Students at John Carroll University shut down basketball game after school refuses to include sexual orientation in non-discrim policy

(H/t Joe My God) Read More...

Tammy and Barney say pass DADT this year

Very interesting article from Jen Bendery at Roll Call. She interviews the three openly gay members of Congress about Don't Ask Don't Tell. Tammy Baldwin and Barney Frank think we should move ahead with the repeal this year, and both openly question why we need another study. That's interesting, since Tammy and Barney tend to support the administration's gay plans (or non-plans) no matter what they are. So it's telling that both are saying that we should move ahead this year, when Team Obama is silent on when if ever the repeal should come up, and it's telling that both are not pleased about this study, since the White House clearly signed off on it. Tammy and Barney generally don't disagree publicly with the White House on gay issues. The fact that they are, however slightly, suggests that things might be pretty messy right now behind the scenes.

Jared Polis' quotes in the story, however, are a bit odd. He hopes we can freeze the discharges this year. That's nice. Not what was promised. Read More...

SLDN and HRC say pass DADT repeal this year

This week has seen a frenzy of activity on Don't Ask, Don't Tell. We've been trying to get a handle on what the major gay groups are saying now about the repeal of DADT.

Today, in a post at SLDN's blog, the organization's Executive Director Aubrey Sarvis also called for a vote on DADT repeal this year:

Over the next 90 days our campaign is focusing on lawmakers who sit on the Senate Armed Services Committee, and the entire Senate. We need more energy and action there. Thursday, Feb. 11 is a multi-hour DADT hearing in the Senate Armed Services Committee. This will be the perfect opportunity for DADT advocates to be a part of the fight. They should call both of their U.S. senators before Thursday, ask where each stands on repeal and tell them to end "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" this year. SLDN will be coordinating a grassroots campaign to inundate Senate offices next week with phone calls urging senators to get repeal done in 2010.

Congress must repeal DADT this year while the Department of Defense conducts its study. Both can and should happen concurrently. DoD’s study Working Group should not hold up legislative repeal, since the study Working Group is not looking at if the law should be repealed but how. “The question before us is not whether the military prepares to make this change, but how we best prepare for it,” Sec. Gates told the committee earlier this week. And Sen. Mark Udall (D-CO) wrote, “A study should not unduly delay taking our last steps toward final action.”

Also, the head of the Human Rights Campaign said it was the organization's position that a vote should take place this year. Yesterday, on Mike Signorile's radio show, Joe Solmonese enunciated HRC's position. The audio is here and this exchange occurs at around the 11:50 mark:

Signorile: Is HRC on board pushing for a vote to repeal that would basically say that it wouldn't go into effect until the implementation study is done?

Solmonese: Oh, absolutely. That is our position.

HRC has close ties to the White House, so presumably the Obama administration knows this is what we expect following the President's statement in the State of the Union and the hearing with Gates and Mullen earlier this week.

These are positive developments, because, as Kerry Eleveld reported last night, there's been "Discord on DADT Repeal." Both SLDN and HRC's positions are pretty much what John proposed the other night as a "modest compromise." I don't want to oversimplify, but it's sounds like a win/win. The law to repeal DADT gets passed this year. The Pentagon gets to complete its study on implementation. And, given the way Congress works, by the time the House and Senate get around to passing the Department of Defense authorization, which must include the repeal language, it will be October. Secretary Gates said his review would be done by the end of the year. Rep. Patrick Murphy's bill to repeal DADT, H.R. 1253, already provides for up to 90-days for implementation of new regulations, which would bring us to January. Again, that's when Gates said his review would be completed. So, this could all play out perfectly. But, it is going to require an aggressive campaign from our side, it's going to take strong leadership from the President and it's going to require our Senate supporters to step up. Read More...

Heroes of the Month: Amanda Simpson and Dylan Orr

Choosing Amanda Simpson and Dylan Orr to be part of the administration are two of the better LGBT decisions that President Obama has made while in the White House. It is an all-too-rare display of the kind of vision and decisive leadership we had been hoping for. Even though Simpson and Orr are not the very first trans people a president has appointed, they may be the first open ones.

These appointments are major milestones for the trans community. To paraphrase the reaction of one of my trans friends, “the most powerful person in the country has taken members of a group that the country routinely despises or fetishizes as freaks, and said ‘I want you to work for me. I want you on my team.’”

We all should want Amanda Simpson and Dylan Orr on our team. Simpson is an honest-to-god rocket scientist, as noted in a recent HuffPo piece. She was appointed Senior Technical Advisor to the Commerce Department by Obama after working in the aerospace and defense industry for 30 years and having been a test pilot and flight instructor. She also has been a strong advocate for LGBT rights. While working at Raytheon, she successfully lobbied to have gender identity included in the company’s non-discrimination policy and has served on the boards of several LGBT organizations.

Orr was named Special Assistant to Assistant Secretary of Labor Kathleen Martinez in the Office of Disability Employment Policy. Even though he just graduated from law school and is only beginning his career, he has already done work in the areas of civil rights, disability, employment, housing, and immigration.

Predictably, there has been an outcry on the right against Simpson in particular, as Rachel Maddow and Blender Autumn Sandeen have pointed. David Letterman has not helped matters with cheap transphobic jokes.

The truth is that even members of our own community participate in the denigration of trans people. Too many of us regard trans individuals as oddities we seek to distance ourselves from, rather than as valuable members of our community. This is true with regard to both transsexuals in particular and transgender individuals in general. Who among us has not heard someone run down effeminate men and butch women? Or heard someone express embarrassment about drag queens at a gay pride parade?

I try to speak up when I hear these types of comments. However, my own grasp of trans issues is constantly evolving, and my instincts have not always been what I would have wished them to be. For instance, when a non-trans-inclusive ENDA was on the table, I briefly entertained the idea of dropping gender identity from the bill as a first step to getting full protections. In retrospect, I am ashamed that the idea crossed my mind for an instant. My wife was better. Her support was immediate and reflexive.

Californian LGBTs know from Prop 8 how devastating it can be to get lukewarm support from people you thought were strong allies. My trans friend told me that the ENDA debate was “our Prop 8.” Until that point, she had felt like she had finally found a family in the LGBT community. She was devastated when so many LGBs were ready to sacrifice the Ts for their own political gain. Understandably so.

Let’s take a moment to celebrate Amanda Simpson and Dylan Orr for having the courage to be open about who they are. And let’s give some credit on this one to President Obama for making them part of his team. Read More...

Soltz and Powers talk DADT on Hardball

Iraq vets Jon Soltz and Jon Powers were on Hardball yesterday to talk about the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell. These are some great spokespeople for our side:
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The Hill: Democrats send conflicting signals on repealing ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy

An excellent summary of where things stand with Don't Ask Don't Tell. This parallels the article from Kerry Eleveld I posted last night, and it's in line with what Joe and I have been hearing around town as well.

The White House and congressional leaders are sending contradictory signals on scrapping the Pentagon’s “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.

While President Barack Obama, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) agree the Clinton-era law should be repealed, it remains unclear whether that will happen this year or next.

And if it doesn’t happen this year, changing the law will be far more difficult in 2011, when there are likely to be fewer Democrats in Congress.

Vice President Joe Biden indicated on Tuesday that the White House does not want to wait until 2011. "By this year's end, we will have eliminated the policy," Biden said during an appearance on MSNBC.

Meanwhile, Pelosi on Thursday did not commit to a clear legislative timeline on “Don’t ask, don’t tell."

As I wrote last night, it's pretty much a mess. Pelosi's preference is that we move ahead this year, but she's not committed to it. A House leadership aide is undercutting us. Biden says it's happening this year (even though we've seen indications that there's a rift in the White House, and the administration generally, as to whether we move ahead this year, or wait until next). Levin is talking about a moratorium on discharges in the interim, which is nice, but it's a recipe at this point for leaving the ban in place ad infinitum. It's unclear whether DOD will put the ban in its budget. And finally, a conservative Dem thinks the lesson from Massachusetts - a state that has gay marriage - is not to do anything pro-gay. Uh huh. Good try, DINO.

Especially disturbing is the fact that the Hill reports that waiting until next year will make it "far more difficult" to lift the ban. I echoed the same sentiment in my piece the other day:

Democrats are good at battles, Republicans are better at wars. We excel at short term blitzes, they excel over the long haul. Health care reform was a good example of this last year. No matter how good our hand, no matter how just our cause, the more time we gave the GOP to fight back, the more effective they were at tearing us down and turning the public against us. We have been fighting for the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell for 17 years. The polls show the public overwhelmingly on our side. We gain nothing by dragging this out another year. Our opponents gain everything.

There is another imperative for acting now. In an off-year election, when the party controlling Congress also controls the White House, it's generally expected (though not guaranteed) that the majority in Congress will lose some seats. Last month, we saw how the loss of just one Senate seat in Massachusetts, leaving Democrats with "only" an 18 seat majority in the Senate, threatened to imperil Democratic resolve across the board. We don't need the uncertainty of the fall elections adding to our troubles when we know we can get the job done now.

Finally there is political gain in proceeding expeditiously. While those of us in Washington debate the nuance of when the President, the Secretary, the Chairman and the Congress really want to see Don't Ask Don't Tell repealed, regular Americans, including gay Americans, their friends, and their families, saw only one thing this past week: Our President and our military leaders united in their resolve that the ban would be lifted, and soon. The expectations have been raised. There is no backing down now. To the extent that the repeal is delayed beyond the fall elections, with the knowledge that such a delay imperils the entire repeal effort, the Democrats are going to have some angry voters and donors on their hands, right before a major election that could affect the balance of power in the Congress. By choosing to pass the repeal before the election, the Democrats re-energize their base just when they need it the most.

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Is the US Army in Europe blocking Advocate.com?

Someone just sent in this tip. Can anyone confirm it? Read More...