BREAKING: Federal Judge Orders Military To Suspend Enforcement Of DADT

This just in via Daily Kos: "U.S. district judge Virginia A. Phillips orders the Defense Department to 'immediately to suspend and discontinue any investigation, or discharge, separation, or other proceeding.'" Phillips' ruling regards the case brought by the Log Cabin Republicans.

Here's the text of the order:

1) DECLARES that the act known as "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" infringes the fundamental rights of United States servicemembers and prospective servicemembers and violates (a) the substantive due process rights guaranteed under the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, and (b) the rights to freedom of speech and to petition the Government for redress of grievances guaranteed by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.

(2) PERMANENTLY ENJOINS Defendants United States of America and the Secretary of Defense, their agents, servants, officers, employees, and attorneys, and all persons acting in participation or concert with them or under their direction or command, from enforcing or applying the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Act and implementing regulations, against any person under their jurisdiction or command;

(3) ORDERS Defendants United States of America and the Secretary of Defense immediately to suspend and discontinue any investigation, or discharge, separation, or other proceeding, that may have been commenced under the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Act, or pursuant to 10 U.S.C. § 654 or its implementing regulations, on or prior to the date of this Judgment.

(4) GRANTS Plaintiff Log Cabin Republicans' request to apply for attorneys' fees pursuant to the Equal Access to Justice Act, 28 U.S.C. § 2412; and

(5) GRANTS Plaintiff Log Cabin Republicans' request to file a motion for costs of suit, to the extent allowed by law.

The Advocate notes:

In her order Phillips did not specify when the injunction would become effective. Justice Department attorneys have objected in court to the immediate halt of DADT enforcement and may appeal the injunction to the U.S. court of appeals for the ninth circuit.

Servicemembers United reacts via press release:

"This order from Judge Phillips is another historic and courageous step in the right direction, a step that Congress has been noticeably slow in taking," said Alexander Nicholson, Executive Director of Servicemembers United and the sole named veteran plaintiff in the case along with the Log Cabin Republicans. "While this is certainly news to be celebrated, we would also advise caution in advance of a potential stay from the Ninth Circuit. If the appellate court wishes to put itself on the right side of history, however, it will allow this sound and long-over due decision to remain in effect."

The case that won the injunction, Log Cabin Republicans vs. United States of America, was originally filed in 2004. Just last month, and after a two-week trial in July, Judge Phillips issued her final ruling in the case, finding that the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" law was unconstitutional on first and fifth amendment grounds. She also indicated her intent to issue an injunction barring further discharges in light of that finding. A copy of the injunction can be found at www.ServicemembersUnited.org/injunction.

INDIANAPOLIS: City Rules Bakery May Continue To Discriminate Against Gays

City officials in Indianapolis say that a bakery operating on city property may keep its lease despite having refused to serve a student LGBT group.

"We never intended for good businesses to be kicked out," Jackie Nytes, a City-County Council member and ordinance sponsor, told The Indianapolis Star. "We sure never meant for the ordinance to be interpreted that aggressively." The Star Sunday said the council got involved after the owner of Just Cookies told a college gay rights group last month he would not fill an order for rainbow-iced cookies because he did not endorse homosexuality. The City-Council Council said in a letter obtained by the Star "it would be wrong to force a business to support a political project with which they do not agree."

Known as "Cupcakegate" in the press, the bakery's handling of the gay students' special order spawned a national discussion on religious freedom and public accommodation.

Metro Weekly Recaps Budgets & Staff Levels For National LGBT Groups

Click over to Metro Weekly for Chris Geidner's recapping of fifteen of the nation's most well-known LGBT advocacy groups. Geidner's article includes self-assessing quotes from many of the group's leaders. What's most interesting to me is that the three groups that seem to have most dominated the news in recent months (GOProud, Servicemembers United, and GetEqual) have the smallest budgets and the fewest paid staffers.

Iowa State Rep: Legalization Of Gay Marriage Was The Worst Day Of My Life

Polling indicates that Iowa voters may eject the three state Supreme Court justices up for retention in November.

(Via - Good As You)

Discrimination? Absolutely Not!

The latest from blogger Rob Tisinai.

New Jersey Jewish Paper Vows Not To Run Any More Gay Wedding Announcements

The Jewish Standard says that it is SO very sorry to have run that gay wedding announcement and won't be doing that again.

We set off a firestorm last week by publishing a same-sex couple’s announcement of their intent to marry. Given the tenor of the times, we did not expect the volume of comments we have received, many of them against our decision to run the announcement, but many supportive as well. A group of rabbis has reached out to us and conveyed the deep sensitivities within the traditional/Orthodox community to this issue. Our subsequent discussions with representatives from that community have made us aware that publication of the announcement caused pain and consternation, and we apologize for any pain we may have caused. The Jewish Standard has always striven to draw the community together, rather than drive its many segments apart. We have decided, therefore, since this is such a divisive issue, not to run such announcements in the future.

Reader responses appears uniformly against the ban.

Johannesburg Pride 2010 Focuses On Anti-Gay Discrimination Across Africa

South Africa, the only nation on the continent with full LGBT equality, celebrated gay pride this weekend in Johannesburg with a march meant to draw attention to persecuted gays across Africa.

Organisers said more than 18,000 people took part in the protest in the economic capital of South Africa, the only country in the continent which allows same-sex marriages. On one float, a transvestite dressed as an angel sat on a swing on a giant map of Africa which carried the slogan "We are all African!", the theme of the 21st edition of "Joburg Pride". "We are aware of the fact that LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) people across Africa are being arrested, their human rights are under threat and it's a growing phenomenon on the continent," said organiser Luiz de Barros. "South Africa having an enlightened constitution, we have a responsibility to reach out to our brothers and sisters in Africa," he said.

In 38 of 53 African nations, homosexuality is against the law.

MEXICO: State Of Baja California Moves To Ban Recognizing Same-Sex Marriage

The legislature of the Mexican border state of Baja California has voted 18-1 to ban the recognition of same-sex marriage, despite a recent Supreme Court ruling that all 31 states must recognize such unions performed in the nation's capital, the only place they are currently allowed. Rex Wockner reports:

As a result, the state legislature's move could set it on a collision course with the federal Supreme Court, although some amendment backers claimed they only want to prevent gay marriages from taking place in Baja. The amendment, however, does not make that clear. It reads: "The State recognizes and protects the institution of marriage as a right of society oriented to guarantee and safeguard the perpetuation of the species and mutual support between spouses, satisfying this only through the union of one man with one woman."

Wockner notes that to become law, the bill must be ratified by three of the state's five municipalities, which are similar to American counties. Anti-gay and pro-gay protesters clashed during the vote (video below.)

A Tribute To The NOH8 Campaign

From voiceover artist DC Douglas.

MINNESOTA: Lay Catholics Organize "Return The Anti-Gay DVD" Project

Saying that the Catholic Church should be feeding and clothing the homeless rather than mailing out hundreds of thousands of anti-gay DVDs, a group of lay Catholics in Minnesota has launched a campaign to send those DVDs back to their bishops.

We are a group of Catholics who are concerned about the priorities of the leaders in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. Their action, distributing 400,000 DVDs on the single subject of same-sex marriage shortly before the upcoming election, reflects misguided priorities and strays from the essential teachings of Christ. Our call to action is to create some good out of this unfortunate situation. We are collecting as many DVDs as possible and will return them to Archbishop John Nienstedt with a letter asking him to make the needs of the poor and love of neighbor his highest priority. We will personally make a financial donation for every DVD we collect to St. Stephens Human Services and Episcopal Community Services, non-profits working to help fight poverty and end homelessness in Minnesota.

The group stresses that they are not soliciting or accepting donations. They invite their supporters to instead send money to groups doing the real "work of Jesus."

MONTANA: Bozeman Commission Backs Gay Couples In Lawsuit Against State

The Montana GOP might want to outlaw gay sex, but the Bozeman City Commission is more enlightened. Yesterday Bozeman's city commissioners unanimously approved a resolution backing a pending lawsuit demanding equal treatment for LGBT couples in Montana. Bozeman, population 27,000, maybe be small by most standards, but they are the fifth largest town in Montana and the very first to back LGBT rights.

From a group of pro-gay activists holding signs and cheering outside, to the packed seats of the commission room, City Hall was filled with powerful emotion during a Monday night meeting. Commissioners heard from comments on all sides of the homosexuality debate before making their unanimous decision to support the resolution. Mayor Jeff Krauss drafted the document, saying he wants Bozeman to put forth a clear message. "I think there are kids out there that are terrified of who they are and what they are," Krauss said. "They need to hear they are all welcome here and yes life for you can be normal here in Bozeman." "So proud, very proud and very grateful. The commission (is) doing the right thing at the risk of losing political cash," said one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, Mary Leslie.

Seven gay couples are suing Montana. The case resumes next month.

UPDATE: The ACLU's LGBT Project writes us to offer more details about the case.

Seven committed same-sex couples have sued the state of Montana for failing to offer legal protections to same-sex couples and their families in violation of the Montana Constitution’s rights of privacy, dignity and the pursuit of life’s basic necessities and its guarantees of equal protection and due process. The goal of this lawsuit is to see that same-sex couples are able to protect their families with the same kind of legal protections that the State offers to different-sex couples through marriage. Because there is a constitutional amendment in Montana barring marriage for same-sex couples, this lawsuit is not seeking marriage. The couples in the suit are seeking the protection of state-recognized domestic partnerships.

MINNESOTA: Evangelicals Come Out In Support Of Catholic Anti-Gay Campaign

Good As You directs us to the below video in which Protestant and evangelical pastors in Minnesota hold a press conference to announce that they are totally down with the Catholic Church's recently-launched anti-gay campaign in which bigoted DVDs were mailed to every Catholic in the state. Hit the link for Part Two of the below clip.

Freep This Poll

The GOP's new "Pledge With America," while full of teabaggery nonsense, only makes one mention of supporting "traditional marriage," and says nothing more about opposing LGBT rights. Anti-gay groups are, of course, displeased, although the Family Research Council's Tony Perkins calls it a "step in the right direction." Today the Washington Post discusses LGBT rights and the GOP:

As polls show that growing numbers of Americans back greater rights for gay men and lesbians, some well-known Republican figures are calling for the party to shift its stances on such issues. But Christian conservatives warn that the GOP could lose its base if it endorses same-sex marriage or takes other pro-gay-rights stands. What do you think? Will opposition to same-sex marriage become a liability for the GOP?

Respond to the Wapo poll here. And check out their slideshow of (now) openly gay GOP members, some of whom were only revealed through scandal.

(Tipped by JMG reader Roger)

RUSSIA: Moscow's Anti-Gay Mayor Fired By President Dmitri Medvedev

Yesterday the president of Russia fired Moscow's Mayor Yuri Luhzkov, who has described gays as "satanic," blocked gay pride parades, and has been the subject of numerous protests by LGBT activists, including one just a few days ago. The firing, however, had nothing to do with Luhzkov's bigotry.

Officially, the Kremlin attributed Mr. Medvedev’s decision to his “loss of trust” in Mr. Luzhkov. But the two men had been feuding, and Mr. Luzhkov had seemed in recent weeks to be trying to create a rift between Mr. Medvedev and his mentor, Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin, who is widely considered the country’s pre-eminent leader. The conflict turned into a highly unusual spectacle because such defiance of the country’s leadership by a senior official rarely occurs in public. Mr. Luzhkov had been under pressure to resign, but on Monday, declared that he would not. It appeared that Mr. Medvedev then had to move to avoid undercutting his own standing. Mr. Medvedev, who was elected in 2008 and has championed policies to modernize the country, has been clearing away a generation of a older regional leaders who have long clung to power in Russia. The dismissal of Mr. Luzhkov is the most pronounced step yet in this campaign.

Moscow's deputy mayor has been temporarily appointed to Luzhkov's position while the president considers a replacement. We can only hope whoever is chosen isn't worse.

IOWA: Anti-Gay Christianists Attempting Sioux City Government Takeover

According to the Des Moines Register, anti-gay Christianists are getting themselves appointed to the Sioux City Human Rights Commission and then suing pro-gay advocates for religious discrimination.

Protecting rights has taken an odd turn in Sioux City, where a faction on the city's Human Rights Commission has itself been filing religious discrimination charges with the state - against its own director, a fellow commissioner and a newspaper. Critics allege an anti-gay agenda linked to members' affiliations with a particular church. By law, the commission must protect gay civil rights. Director Karen Mackey, married to her female partner, was reportedly charged and cleared in what some call a witch hunt. Efforts against her included a retention vote, though she was retained 10-0 after city attorneys warned of the potential for a costly lawsuit.

These activities, some claim, are part of a broader mission to pack city boards and elective offices with people who share a religious viewpoint that homosexuality is a sin, and are intolerant of other religions. Three of 11 commissioners and a City Council member, Aaron Rochester, reportedly belong to the Cornerstone Church, which holds that view. Rochester is also co-founder, with a Cornerstone pastor, of the PeaceMakers PAC. Calls to Rochester and two commissioners were not returned.

Cornerstone World Outreach is 120-acre church complex and teleministry on the outskirts of Sioux City.

(Tipped by JMG reader Tim)

HomoConQuotable - Christopher Barron

"Despite our name, GOProud is not a partisan organization; we do not hold ourselves out as an auxiliary of the Republican Party. We are not an organization seeking to 'change' the Republican Party into the party of Dede Scozzafava or Chris Shays. We are conservatives, committed to the conservative movement. We believe strongly that what matters are principles not partisanship.

"Our agenda is unlike the agenda of any other gay organization. Instead of fighting to expand the federal government through hate crimes laws or federal employment non-discrimination legislation, legislation that only impacts a sliver of gay people, we instead focus on issues like taxes, healthcare, retirement security, and the economy — we offer gay Americans pragmatic, common-sense conservative approaches to these issues that will improve their lives, as well as the lives of all Americans.

"We believe strongly that the federal government doesn’t have all the answers to the challenges facing gay and lesbian families. Indeed, we believe that often the federal government is the problem — not the solution." - GOProud head Christopher Barron, restating his group's opposition to LGBT rights in an essay for the right-wing Daily Caller.

UPDATE: Barron responds to this post via Twitter.

DADT WIN: Federal Judge Orders Reinstatement Of Major Margaret Witt

In another win in the battle to overturn DADT, late this afternoon a federal court ordered the reinstatement of Air Force Major Margaret Witt, who was suspended just before her retirement date in 2004 after her superiors learned she is a lesbian. Today's decision only applies to Major Witt's case.

A federal judge ruled Friday that a decorated flight nurse discharged from the Air Force for being gay should be given her job back as soon as possible in the latest legal setback to the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy. The decision by U.S. District Judge Ronald Leighton came in a closely watched case as a tense debate has been playing out over the policy. Senate Republicans blocked an effort to lift the ban this week, but two federal judges have ruled against the policy in recent weeks. Maj. Margaret Witt was discharged under the "don't ask, don't tell" policy and sued to get her job back. A judge in 2006 rejected Witt's claims that the Air Force violated her rights when it fired her. An appeals court panel overruled him two years later, leaving it to Leighton to determine whether her firing met that standard.

Witt was represented by the ACLU. Read the decision here (PDF.) Reactions to the decision are below.

Human Rights Campaign

“By reinstating Major Witt, a decorated Air Force nurse discharged under ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ another federal court has demonstrated once again that this discriminatory law does not contribute to our nation’s security or defense,” said HRC President Joe Solmonese. “Had Major Witt been discharged in any other circuit in the country, she would not had her day in court. It is time for Congress and the Administration to recognize that his failed law should be removed from the books once and for all.”

Servicemembers United

"Yet another judge has taken yet another righteous, historic, and courageous stand against a discriminatory and unconstitutional law," said Alexander Nicholson, founder and Executive Director of Servicemembers United. "Major Witt's case is a clear-cut one in which her discharge itself actually harmed unit cohesion, morale, and combat readiness." This legal victory against the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" law is the second this month, with a judge in Riverside, California previously declaring the entire "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" law unconstitutional in a facial challenge to the law brought by the Log Cabin Republicans. Major Witt's victory will apply only to her own discharge, but the precedent set with this decision and the previous appellate court ruling in this case on the standard to be used in deciding on "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" discharges all contribute to a significant shift in how courts appear to be viewing and treating the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" law.

More reactions will be added to this post as they arrive.

Libertarian Party To Gays: Leave Your Abusive Democratic "Spouse" And Join Us

The Libertarian Party has launched a campaign to lure gay voters, saying, "Like abused spouses who keep returning to their aggressors, gay voters keep handing their votes to the Democrats who abuse them." The statement continues:

The Libertarian Party (LP) wants to break this self-destructive behavior and offers LGBT voters a better alternative. LP Chairman Mark Hinkle said, "Exit polls indicate that Democrats get over 70% of LGBT votes in federal elections. Those voters must really love the Democrats' rhetoric, because they certainly aren't seeing any action. "President Obama and the Democrats had almost a year of complete control of the federal government: the Presidency, the House, and a filibuster-proof 60 votes in the Senate.

"They could have repealed 'don't ask don't tell.' They could have gotten rid of the Defense of Marriage Act. But they didn't do either of those things. That's a complete and total betrayal of all the promises they made to gay and lesbian voters for years. "After a carefully orchestrated failure in the Senate, the Democrats are now blaming Republicans for blocking the repeal of 'don't ask don't tell.' Of course, three Democrats just voted against it too, including Majority Leader Harry Reid. Reid claims he voted for procedural reasons, but the whole situation seems calculated to look like they're trying to help, while making sure they don't actually help." Unlike the Democratic and Republican Parties, the Libertarian Party believes that gays and lesbians deserve equal treatment under the law.

The statement concludes that the Libertarian Party "neither supports nor opposes gay relationships."

Obviously the Libertarian Party seeks to capitalize on LGBT disenchantment with the Obama administration and further splinter the gay vote to the benefit of the GOP. Nothing more, nothing less. Most self-described libertarian candidates, of course, actually run on the GOP ticket. (Witness today's post about Colorado's Stephen Bailey.) Virtually no officially Libertarian candidate ever becomes viable in a general election. Talk about throwing your vote away!

But just for the sake of argument, let's tick off the official Libertarian agenda as posted on their website:

1. Abolish welfare.
2. Abolish Social Security.
3. Abolish the IRS.
4. Abolish the FDA.
5. Allow insurance companies to exclude any disease.
6. Dismantle the public school system.
7. Allow machine gun ownership and open-carry anywhere.
8. End foreign aid to starving nations.
9. Sell all national parks to private groups.

To be fair, the Libertarian Party does have reasonable positions on immigration reform, privacy, and the war on drugs. But the essential takeaway from reading their platform is this: "If you are impoverished, starving, desperately ill, unemployed, or uneducated...tough shit. Don't come to the government with your lazy unpatriotic hand out. Every American for himself. Get the fuck out of here."

GOProud Vs. GetEQUAL

Today the Washington Post examines the two newest groups on the gay political scene.

It's been a big, loud gay year, and a pair of young gay rights groups on opposite ends of the political spectrum have tried to be heard above the noise in Washington: GOProud, from its basement office in Capitol Hill, and GetEQUAL, a nationwide, direct-action network of activists co-captained by Managing Director Heather Cronk, 32, who lives in Maryland. The groups are not analogous in size, strategy or mission, but each aspires to commandeer the causes championed by the establishment -- embodied by the Human Rights Campaign on the left and the Log Cabin Republicans on the right. It's been a busy gay week, too. On Tuesday, Democrats failed to break a Republican filibuster of the defense authorization bill, which included a repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." Both GetEQUAL and GOProud support repeal, but they reacted differently to defeat.

GOProud ripped Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) for refusing to extend debate on the bill, then headed to New York for Homocon, a $250-to-$2,500-a-plate dinner at the home of billionaire and GOProud donor Peter Thiel, the libertarian co-founder of PayPal, with conservative instigator Ann Coulter as the group's keynote speaker. GetEQUAL retrenched by pulling 80 people onto a conference call Wednesday night, soliciting the tactical ideas of supporters from Montana to Arkansas to Connecticut. Suggestions mirrored the actions that have already garnered publicity: sit-ins, walkouts and traffic blockades.

Read the entire article.

DOJ To Judge: Keep Enforcing DADT

In response to the federal court ruling that DADT is unconstitutional, late this afternoon the Department of Justice filed a brief in support of keep the ban on openly gay servicemembers. Via Advocate:

In a 14-page brief, Justice Department attorneys argued that a permanent injunction against enforcing the 17-year-old law — one supported by Log Cabin Republicans, which successfully challenged DADT in federal court and has argued for an immediate halt of DADT enforcement throughout the armed forces — would be "untenable." "[A]ny injunction in this case must be limited to plaintiff LCR and the claims it asserts on behalf of its members – and cannot extend to non-parties – plaintiff’s requested world-wide injunction of the statute fails as a threshold matter," assistant U.S. attorney Paul Freeborne wrote.

Among the government’s arguments, Freeborne wrote that an injunction would preclude the government both from litigating other legal challenges to DADT and considering the terms of a stay barring discharges of gay and lesbian service members. An immediate halt of discharges would jeopardize successful implementation of repeal, by interfering with the “ability of the Department of Defense to develop necessary policies, regulations, and training and guidance to accommodate a change in the DADT law and policy,” the government argues.

The White House has issued the following statement.

Today, the Department of Justice made a filing in a legal challenge to the Don't Ask, Don't tell (DADT) policy, as it traditionally does when acts of Congress are challenged. This filing in no way diminishes the President's firm commitment to achieve a legislative repeal of DADT -- indeed, it clearly shows why Congress must act to end this misguided policy. The President was disappointed earlier this week when a majority of the Senate was willing to proceed with National Defense Authorization Act, but political posturing created a 60 vote threshold. The President spoke out against DADT in his first State of the Union Address, and the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs have both testified in support of repeal. And the Department of Defense continues to work on a plan on how to implement repeal. The President, along with his Administration, will continue to work with the Senate Leadership to achieve a legislative repeal of DADT as outlined in the NDAA this fall.

Here's the DOJ's full brief.
DOJ DADT Injunction