HUD changes promised six months ago, still pending

From Chris Johnson at the Washington Blade:

LGBT rights advocates are still waiting for the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development to issue regulations on changes it announced late last year to include LGBT families in low-income housing programs.

The department announced plans to make the changes Oct. 26 — more than six months ago — but the changes have yet to be enacted.

Natalie Chin, a Lambda Legal staff attorney, said she didn’t know whether HUD has taken an unreasonably long time to implement the changes, but acknowledged that “it’s been quite some time” since they were first announced.

“It would be nice to get updates just to let us know what’s going on,” she said. “We just haven’t heard anything about it, so that just makes me concerned they’re getting credit for something that doesn’t even exist yet, and it’s important that this actually happens and that they follow through.”

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Iowa lawmaker wants segregated campgrounds

Since the Iowa State Supreme Court legalized gay marriage, straight people are now subjected to the horrors of interracial, oops, I mean gay parents and their children being able to share the same camp grounds with straight families.

State Senator Merlin Bartz has his panties in a wad because legally married gay families might be allowed to share the same "family campground areas." Really. Really?!!?

There's a lawmaker in Iowa who has a problem with gay people pitching a tent. And no, we don't mean it in that way, but in the camping way. Smores. Fishing. Fires. Mosquito repellent.

Apparently those items are solely the domain of straight folks, and specifically straight families, according to Iowa State Senator Merlin Bartz. Senator Bartz is crying foul because, now that Iowa recognizes same-sex marriage, he's worried that his state's Department of Natural Resources is going to allow married gay couples and their children access to family camping grounds in state parks.

For Bartz, the idea of two moms or two dads roasting marshmallows next to straight people is exactly the type of horror that he was afraid of when the Iowa State Supreme Court legalized gay marriage last year.

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Did the WSJ gay-bait Kagan?

Some say yes, the Wall Street Journal says no.

Not that there's anything wrong with it. Read More...

Don't get caught in a bad hotel!

Workers Rights are Hot!!! If you're heading to San Francisco for Pride next month -- or anytime -- don't get caught in a bad hotel.
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Florida AG (& GOP candidate for Gov.) Bill McCollum 'personally requested' the hiring of Rekers

Steve Rothaus has the letters that tie Bill McCollum to George Rekers:

Attorney General Bill McCollum personally requested that the state’s Department of Children and Families hire antigay psychologist George Rekers at $300 an hour as an expert witness to defend Florida’s ban on gay people adopting, records show.

“Our attorneys handling this case have searched long and hard for other expert witnesses with comparable expertise to Dr. Rekers and have been unable to identify any who would be available for this case,” McCollum wrote in 2007 to then-DCF Secretary Bob Butterworth.

So, McCollum really, really wanted Rekers and all of his "expertise." You know, just like Rekers searched so hard for someone with the "expertise" to carry his luggage.

Rekers was a high-end, anti-gay rentboy for McCollum. Read More...

A letter about DADT to Obama from Former Navy Petty Officer Jason Knight

Yesterday, at the Don't Ask, Don't Tell meeting between White House officials and veterans lobbying to end the ban, SLDN's David Hall tweeted:

Best question asked during WH meeting. How many letters from service members effected by DADT does someone need to read before repeal

Unfortunately, not enough -- yet. So, they'll keep coming.

Today, veterans from around the country are on Capitol Hill lobbying on DADT. They want that law repealed this year, as promised by the President. Secretary Gates thinks that is stupid. So, help the vets out today. Call your members of Congress. Call both Senators. Call your House member. Even if they're supportive, they need to hear from constituents. It really can make a difference. The main number at the Capitol is 202-224-3121. Time is running out to get DADT repealed this year. And, if it doesn't happen this year, it might not happen for many years. So, call. Remember, those members of Congress work for you. They never hesitate to ask for your votes and your money. So, don't hesitate to tell them to end DADT.

Here's the latest in SLDN's campaign, "Stories from the Frontlines: Letters to President Barack Obama."

May 11, 2010

President Barack H. Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest
Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President,

It was five months before the September 11th attacks when I found myself outside a military recruiters office signing up for the U.S. Navy. I could no longer afford college. And things in my personal life weren’t going according to plan. I wanted to experience life outside of southeastern Pennsylvania. I enlisted on a random Friday in April of 2001 and left for boot camp the following Monday. I was a recruiter's dream candidate.

My first tour of duty was the prestigious Ceremonial Guard in Washington, D.C., where I represented our country at official White House ceremonies and during state and military funerals at Arlington National Cemetery and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

In my two-year period, I was present at more than 1500 military funerals as part of the Firing Party rendering the 21-gun salute. It was here that I learned what truly serving our great nation really meant, and the ultimate price we all swore to pay, if fate was so. Standing on the berm, across the river from a burning Pentagon on September 11th only solidified my desire to serve.

My desire to serve my country continued while I completed my training as a Hebrew Linguist and began working in the field at Fort Gordon, Georgia. But I was also struggling with my own self discoveries.

In 2004, I filed paperwork annulling my marriage because I realized that I was gay. Keeping with the Navy's core values of honesty and integrity, and very much naive to the severity of “Don't Ask, Don't Tell,” I provided the military with copies along with a written statement to my commander, which subsequently resulted in my discharge under the law.

I was ousted from the service I loved, facing a recoupment of $13,000 sign-on bonus I received, and ushered to the gate. I felt shunned, broken and confused.

After a year of recovery, I received a letter recalling me back to service. While I didn't understand why, I had an overwhelming sense of joy to return to the service I so loved.

I was sent to Kuwait for a year with the U.S. Navy Customs Battalion Romeo in 2006 where I continued to garner accolades for my service and even upped in rank, all while serving completely open. My immediate commanders and colleges were aware that I had been discharged once under DADT and knew that I was gay, yet they supported me because I was a great sailor.

After the March 2007 comments by General Peter Pace, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, where he expressed his personal views of homosexuality as "immoral," I decided to express my own personal feelings in a letter to the editor. This resulted in my second discharge under DADT, but I was willing to accept it.

Mr. President, “Don't Ask, Don't Tell” must be repealed. This law forces good people to lie, evade and mislead their fellow comrades and commanders and goes against the very core values of the military service in which we serve. It forces undue stress in the lives of those that must hide.

With a military stretched thin between two wars, now is the time to stop discharging men and women who valiantly serve our nation, many who are in mission critical jobs. Repeal “Don't Ask, Don't Tell” now.

Very Respectfully,
Jason Daniel Knight
Former Petty Officer 2nd Class, U. S. Navy

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In Maryland, poll shows growing support for marriage equality

This is a positive development. In Maryland, attitudes are changing in favor of marriage equality according to a statewide poll conducted by the Washington Post:

Maryland residents are shifting toward a more positive opinion of same-sex marriage, with registered voters now narrowly supporting a law to allow it, a Washington Post poll has found.

A clear majority of people responding to the poll -- 55 percent -- also say that if gays get married in another state, those unions should be considered legal in Maryland; 38 percent say the state should not recognize them. Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler (D) in February told state agencies to begin granting married same-sex couples from elsewhere the same rights as Maryland's heterosexual couples.

The poll, conducted May 3-6, finds that 46 percent overall favor legal same-sex marriage, 44 percent oppose it, and 10 percent have no opinion. Among registered voters, 48 percent are in favor and 43 percent are opposed.

In late 2007, an identical Post poll question found 44 percent in favor overall and 51 percent opposed.

The movement is heading in the right direction. Read More...