German sports agent gay-baits the national soccer team

Sounds like a combination of gay-baiting and outing, from a German sports agent, after the World Cup:

In an essay entitled New German Men, Aleksander Osang recounts an interview he had with [sports agent] Becker prior to the World Cup in which the agent allegedly told him which of the players in the team were gay. He later said that a former national player was ready to reveal the "bunch of gays" in the German team, according to Osang. Asked about the sexuality of one of the newer players, Becker, who is a lawyer by profession, referred to him as being "half gay".

Osang went on to say that Becker put the new adroit, lighter and elegant style of play that has become a trademark of trainer Joachim Löw's players down to their homosexuality, in contrast to the typically more aggressive and offensive German style of past years, but suggested they played too delicately to assure themselves a place in the final.

According to Der Spiegel, when Becker made his remarks about the "bunch of gays" he expected the ears of fellow journalists present to "prick up". "But they only nodded placidly," said Osang. "All sports journalists seemed to already know the alleged homosexual conspiracies enveloping Löw's team. The rumours accompanied our team to South Africa and evidently belong to the team."

Sounds like the rumors are a big yawn.

Oh, there is this other, rather important tidbit about the German team:

Germany came third in the World Cup, going further than expected, after an excellent run that included wins over England and Argentina.

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Gibbs on DOMA decisions: 'I'll point you to the Department of Justice on that'

Can't we ever just get an answer to a gay question from White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs? Ever?

The Washington Blade's Chris Johnson asked Gibbs a question about DOMA at the briefing today -- and, big surprise, didn't get an answer:

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs on Wednesday deferred comment to the U.S. Justice Department on President Obama’s support for a recent court ruling overturning part of the Defense of Marriage Act.

In response to a Blade inqurity on whether Obama was supportive of the court decision, Gibbs replied, “Let me — I’ll point you to the Department of Justice on that.”

Yes, point us to DOJ. Punt the question.

This isn't just a legal question. It's about our basic rights. And, it's an increasingly important political question.

The Obama administration should know by now that there are going to be serious political ramifications if the Obama administration continues to aggressively defend anti-gay laws. The "separate, but equal" approach won't sell in 2012. It just won't. Read More...

Servicemembers United obliterates Geoff Morrell's flawed defense of the DADT study

Last week, Pentagon spokesperson Geoff Morrell held a last-minute press conference to rebut criticism of the DADT survey. Kerry Eleveld, who participated in and recorded Morrell's presser, posted the transcript here.

Clearly, the Pentagon is on edge about this survey. It's gotten nothing but criticism since it was announced. Servicemembers United has led the critique. And, today, SU provided an in-depth respond to Morrell. I posted the full response on Scribd.com and its embedded below. Let's just say, SU eviscerates Morrell's attempt to justify the survey.

From SU's press release:

Servicemembers United, the nation's largest organization of gay and lesbian troops and veterans, today released a detailed response memo to rebut the numerous false and misleading claims made by Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell about Servicemembers United's criticism of the biased DADT survey released last week. The survey, which was created and administered by the research firm Westat in conjunction with the Comprehensive Review Working Group, was sent out to 400,000 non-deployed active duty and reserve component troops at a cost to taxpayers of $4.4 million.

"Unfortunately, the Pentagon's responses to Servicemembers United's criticism of the DADT survey mirror the survey itself - flawed," said Alexander Nicholson, Executive Director of Servicemembers United and a former U.S. Army interrogator who was discharged under "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." "We continue to maintain that the Defense Department just shot itself in the foot by releasing such a flawed survey to 400,000 servicemembers, and it did so at an outrageous cost to taxpayers."

Here's the full response. Worth a read. SU totally dismantles Morrell's key arguments:
Servicemembers United response to Pentagon spokesperson Read More...

'The government dropped the case because they know it’s an embarrassment.'

As we reported below, the government (yes, the U.S. government) dropped its case against Lt. Dan Choi and Jim Pietrangelo. Just got a press release from GetEQUAL with statements from the key players. The release notes "Apparently, Prosecutor Christine Chang was unaware of the government’s decision as she stated, “I was ready,” and wasn’t able to explain the last-minute decision not to prosecute." It sure sounds like our side was ready, too. And, that was the apparently the problem for the government, too.

From the defendants:

“Today, truth was the victor against a demeaning, discriminatory law known as ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’” said Lt. Dan Choi. “We won’t stop pressing for repeal and pressuring those standing in the way until the day comes when not one more gay or lesbian servicemember is fired. And, as of today, the President refuses to tell us when that day will actually come.”

“It is clear that the government was embarrassed and we were prepared to make them defend this antiquated and homophobic law. The government is afraid of having to defend this issue,” said Cpt. James Pietrangelo II. “The subpoena was an embarrassment for them, ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ is an embarrassment for them and, after three months of discovery and preparation, the government dropped the case because they know it’s an embarrassment.”

From GetEQUAL's Robin McGehee, who also got arrested on March 18 at the White House:

“Civil disobedience won today,” said Robin McGehee, co-founder and co-director of GetEQUAL. “We’re thrilled today that Dan and Jim’s actions have been validated and that non-violent civil disobedience has been proven again to be effective in combating prejudice. We are proud to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Dan, Jim and other LGBT active-duty servicemembers who are taking action to end this discriminatory policy.”

And, from the lawyers for Choi and Pietrangelo:

“We were ready to put ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ on trial today, but it was clear the government was embarrassed to defend an indefensible policy,” said Mark Goldstone, lawyer for Lt. Choi’s and Cpt. Pietrangelo’s defense team. “Did the White House make a last-minute call to prevent this embarrassment from continuing? Clearly, someone did.”

Goldstone continued, “All fair-minded people should continue to agitate for actual and immediate repeal of this unjust, unfair policy. This is a big win for non-violent resistance to unjust policies and proves if you speak truth to power, good things can happen.”

“They declined to prosecute because the case would embarrass the government,” said Ann Wilcox, lawyer for Lt. Choi’s and Cpt. Pietrangelo’s defense team. “The President said it was important to pressure leaders like himself, and that is exactly what Lt. Choi and Cpt. Pietrangelo did before and intended to do again today.”

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Argentina's Senate debating same-sex marriage legislation

There is a quorom in the Argentinian Senate this afternoon, so there will be a vote on the marriage legislation. Joe.My.God has a livestream of the debate. Maybe some day we'll watch the U.S. Senate actually debate legislation to provide full equality. Some day. We can't even get a vote on ENDA.

Here's the livestream from canal5noticias (C5N):


The vote is going to be close. Here's the latest update from the Buenos Aires Herald:

In a last minute recount, 31 to 33 senators were expected to be in favour of the bill, while 33 to 34 were against it.

By ruling out the absence of four senators (two of them in China with President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner), seven senators remain undecided.

Senator Luis Viana is on sick leave while the ruling party and the opposition both think senator and former president Carlos Menem will not attend the session.

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The DADT trial of Log Cabin vs. Obama's DOJ is underway

Karen Ocamb was in the court room:

Attorney Dan Woods opened for Log Cabin:

“Your Honor, this case involves one of the most pressing civil rights issues in our great country today — the discrimination against homosexuals by our country’s military, authorized by the “don’t ask, don’t tell” statute, codified at 10 U.S.C. section 654 and its implementing regulations.”

The DOJ – with five attorneys and an Army Major at the table – said they were not going to put on any witnesses or provide any evidence. They were going to rely on the fact that this is a law created by Congress and the judge should pay deference to the military and Congress, as courts have traditionally done.

The rest of the morning was spent trying to prove that the Log Cabin Republicans have “standing” to bring the case. Woods argued that Alex Nicholson, who is now widely knows as the head of Servicemembers United, became a member of LCR on April 28, 2006. Woods elicited testimony from LCR Board President Terry Hamilton that Nicholson had paid $60 dues – but was considered an “honorary” member.

The DOJ strongly objected to whether Nicholson could be considered a member since he didn’t pay any dues and even the $60 dues had lapsed.

And, this line from AP sums up the situation:

The case has put the federal government in the awkward position of defending the policy that President Obama has said should be repealed.

Yeah, in this one, we're rooting for Log Cabin Republicans over the Obama administration. Imagine that. Read More...

BREAKING: Charges against Choi and Pietrangelo dropped

As I noted via updates in the post below, prosecutors dropped the charges against Lt. Dan Choi and Capt. Jim Pietrangelo this morning. I just got off the phone with Paul Yandura who is with Dan and Jim at the DC Superior Court.

Paul asked Prosecutor Christina Chang what the reason for the decision was and whether she was ready to trial. Chang told Yandura point blank, "I was ready."

In fact, all the arresting officers from DC and the Secret Service were in the room. They were there to be witnesses for the government. So, it sure sounds like the government was ready for a trial until something intervened. Paul told me that Dan shook hands with the officers and said, "I hope to see you soon."

According to Yandura:

It's clear that they were embarrassed that we were going to expose the fiction that repeal is finished or imminent. They were embarrassed that we subpoenaed the President and were going to use his words. It's clear that civil disobedience was the winner today.

Dan Choi asked the prosecutor if this meant the "stay away" order from the White House was no longer valid. The prosecutor said, yes.

So, this morning, the prosecutor was ready to go. But, for some reason, the case was dropped. I'm sure there will be more and we'll monitor developments.

But, Paul is right, civil disobedience won today. And, standing on principle did, too.

And, thanks to Scott Wooledge, a.k.a. Clarknt67, here's a photo of Dan and Jim outside of the court house with their attorneys, Ann Wilcox and Mark Goldstone:
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UPDATED: Choi and Pietrangelo on trial case dismissed today

UPDATE: Getting word via Twitter from Scott Wooledge (a.k.a Clarknt67), who is at DC Superior Court, that the case against Choi and Pietrangelo was dismissed:

Gov't silences a voice for #lgbt equality: @ltdanchoi has his case dismissed. No trial #dadt

More tweets from the scene here._______________________
Last night, BRAVO aired the episode of Kathy Griffin's reality show where she came to DC to "lobby" for DADT repeal. Actually, DC was just the backdrop for her show and that includes the staged rally in Freedom Plaza. It was all for the t.v. show. But, as we all know, a funny thing happened at the rally: Dan Choi made it real. He and Jim Pietrangelo marched to the White House where they handcuffed themselves to the fence to protest Obama's failure to lead on DADT repeal. The Griffin show did include Dan's speech to the rally and showed photos of Dan and Jim handcuffed to the fence.

Along with four others, they did the same thing in April.

GetEQUAL's sent a press release yesterday that provides a succinct explanation of today's proceedings:

Lt. Dan Choi and Cpt. James Pietrangelo will stand trial in DC Superior Court on charges stemming from Lt. Choi’s and Cpt. Pietrangelo’s arrests on March 18 and April 20 when they chained themselves to the White House gate, in an act of non-violent, civil disobedience, to protest the President’s lack of leadership on repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” The men are facing a non-jury trial on two counts of “Failure to Obey a Lawful Order,” pursuant to DC Municipal Regulations (18 DCMR 2000.2 (1995).

Lawyers for Choi and Pietrangelo have subpoenaed President Obama, but I don't expect to see him at the court house.

UPDATE with more background from GetEQUAL:

Lt. Dan Choi and Cpt. James Pietrangelo II are each charged with two counts of Failure to Obey a Lawful Order, pursuant to DC Municipal Regulations (18 DCMR 2000.2 (1995); these charges stem from arrests at the White House sidewalk, on two separate occasions, March 18, 2010 and April 20, 2010. They face a nonjury trial on both charges, on Wed., July 14, 2010, in Courtroom 120 of DC Superior Court. This Court is located at 500 Indiana Avenue, NW, in Washington, DC. These are relatively minor charges (the Defendants may only be fined, from $100 to $1000, and may not receive jail time for these infractions). However, the Defendants seek to use their trials to highlight the ongoing effects of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" law and policy of the U.S. Armed Forces toward gay and lesbian service members

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