New Video: Rep. Alcee Hastings on how White House staff worked against his amendment to stop funding Don't Ask, Don't Tell

I mentioned in the post below that Rep. Hastings was on Rachel Maddow tonight to discuss his Don't Ask, Don't Tell amendment -- and how White House staffers worked to block it. Here's the interview:

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On You Tube here. Read More...

Charges dropped against gay couple arrested for 'passionate" kissing in Salt Lake City

Prosecutors in Salt Lake City announced they won't be pressing charges against the kissing couple. A couple weeks, ago, the gay-obsessed Mormons issued a statement claiming this was much more than a kiss. Not kidding, a statement from the Mormon HQ claimed the couple was "engaged in passionate kissing, groping, profane and lewd language, and had obviously been using alcohol." Now, who in the Mormon church made the determination that the kissing was "passionate"? Do they have a special commission for that. My goodness, those Mormons do seem to be way too interested in what same-sex couples do. But, who knew they actually analyzed the intensity of gay kisses?

Despite the Mormon freakout, the prosecutor is dropping the charges:

Prosecutors won't pursue a case against two men accused of trespassing on LDS Church property earlier this month.

An LDS Church security guard detained a gay couple on Salt Lake City's Main Street Plaza on July 9 after observing the pair "kissing and hugging," according to a police report.

Derek Jones and Matt Aune were cited for trespassing after refusing to leave. The incident led to two kiss-in protests against the church in Salt Lake City and one in San Diego.

Aune has said the couple's display of affection was modest, but officials with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which owns the plaza, released a statement that the two men were "much more involved" than a "simple kiss on the cheek." It said the couple "engaged in passionate kissing, groping, profane and lewd language, and had obviously been using alcohol."

In a statement released Wednesday, Salt Lake City Prosecutor Sim Gill said the trespassing case against Jones and Aune has been dropped.

Here's a video for our friends at Mormon HQ who are so obsessed with passionate kisses:
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We still don't have a White House strategy on Don't Ask, Don't Tell -- unless we count stopping legislation that could stop funding it

UPDATE: Just heard Rep. Hastings will be on Rachel Maddow's show tonight to discuss what happened with his DADT amendment.
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This is probably going to be hard for all the Obama apologists and job-seekers to accept, but the White House not only isn't helping efforts to repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell. Someone over there is undermining efforts to end the program according to a member of Congress. No wonder the Palm Center is so irritated.

Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-FL) had an amendment to the Defense Appropriations that would have prevented funding any DADT investigation. That's the kind of procedural tactic Republicans have used for years to stop funding of programs they didn't like. For years, Republicans blocked federal funding of DC's domestic partnerships and needle exchange. I'm not sure if this was the best approach, but, sometimes, the only way to make progress is to use (or abuse) the appropriations process. But, a funny (or not so funny) thing happened on the way to the Appropriations bill mark-up. In his own words, Hastings was pressured by the White House and others to drop his amendment. From the Miami Herald's blog, Naked Politics:

Rep. Alcee Hastings has withdrawn an amendment that would have prevented the military from using money to carry out the provisions of its controversial Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy which prevents gays from serving in the military. He says he pulled the measure under pressure from the White House and colleagues.

"I would, however, like to note that it is most unfortunate that we are not addressing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell at this time," Hastings said in announcing his decision. "We should not be appropriating funds to enable qualified service members to be booted out just because they are honest about whom they are."

Again, was Hastings approach the best strategy? I don't know. It was very inside baseball tactic. And, for years, Republicans were masterful at the inside baseball approach.
We've heard for months now that the White House thinks Congress needs to deal with don't ask, don't tell. The Obama administration has taken a hands-off approach and punted to Congress -- even though the President has the power to stop discharges.

A couple weeks ago, Obama told Anderson Cooper, "We've already contacted Congressional allies." Really? Because, I'd consider Hastings an ally. And, he was told to back off. We're not the only ones trying to get to the bottom of this. I got an email from a plugged-in friend:

Like many others, I've been trying to figure out what happened on the Hastings amendment. Only getting some pitiful excuses and a few swipes at Hastings. I am also hearing now that the White House and Congress are claiming to be confused about what "we" want (this is so they can do nothing, and act confused). It's not complicated: we want is full repeal of DADT today. That’s pretty simple. They can either take it in pieces (suspend funding for investigations, a presidential proclamation suspending investigation and then a thought out repeal process with the White House leaning on congress OR they can just repeal it immediately.).But, waiting and doing nothing is not acceptable. That's what our "friends" really need to know.

So, it's "our" fault. Okay?

Meanwhile, the Obama staffers at the White House haven't gone to Congress to help end the DADT policy, but it sure seems like someone jumped into action to prevent progress via Hastings. It's getting complicated again. The White House might need to throw another party for the LGBT leaders. Read More...

New Palm Center report: A Self-Inflicted Wound: How and Why Gays Give the White House a Free Pass on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell

Yeterday, the Palm Center released a report: “A Self-Inflicted Wound: How and Why Gays Give the White House a Free Pass on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” The report challenges the position of the White House that DADT can only be ended through the legislative process. That's not true:

“Some members of our community have been circulating misleading arguments which ended up as talking points for the President of the United States,” Belkin said. “It is not our job to provide Washington with reasons to continue to discriminate.”

Ben Smith had a post on this report yesterday with quotes and background from SLDN and HRC.

I don't understand why the President won't use his presidential authority to curtail or end DADT. He has the power. The Center for American Progress provided a road map on this for Obama in its report, "Ending 'Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell': Practical Steps to Repeal the Ban on Openly Gay Men and Women in the U.S. Military."

Yes, a legislative solution is the best solution. We support the legislation introduced by Rep. Patrick Murphy. But, that's not happening for awhile. There isn't even a Senate bill. I'm not hearing anything about a pro-active White House legislative strategy. Not a thing. Meanwhile, lives are being ruined every day.

I'll have more on Don't Ask, Don't Tell a little later today... Read More...

Schwarzenegger used line-item veto to make drastic, dangerous cuts to AIDS funding

Arnold Schwarzenegger used the line-item veto to impose additional budget cuts yesterday. Calitics reported the cuts "Attack Parks, Farms, Kids and HIV Patients." Robert Cruickshank outlined what Arnold did with his line-item veto power, noting:

we witness the damage that the line-item veto causes in the hands of a right-wing governor bent on using it to achieve his long-desired destruction of public services.

The AIDS community was particularly hard hit. Maybe this finally knocks Arnold off that pedestal of being perceived as a different kind of Republican. He's not. He's one of them.

The Advocate calls the cuts a "devastating blow":

In a revised state budget that calls for an additional $489 million in cuts, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger struck a devastating blow to HIV/AIDS service groups by slashing funding for prevention and care management programs.

More from Rex Wockner:

Schwarzenegger decimated AIDS services across the board, leaving full funding in place only for epidemic surveillance and for the drugs that suppress HIV.

Although the cuts curtailed state funding for HIV-related education (an 80% cut), prevention (80% cut), counseling (70% cut), testing (70%), primary medical care (50%), home care (50%) and housing (20%), one cut stood out in particular: the termination of all funding for the Office of AIDS' Therapeutic Monitoring Program.

For some 35,000 working- and middle-class Californians whose HIV care is paid for by the state, that program pays for viral-load testing and drug-resistance testing.

Viral-load testing is mandatory in HIV care, as it is the only way to determine if a particular HIV drug cocktail is working in a given patient. Drug-resistance testing comes into play when a drug cocktail that had been working stops working in a given patient. The two types of testing together guide a doctor in getting a patient on a new drug cocktail so the patient's viral load again becomes undetectable.

Patients whose viral load is undetectable are very unlikely to develop deadly HIV-related opportunistic infections, and they are dramatically less infectious than those whose virus is not suppressed. The Swiss government has said that an HIV-positive individual whose viral load has been undetectable for six months in a row is essentially unable to transmit HIV sexually.

"These were extraordinarily difficult cuts to make and they are cuts that will have consequences," said Al Lundeen, spokesman for the California Department of Public Health. "More people will become infected."

Great legacy, Arnold. Maria should be so proud of you. More people will become infected. More people will get sicker and need more care. More people will probably die. Arnold really is the Terminator. Read More...

USAToday reports on Gays targeted for death by militias in Iraq: 82 killed since December

The disaster that was and is the war in Iraq has had a horrible impact on the country's LGBT community. The brutal violence against gays in Iraq is getting coverage in the traditional media. USAToday shines a light on this deplorable situation:

At least 82 gay men have been killed in Iraq since December, according to Iraqi LGBT. The violence has raised questions about the Iraqi government's ability to protect a diverse range of vulnerable minority groups that also includes Christians and Kurds, especially following the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from Iraqi cities last month.

Mithal al-Alusi, a secular, liberal Sunni legislator, is among those who blame the killings on armed militant groups such as al-Qaeda and the Mahdi Army militia.

By targeting one of the most vulnerable groups in a conservative Muslim society — people whose sexual orientation is banned by Iraqi law — the militias essentially are serving notice that they remain powerful despite the U.S. and Iraqi militaries' efforts to curtail them, al-Alusi says.

The militants "want to educate the society to accept killers on the street," al-Alusi says in an interview. "Why did Hitler start with gays? They are weak. They have no political cover. They have no legal cover."

The attacks have terrified a gay community that, for a brief time after the U.S. troop surge in 2007-08, tentatively enjoyed greater freedom and security.

The attacks may have the tacit or even direct approval of the Iraqi Security Forces, according to Ali Hill who runs a London-based, Iraqi LGBT. Didn't our tax dollars finance those Iraqi Security forces? Read More...