More on the now-famous soldier couple in all the abuse photos

My friend Chris in Paris (yes, that Paris) sent me the following article that details the lives of the couple that pops up in many of the Iraqi prisoner abuse photos. One thing that has been annoying me more and more is the blatant homophobia of all of this. Had they made fun of the Iraqis by suggesting they "make love" to blacks or Jews, there'd be an understandable uproar. Yet no one is mentioning the gay thing, and how, under Don't Ask, Don't Tell, it's now okay to be gay in the military so long as no one knows. Thus, these guys are creating a hostile work environment for their other soldiers, in addition to abusing the Iraqis.

"'They made them do strange exercises by sliding on their stomach, jump up and down, throw water on them and made them wet, called them all kinds of names such as 'gays' and 'do they like to make love to guys,' then they handcuffed their hands together and their legs with shackles and started to stack them on top of each other.' "

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Arch-homophobe dead at 74

State Sen. William J. "Pete" Knight, who wrote California's gay marriage ban and took it directly to voters after twice failing to get it through the Legislature, has died of leukemia. He was 74.... His son, David Knight, married Joseph Lazzaro, his boyfriend of 10 years, at San Francisco's City Hall earlier this year, just two days before the California Supreme Court shut down the weddings. - AP

Something tells me he won't be greeted by 70 virgins.
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Bush Says Palestinian State by 2005 Not 'Realistic'

Because they weren't pissed enough at us already. Read More......

Democratic VP candidates on gay issues vs. Bush

The National Gay & Lesbian Task Force has put together a document comparing a number of possible Democratic VP candidates on gay issues, then comparing them against George Bush. In a nutshell, Bush stinks on everyting, Dick Gephardt and John Edwards are the most supportive of equal rights for gay Americans, and Sam Nunn is at the bottom of the Democratic pack.

NGLTF offers a slightly longer summary:

According to the report, the most supportive prospective VP candidate is Representative Dick Gephardt, who has taken supportive positions on 11 of the 13 issue areas (and unclear in 1 area, and opposed in 1 area). He is followed by: Senator John Edwards (supportive in 9, unclear in 3, opposed in 1), Governor Richardson (supportive in 8, unclear in 4, and opposed in 1), Senator Graham (supportive in 4, unclear in 6, and opposed in 3), and Governor Vilsack (supportive in 5, unclear in 8). Former Senator Sam Nunn, who led efforts to pass the much-reviled "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" law, ranked last (supportive in only 2, opposed in 4, unclear in 7). None supports marriage equality for same sex couples.

NGLTF actually has a number of cool documents on this issue (all are .pdf format):
- Chart comparing the candidates
- Quotes on gay issues from the candidates
- A very detailed analysis of the findings, including fact sheets on each likely VP candidate Read More......