More on the child abuse scandals in Germany

For those who are interested in German reactions to the sex abuse scandals in the Catholic church, here is an insightful English-language op-ed. It is written by Peter Schneider, a well-known German lefty intellectual of the Sixties generation:

Though Germany is a secular country and Catholics make up only a third of the population, the scandal has engendered a national debate — about religious education, about single-sex institutions and, above all, about the role of celibacy in the Catholic Church.

And while the scandal is not unique to Germany, the current wave of abuse revelations sweeping Europe feels particularly German, because the pope is German: Benedict was once Joseph Ratzinger, the archbishop of Munich and Freising and long a leading voice of conservative German Catholics.

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DOD reportedly examining if, rather than how, to repeal DADT

More on the story we reported earlier.

A former Reagan defense official and opponent of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” expressed concern on Tuesday about the Pentagon study of the law potentially going in the wrong direction.

Lawrence Korb, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress Action Fund, said he met recently with officials working on the study and said he didn’t think the questions they raised pertained to where he thought the study should be heading.

“Now, I get the impression — based upon looking outside and talking to people — that a lot of the people are not convinced that this needs to be repealed and really think it’s their mission to even examine this,” he said during a panel discussion on a new Center for American Progress report on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

Korb said officials on the working group were focused on how repeal could negatively affect the U.S. military as opposed to implementing an end to the law — as Defense Secretary Robert Gates directed earlier this year.

One person involved with the review, Korb said, wanted to look at the “impact of this on unit cohesion and readiness.”

The President - I mean, the commander in chief of the military - was clear in the State of the Union that he wanted Don't Ask Don't Tell repealed this year. So why is the military playing games? Because they can. And as an aside, it sounds like their being insubordinate to the Secretary of Defense as well. Are any adults actually in charge of the Pentagon? Read More...

Mormon bigot Senator Bob Bennett trying to use health care fix to repeal marriage equality in DC

One of the Mormon Republican Senators is offering an amendment to the health care reconciliation fix in order to kill marriage equality in DC.

It's always fascinating to watch people who brought our country polygamy, turn around and lecture other people on how to live their lives. Last time I checked, gay people were only asking for the right to marry one person, unlike Bennett's ancestors, and some of his contemporaries too.

Will the Mormons ever give up their seemingly pathological need to force other Americans to live as Mormons? It's one thing to seek tolerance, it's another to jam your lifestyle down the throats of other Americans. Read More...

Judge: School violated Constance's constitutional rights, but won't require school to hold the prom

Some news this afternoon from Mississippi:

Both sides pled their case in court Monday, with McMillen’s legal team accusing the district of violating her constitutional right to free expression. School district attorneys countered that the board was attempting to restore order to the school by withdrawing sponsorship of the event.

Davidson said the school board violated McMillen’s rights by denying her requests.

“The Court finds this expression and communication of her viewpoint is the type of speech that falls squarely within the purview of the First Amendment,” Davidson wrote in an opinion published this afternoon.

Davidson also wrote that it would not be in the public’s interest for him to intercede and require the school to host a prom. Parents of students at the Fulton, Miss., high school are organizing a private prom and school officials testified all junior and senior students would be allowed to attend.

The ACLU, which has been representing Constance, sees this as a win:

"We consider this a victory," said ACLU Mississippi legal director Kristy Bennett.

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Center for American Progress: DOD is 'dragging their feet' on DADT repeal // White House still silent on whether to repeal this year

Do we or do we not have civilian control of the military in this country?

The commander in chief has spoken. He has ordered the military to prepare the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell, and in response we get games. All last year year we had to deal with the lies from the Pentagon about how they were moving ahead with plans for implementation last May, then eight months later we find out that they did no such thing. Eight months of hard Pentagon work yielded a suggestion for another year-long study. And now we find out that DOD is still trying to delay even that.

Why? Because DOD is waiting until after the elections, in the hopes that the Democrats lose the Congress or at the very least lose enough seats as to make the repeal of DADT impossible.

Funny thing. It's not the Pentagon's job in a democracy to play games with the commander in chief's orders, to make following such orders contingent on what happens in the next election. It's their job to follow orders, period. Do Secretary Gates and Admiral Mullen, and the rest of the joint chiefs, think that their troops can choose not to fight until the next election - you know - since maybe whoever wins won't want them to fight any more?

It's now been eight days since Congressman Barney Frank revealed publicly that the White House is now "ambiguous" on whether to repeal DADT this year. It's been eight days since Barney Frank called on the White House to tell us where they stand on repeal this year. All Barney Frank, our top elected official in Congress, got in response was silence.

Where is HRC? Where is Joe Solmonese when Barney is getting dissed by the White House? Where is the plan that Solmonese repeatedly told our community the White House had? Why isn't HRC getting an answer from the White House?

Mark my words - DADT is in trouble. If the repeal doesn't pass this year, it's going to be that much harder to pull it off after the elections this November. HRC knows that, but they continue to cover for the President's inaction. It's almost as if HRC doesn't think we're going to hold them, and their top donors, and their board members, personally responsible for this debacle after the elections. They're sorely mistaken.

Barney Frank deserves an answer from the White House. Perhaps Joe Solmonese could take some time off from his fashion awards to do his job before it's too late. Read More...

Did Apple delete popular gay social networking app, Grindr, from iPhone store

UPDATE: Grindr is still coming up on the app store on the iPhone itself, but you can't find it on the app store via iTunes. Strange. Stay tuned - as I said at the end of the post, we need to hear the rest of the story.


Grindr is gone, at least from the app store online. Just as troubling, heterosexual apps that offer the same service - meeting people in your area - are still live. I've used Grindr, it's a good app. It basically lets you post a profile, and check out the profiles of other guys in your area. The most risqué any of the profile photos get is a guy with his shirt off. Anything more risqué gets deleted - I know, because friends have even had shirtless pics deleted (i.e., non x pics). This really doesn't look good. The iPhone cannot be dumbed down to the moral sensibilities of the lowest common denominator - that would mean no gay content at all, not to mention apps from pro-choice groups, etc. And if they're going to make the entire world "child safe," then apply the policy equally to straight networking apps too. We don't know the backstory, so I'll refrain from judging any further. Read More...

HRC's Joe Solmonese wins award as DC's top activist... for his clothes

And who says the emperor has no clothes.

It would almost be funny if the Human Rights Campaign hadn't actually cooperated with the "award" by telling the magazine who Solmonese's favorite designers were (Ann Demeulemeester, Billy Reid, and Dolce and Gabbana). Wouldn't it be neat if HRC's president won an activism award for his activism?

UPDATE: Pam is not pleased. Read More...

THIS JUST IN: You are not responsible for genocide

Whew, glad we cleared that one up. From Kerry Eleveld at the Advocate:

A Dutch officer has refuted the testimony of a retired U.S. Marine General before the Senate Armed Services Committee in which he suggested that the officer partially blamed openly gay service in the Dutch military for one of the worst massacres on European soil since World War II.

During last week’s hearing on the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, former NATO commander General John Sheehan told committee members that a former Dutch Defense Chief-of-Staff, General Henk van den Breemen, said the “liberalization” of the Dutch forces rendered them incapable of protecting the people of Srebrenica in 1995 during the Bosnian war, when approximately 8,000 Muslim men and boys were executed.

Van den Breemen rejected Sheehan’s account in a statement on the Dutch Ministry of Defense’s website, calling it “complete nonsense,” according to a translation provided the gay veterans group Servicemembers United.

The statement reads, “Sheehan based his claims on statements from then-Chief of Staff, General Henk van den Breemen. Van den Breemen, for his part, considers Sheehan’s accusations “complete nonsense.” Van den Breemen does not share Sheehan’s opinion on the role of homosexuals in the fall of Srebrenica, and has never said anything that would imply he did.”

The Dutch Minister of Defense also responded forcefully to the accusation, saying that Sheehan’s comments were “disgraceful and unbecoming.”

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Judge rules Prop. 8 opponents must provide campaign documents

The latest development in the Prop. 8 case, via Karen Ocamb:

In a 24-page ruling issued Monday afternoon, Judge Vaughn Walker denied motions by the ACLU and Equality California to overrule an order to turn No on Prop 8 campaign documents to Prop 8 proponents in the federal Prop 8 trial.

As LGBT POV previously reported, on March 5, U.S. Magistrate Joseph Spero ordered Equality California, Californians Against Eliminating Basic Rights, an ACLU campaign committee and the No on Prop 8 umbrella campaign to produce all documents “that contain, refer or relate to arguments for or against Proposition 8″ – though they may withhold private communications between their Core Group. The order is similar to one Spero gave the ProtectMarriage/the Yes on 8 defendant-interveners.

Obviously, this will further delay the verdict in the case, which had been expected by early March. Read More...