaning lesbian radio talk show host Tammy Bruce drew about 40 people to a private “Don’t Tread on Us” reception hosted by the gay Republican group GOProud at the Manchester Grand Hyatt hotel in San Diego Saturday.  (Pictured: Jimmy LaSalvia, Jessica Lee, Tammy Bruce, Christopher Barron. Photo by Rex Wockner)) About 20 mostly LGBT people protested the event outside. The Manchester Grand Hyatt has been under an LGBT/union boycott since July 2008.

The LGBT/labor coalition Sleep With The Right People points out that Manchester’s $125,000 contribution to Protect Marriage for a paid signature-gathering campaign put Prop 8 on the ballot. UNITE HERE! wants the Hyatt hotels to provide better working conditions and job security. On the one year anniversary, boycott organizer Fred Karger said the boycott cost Doug Manchester $7 million, noting, “His flagship hotel is now a pariah.”

The National Association of Black Journalists also held their annual convention at the Manchester Grand Hyatt over the weekend, with a workshop conducted by Dannie Tillman from the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. In phone and email interviews, NABJ and GLAAD explained why they were there.

Please click inside to read an in-depth report on questions raised by the GOProud event, the boycott and if the LGBT community may be a political turning point.

GOProud, the Washington D.C.-based conservative gay Republican group, is holding a private reception Saturday at the Manchester Hyatt hotel, which has been the target of a boycott by the LGBT community and the UNITE HERE! Labor union since July 2008.

The LGBT/labor coalition Sleep With The Right People plans to protest the event starting at 4:30 at the Manchester Grand Hyatt, 1 Market Place in San Diego. The GOProud event runs from 5pm to 7pm.

Cleve Jones, friend of Harvey Milk and founder of the NAMES PROJECT AIDS Memorial Quilt, is a UNITE HERE organizer trying to remedy the drastic conditions for workers and lack of job security at the hotel. Cleve says:

“The solidarity between the labor movement and the LGBT movement is a powerful coalition. In San Diego, the owner of the Manchester Grand Hyatt—the second largest Hyatt in North America—gave $125,000 to put Proposition 8 on the ballot. Our union and the LGBT community are boycotting the Manchester Grand Hyatt, because there is power in the union and there is power in coalition.”

Pause for a second and consider this: Manchester’s $125,000 came in February 2008 at a time when the antigay campaigners did not have enough money to put the measure on the ballot. That money not only paid for the signature-gathering campaign but also gave the then-lackluster Gail Knight-led ProtectMarriage fiscal viability that brought in new money and support. Equality for All countered with a Decline to Sign effort.

Equality for All was non-partisan and reached out to gay Republicans and independents, as well as progressives to fight Prop 8. Political consultant Scott Schmidt of the Los Angeles chapter of the Log Cabin Republicans, later created Republicans Against Prop 8 to specifically target Republicans after the measure qualified. Log Cabin has also honored the boycott.

So why is GOProud holding their Tea Party-sounding “Don’t Tread on Us” reception at the Manchester Hyatt hotel?  I don’t think it’s because they need the $18,000 Manchester gave them to break the boycott and fund their 527.

I think this is a PR move aimed at a larger, conservative audience – not the LGBT community.

Please click inside to read my thoughts on the boycott, GOProud, Log Cabin, and the influence of Tammy Bruce.

On Saturday, the New York Times published an extensive piece  on how the U.S. Supreme Court under Chief Justice John Roberts is the most conservative in five decades. Watching the Obama Justice Department lawyers defend Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell in Log Cabin Republicans vs. the United States Government in District Court in Riverside over the last two weeks, it is clear that they are counting on the Court continuing its longstanding conservative deference to the military.  According to Dan Woods, LCR’s lead attorney fighting the federal case, U.S. Assistant Attorney Paul Freeborne hasn’t changed his tactic – that the entire constitutional challenge is irrelevant – since he started defending DADT after the suit was first filed in 2004.

What’s different in this case is that Judge Virginia Phillips apparently does not share Freeborne’s opinion – having refused to dismiss the case outright and allowing Woods to establish a thorough record of how and why DADT is discriminatory and unconstitutional. The case ended last Friday and Phillips could issue her ruling at any time. Like the federal challenge to Prop 8, the case is expected to be appealed all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court. What will be interesting to see is how the Courts deals with a Republican plaintiff and lead attorney who, in many ways, are arguing a conservative case – that DADT negatively impacts national security, for instance. And then there’s the absurdity of DADT, as Woods notes in this section of his closing:

“We showed that open homosexuals are allowed to service in the FBI, CIA, NSA, Secret Service, DoD, and in private contracting firms performing military functions alongside active duty military personnel. The Commander in Chief of our Armed Forces can also be a homosexual.”

I spoke with Woods on Friday and asked him a number of questions on issues about which I was confused such as what is “conduct by admission” and why didn’t he call former Sen. Sam Nunn to testify. Please click inside for my interview with the extraordinary Dan Woods, partner in the Los Angeles-based White & Case law firm, who has been fighting this fight for LCR and gay servicemembers pro bono since 2004.

Dan Woods, lead attorney for the Log Cabin Republican’s federal challenge to the constitutionality of the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell law and policy, gave his closing argument Friday morning. In his 55-page presentation, he reviewed testimony from his expert witnesses and from former servicemembers about their experience living and being discharged under DADT. He also cited the Justice Department’s cross-examination, as well as poking holes in their defense, which relied on the will of Congress that passed the law in 1993. Woods cites quotations from congressmembers to show the animus towards lesbians and gays which he says is behind DADT. He also explained why he thinks DADT violates the constitutional right to due process and freedom of speech. It is a thorough summary of an historic case. Please click inside to read Dan Wood’s closing argument. PLEASE NOTE THIS IS AS PREPARED FOR DELIVERY. THE FULL TRANSCRIPT OF THE CLOSING ARGUMENTS AND REBUTTAL WILL BE AVAILABLE ON THE LOG CABIN WEBSITE LATER.

I met Servicemember United Executive Director Alex Nicholson when he arrived in Riverside, CA on Tuesday to testify at the Log Cabin Republicans’ District Court trial challenging Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. I spoke with him then and then later by phone after he was dismissed as a witness on Wednesday afternoon. While all the testimony was important, Alex’s testimony was critical since he is a named plaintiff in the case of Log Cabin Republicans v. the United States of America and the government has been mightily trying to discredit and undermine him.

Alex was 20 years old at the time of his discharge; he’s 29 now. But what he convey on the stand and again in this interview is the trauma that the experience of being outed and discharged from a career that was part of his family history still holds over him. I was reminded of what a number of us tried to convey to Admiral Mullen when he came to USC - that our people suffer from PTDS, too and it is imperative that the military take care of all its recruits.

You can read the transcipts of Alex’s testimony during the trial, but I essentially asked him to elaborate on several of the questions the Justice Department tried to trip him up on. To the DOJ, this is about a law, a policy – and most of all – about winning as if no human beings are involved. But, as Alex explains, to us, DADT is about our gay lives.

Here’s an excerpt from the interview:

“[This trial is] very important, I think, for those who are serving under Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell today; those who’ve been impacted by Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell in years past to feel like they’re getting their day in court. I think everybody in the gay military community feels like this law and our community are finally getting our day in court.”

(Editor’s note: Former Marine Captain Tom Carpenter, a longtime Servicemembers Legal Defense Network board member who has posted here about Don’t Ask Don’t Tell before, attended the Log Cabin Republican’s federal constitutional challenge to DADT at the bench trial in US District Court in Riverside, CA. He offers his impressions of the trial from the perspective of a former servicemember, an advocate and a lawyer. – Karen Ocamb)

Eyewitness to History

By Tom Carpenter

I recently attended two days of trial in the Log Cabin Republican case in Riverside. If this were a jury trial, (which it can’t be because the United States is a party), I would say the good guys would win. Judge Phillips is very bright and my impression is that she gets it and is as unimpressed with the government’s case and lawyers as I am. This is definitely not the “A” team. It appears they are merely protecting the record for appeal to eventually reach the Supreme Court. The government isn’t even putting on any witnesses!

This is a classic case of when the facts are bad, argue the law and when the law is bad, argue the facts. They are probably hoping the law will be repealed so that this case is moot. Don’t count on it as the Senate continues to drag its feet.

The White and Case lawyers [representing LCR] have really outgunned the government and they have put on an excellent case.

I saw the end of fellow Naval Academy grad Jenny Kopfstein’s testimony and she brought tears to my eyes.

Please click inside for the rest of Tom’s impressions.

Admiral Mike Mullen, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, spoke eloquently at a recent USC town hall meeting about his concern that stressed out soldiers returning for multiple tours in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan receive the welcome, support and thanks that their predecessors in the Vietnam War did not.  But what about returning gay and lesbian soldiers, veterans and their families who can’t even access support under Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell? Don’t they matter? Don’t Mullen and the Pentagon care about them?

And yet – other than legal support from Servicemembers Legal Defense Network – there really has been little support for returning or discharged vets in the LGBT community, either. That was something a handful of gay servicemembers noted, as well, in 2005.  Discharged linguist Alex Nicholson helped create Servicemembers United in order to more actively and visibly involved LGBT servicemembers in policy matters that impact gays in the military, not the least of which is repealing DADT.

On Tuesday, Nicholson will face another test of honor and courage. But this time, in District Court in Riverside, California, he will be challenged to hold his own on the witness stand against the very government he joined the Army to defend in 2001.  After Nicholson became an honorary member of the Log Cabin Republican Club of Georgia in 2006 (see the declaration of Jamies Ensley who recruited him), he became central to the Log Cabins’ then two-year old case against the United States of America to prove that the DADT law passed by Congress is unconstitutional.  Nicholson’s discharge under DADT gives LCR standing to bring the case.

If last week’s behavior by the Justice Department lawyers is an indication of how he will be treated – it will be a grueling day. But if last week’s invisibility by the LGBT community is any clue – one must ask: does anyone care?

Please click inside to read more about my questioning of why LGBT equality groups didn’t show up, plus notes on the arrogance of the Justice Department’s attorneys in this historic trial.

Kudos to The Advocate’s news editor Andrew Harmon, who has committed his team to covering the Log Cabin Republican’s historic federal challenge to Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell in Riverside, California. Andrew reported on the trial Thursday, during which former petty officer 3rd class Joseph Christopher Rocha (pictured) and DADT expert Aaron Belkin, director of the Palm Center, a  think tank based at the University of California/Santa Barbara testified. LCR has posted motions and  the transcripts from the trial (here’s Thursday’s transcript).   UPDATE/CORRECTION: NO ONE IS COVERING TODAY SINCE THEY ARE GOING TO PRESS FOR THE MAGAZINE. 

Here’s an excerpt from Andrew’s summary of Thursday’s trial, which includes a brief interview with LCR lead attorney Dan Woods:

“Former petty officer 3rd class Joseph Christopher Rocha wasn’t the only soldier in his unit subjected to hazing by superiors. But the degrading harassment he faced struck a decidedly different tone.

In a federal trial challenging the constitutionality of “don’t ask, don’t tell” that began this week in a Riverside, Calif. courtroom, Rocha, 24, testified in graphic detail on Thursday about pervasive humiliation he suffered while in training to become an elite military dog handler — abuse that went far beyond ritual hazing.

In one incident, a superior gave him detailed and specific instructions on how to simulate oral sex on another man while fellow soldiers were paraded into the room to watch. In another he was ordered to crawl on all fours and was forced into a kennel filled with dog feces. Fellow soldiers in his unit called him “faggot” and assumed he was gay because he didn’t drink, smoke, gamble, or visit prostitutes in Bahrain, where he was stationed in 2005.

“I don’t know if I’ve ever recovered from it,” Rocha said of the abuse. “It was dehumanizing, I felt like an animal.”

Log Cabin Republicans longstanding lawsuit Log Cabin Republicans vs. United States of America challenging the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy will go to trial Tuesday, July 13, 9:00 a.m. pacific. U.S. Court Judge Virginia Phillips, Central District of California, Riverside Courthouse. The trial is expected to continue for two weeks. Dan Woods, lead attorney and partner at White & Case, will argue the case.  Please see LGBT POV’s interview with Woods last April.

Woods released his witness list:

Terry W. Hamilton – LCR National Board Chairman

Jamie Ensley – Secretary of the Board

Phillip Bradley – Member, Board of Directors,

Alexander Nicholson – Servicemembers United

Marty Meekins

Expert Wintesses

Nathaniel Frank

Aaron Belkin

Lawrence Korb

Robert MacCoun

Elizabeth Hillman

Alan Okros

Melissa Sheridan Embser-Herbert

Former Service Members

Michael Almy

Joseph Rocha

Jenny Kopfstein

Anthony Loverde

Stephen Vossler

Log Cabin Republicans will e-mail daily review of case and comments from principals.

Please click inside to read frequently asked questions and answers about the case, as prepared by Woods and LCR.

While the nation focused on the victories of Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina, two corporate Republican women who spent millions to win their gubernatorial and Senate primary campaigns, respectively, LGBTs were focused on statewide and local races that boosted the fight for equality in California.

As of midnight, with more than half of the precincts reporting, Victoria Kolakowski, a transgender administrative law judge and attorney for over 20 years is leading in her race for Alameda County Superior Court Judge with 46.11% of the vote, compared to her nearest competitor with 31.52% of the vote. While she will likely have to face a run-off, her lead is significant and her win would be historic.

In Southern California, openly gay Ricardo Lara, a founding member of HONOR PAC, appears to have won his race in the 50^th Assembly District in the East LA area. He becomes the second openly gay Latino in the state Legislature in California history.

And in what openly gay Assembly Speaker John A. Perez described as a “huge win,” pro-gay Democrat Matt Gatto beat National Organization for Marriage favorite Sunder Ramani who “used H8 card with the Armenian community,” which backfired. Perez called the special election for Assembly District 43 a “bell-weather” for November since it was the only race where a Democrat went head-to-head with a Republican. As of midnight, Gatto was up almost 56% to Ramani’s 44%.

Perez also noted that Gatto won in a primary election where there was high Republican turnout. “It’s a very strong indication of what people want this year. They want elected officials who are committed to making the state work by investing in education and jobs and not turning their back on the needy, especially in this time of such a big economic crisis.”

Please click inside for more on the California primaries, with comments from Assembly Speaker John A. Perez, Equality California’s Geoff Kors, and Log Cabin Republican’s Scott Schmidt. UPDATED WITH NEW RESULTS.

Political consultant and Log Cabin Republican Los Angeles Chapter President Charles Moran appeared on Chris Matthews’ Hardball show on MSNBC Monday discussing the hypocrisy of the Religious Right. He was joined by Michelle Goldberg, author of “The Christian Right’s Gay Problem” on the Daily Beast, an online article that looked at antigay Christian leader Dr. George Rekers , who was “caught with a hooker from Rentboy.com—the latest example of hypocrisy on the religious right,” and “why Ted Haggards keep happening.” Interestingly, Matthews effusively praised Log Cabin, telling Moran he “loves” LCR.

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

The Log Cabin Republican’s federal challenge to the constitutionality of the military’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy received little attention until recently when the U.S. Department of Justice filed a brief asking for summary judgment to throw the case out.

On Monday, Dan Woods, partner in the international law firm of White & Case who is the lead on the Log Cabin’s (LCR) federal challenge, filed a 30-page motion in district court in Riverside, California in response to the DOJ brief.

UPDATE: On Tuesday, even White House press Secretary Robert Gibbs expressed confusion about the DOJ brief, according to The Advocate’s Kerry Eleveld.

Please click inside to read excerpts from the LCR brief, my interview with Dan Woods and find links to the DOJ and LCR filings.

In 2007, Out magazine ranked top New York Times political reporter Adam Nagourney – along with The Times ‘Gay Mafia’ – Richard Berke, Ben Brantley, Frank Bruni, Stuart Elliott, Stefano Tonchi, and Eric Wilson – as No. 7 on their Top 50 Gays of that year. They were bested by: 1. David Geffen; 2. Anderson Cooper; 3. Ellen DeGeneres; 4. Tim Gill; 5. Barney Frank; and 6. Rosie O’Donnell.

So the news on Huffington Post Thursday that Nagourney is coming to LA to head up that paper’s bureau is welcome – especially if the Los Angeles Times thinks they need to be competitive about coverage of the LGBT community as a result. A friend of mine recently told a story of having lunch with an LA Times city editor and after discussing the profound LGBT history coming out of Los Angeles, asked the editor: Why don’t you cover us? “We don’t need to,” the editor replied.

However, as LGBTs know, being openly gay does not necessarily mean more or favorable coverage of LGBT and HIV/AIDS issues. So who is Adam Nagourney, gay-wise? Please click inside to read more about him.

This just in from Log Cabin Republicans. Their lawsuit is the only federal challenge to DADT with an actual court date, June 2010. Here’s LCR’s release:

JUSTICE DEPARTMENT ASSERTS THAT RECENT STATEMENTS BY PRESIDENT IN SUPPORT OF REPEALING ‘DADT’ POLICY HAS HAD ZERO IMPACT ON ACTUAL POSITION OF U.S. GOVERNMENT

(Los Angeles, CA) – In a ruling delivered on the eve of the Thanksgiving holiday, U.S. Federal Court Judge Virginia Phillips handed Log Cabin Republicans a major legal victory by denying the Obama Administration Justice Department’s last-minute appeal, which sought to stay proceedings and block discovery in the leading federal case challenging the discriminatory ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy.

Barring any kind of extraordinary tactics the Obama Justice Department may try to use to derail this case, the trial is scheduled to begin in June 2010.”

Read More →

Don't ask, don't tell, Log Cabin Republicans

After Prop 8 passed and several straight Republicans came out in favor of marriage equality, some LGBT activists asked – where were they when it mattered – when the No on Prop 8 campaign needed mainstream Republican support to pull those independents and libertarians? In fact there were a number of Republicans who worked to stop Prop 8 – spearheaded by a Log Cabin Republican-conceived group called Republicans Against 8. They produced some pretty good, targeted ads, too. Click inside to read more about them and see some more videos.

The Palm Center reports that Army Secretary John McHugh thinks the military is ready to lift the gay ban. But there is an interesting twist to this important announcement. There is a HUGE battle within the Republican Party over who will replace MCHugh in a special election in the conservative 23rd District Congressional seat from upstate New York. Could the timing indicate who McHugh wants to be the GOP candidate? Click inside to see the Palm Center’s press release and possible context for the statement.