Repealing DADT: I'm Concerned About A Compromise

There is a lot of news today about a potential deal that may have been worked out between Congress and the White House/DOD concerning the repeal of the Don’t Ask, Don't Tell policy. Here's the breakdown of what I've seen so far:

The bill will provide for the repeal of DADT under the assumption that two conditions are met. First, the study that is currently under way concerning how the repeal of DADT would effect military readiness must be completed. Second, the President, Secretary of Defense and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff must sign off that the findings in the report are acceptable and that they agree that the repeal of DADT works in favor of military readiness. Only when those two conditions are met will the DADT be officially considered repealed.

It's progress. It's a step forward toward the goal of getting rid of the discriminatory, putrid DADT policy and another step toward full equality in this country. I would argue that the full integration of LGB folk into the Armed Services is perhaps the most important equality measure this country can implement now, as I feel most other rights will fall in line after LGB people are allowed to serve their country openly, honestly and courageously. So yes, it is a progressive step.
Well… at least it sounds like a progressive step. As some have pointed out, this may not be as great as it sounds.

If you notice in my description above, there was no specific time table laid out for the completion of the two prerequisites. There is also no specific mention of protections for LGB service members against discrimination. These two issues are very troubling to me.

Without a time table, the President or his lackeys (Secretary of Defense and Chairman JCOS) can simply sit on this thing until they deign it OK for service members to serve openly. The report could be delayed for "further analysis" or the three signees may not agree and nothing would move forward. This would, in effect, completely halt the repeal of DADT. Even if the President rushes the study through, all it would take to stop the Repeal effort would be that the Chairman simply not sign off on the changes and nothing would happen and no one would have any recourse as Congress would have already passed the buck.

Without specific protections included in the repeal effort, we are for all intents and purposes putting the military back to where it was pre-DADT. For those that don't recall, DADT was considered a compromise at it's time, a way for LGB folk to serve in the military without getting discharged. The idea was that they could serve just as long as they did not "flaunt" their sexuality. As we all know, things did not work out quite like that, as anytime someone tangentially related to the service member sneezes in a gay way the service member gets the boot, but if you look at the military prior to DADT, they were able and allowed to kick men and women out for suspicion of gayness. They had a pure and simple policy that stated No Queers. Without specific protections, we're rolling back to that same era where it is up to the military how to manage The Gays… and history shows us they do not like to manage us very well.

I like the idea of DADT repeal and I have to say that I'm afraid that if we don't accept this "deal" then we won't get anything at all, but I also have to say that I don't have a single good feeling about this. Not one bit. Nothing about this smells good for our people. I feel like we're being stung along here and oddly right before the 2010 election season begins in full.

We need full repeal. We need specific protections. We need real assurances. I get that those things won't happen tomorrow, but these are the things that should happen. However, in the meantime we have LGB service members that are being bled out of the service and that needs to stop immediately, and this bill may be the only way to make that happen.

Here's what I would propose: instead of giving three people total and utter control of the repeal process, pass a bill that calls for full integration within 1 year's time with specific deadlines for integration including an immediate moratorium on expulsions based on DADT. Also include very specific non-discrimination policies with that bill. And do not give three people who have zero accountability to the Congress complete control. Pass it through Congress so that any threat of a veto can be overturned. And do it today.

The Case Of The Missing Insurance

Here's a fun story. A woman who works for the federal government sued for the right to have her wife covered by her employer's health insurance program. Arguing that denying her partner insurance meant that she was not getting equal pay for equal work because the costs of buying private insurance for her gal was astronomically higher than what her heterosexual co-workers paid to have their spouses covered under the company insurance program, a federal judge ORDERED the federal government to cover the plaintiff's wife.

So, you know, a Federal Judge comes along and makes a ruling against the Obama Administration, who of course follows that ruling as is required by law, right? Well, no, not really. Instead, the Administration tells Blue Cross/Blue Shield to not process the claim and then makes this quaint claim that they are not allowed to cover the woman because of DOMA. BUT A FEDERAL JUDGE TOLD YOU THAT YOU CANNOT DENY THIS WOMAN BENEFITS!!

*Ahem* Excuse me a moment, just need to … recover here…

Anyway, John Berry, who is the head of the Office of Personnel Management, or the VP of HR of the Federal Government so-to-speak, was questioned about this decision of the Obama Administration at the Gay and Lesbian Leadership Institute (hosted by the Victory Fund). Oh, did I mention that Berry is also the highest ranking openly 'mo member of the Administration? Yeah, that's a bit relevant. Anyway, here's his adorable response:

She was looking at this, and both her and the Justice Department, and Matt's here from the Justice Department, concluded that basically neither I nor the president have the authority to do this. Which is why Congresswoman Baldwin's legislation is so essential. And why the administration is inaudible on behalf of it it and is helping work with her to get it done. Because it will give me the authority to do it and as soon as we get it, the president will signed it we'll do it.

Now the judge has ordered me to go ahead and do it. And the lawyers are, you know, finding out what what we can do or not and they're going to tell me what I can do. And if the Justice Department says we can pay it, I'd be happy to pay it. If I can't, I can't.

To sum up, he won't because he can't. But he can, because he was ordered to by a GD FEDERAL JUDGE! Which means someone above him is telling him he's not allowed to. Hmmm…. Wonder who would have the authority, or at least perceived authority, to block a federal judge's ruling? I'll give you one guess, and it's that guy that's made lots of promises to the gays and has done his best so far to not live up to as few of them as possible...

Is It Us, Or Him?

A lot has been said in the last few months about President Obama's dedication, or lack thereof, to the LGBT community. I've chimed in on it, others have spoken on it. There's been no lack of screaming on our part for action NOW. Lately, there's been some push back on the issue. Not that we should be waiting in line, but more so that we are just impatient, and on the extreme end, the gay community is being called racist.

I've take some time to think about the accusations. Sometimes when you are enraged at someone else, it's hard to see your own faults, so I thought there could be some credence to these accusations. Is the gay community racist, which has as it's core leadership a whole slew of white people? Are we just being impatient children? Do we even have a valid reason to be screaming for so much so quickly?

When I look at the racist claims, I think there's something that definitely needs to be said on that front. It's true that there is an unseemly divide between the white gay community and the black gay community. Most of it has to do with sense of identity, where many white men that exclusively (or almost exclusively) have sex with other men identify as Gay. That is their identity, a Gay Man. I don't believe the same can be said for the equivalent black community, who identify more with being Black Men than with being Gay Men. There's a cultural divide, and it's true that there's a gap that needs to be bridged there. But I don't think that racism, or even lack of cultural understanding, plays that heavily in the LGBT community's cry for action from President Obama. I think that has more to do with a man that made promises and has yet to show indications of delivery on those promises.

When I look at the claims that the LGBT community is being too impatient with the President, I think there is some truth mixed with fiction in this claim. We need to be honest with ourselves and understand that he has only been in office six months. One simply cannot accomplish all of one's political promises in that time frame. You need to rally the base, make deals with key supporters in the legislature, convince the public, etc., particularly when we talk about potential major cultural shifts like repealing DOMA. Look at the fight we're having now with Health Care, and to me that should be an absolute given. There's also now "moral" component to that debate. When he takes up the anti-DOMA cause, there will be just as much rabble-rousing from the Right, if not more. That's a fight that needs full attention, I think. However, even though DOMA is a big issue and should likely be worked on when it can be a focus issue, President Obama has given no indication since he took office that he will tackle the issue. If anything, it's been repeated that he's not interested in the issue right now, and that's my concern. I'll work with you for Health Care, but you have to work with me on DOMA.

So do we have valid reasons for screaming at the Executive Branch for their lack of action on our issues? I believe so. I've said it many, many times: The moment you let up the pressure is the moment you lose the fight. If we don't constantly demand the attention of our law makers, we will never get it. However, we do need to be reasonable with regard to the President's plans and time tables. It would be nice to have more information about when the administration plans on tackling our issues. An all-inclusive ENDA was introduced to Congress today. Talk and work on repealing (or at least suspending) Don't Ask, Don't Tell has been buzzing. Those are two key policy changes that need to be enacted. So there is some movement. But our big money items, the items that we want to see before mid-term elections… those are what I'm worried about and what I want to hear more about.

Ultimately, I don't think the LGBT community hates is mad at President Obama due to deep seated racism, nor do I think we are being unfair in our demands. I do think we need to hold him to the fire and make sure he's accountable to the promises he's made, and I do think we need to rationally understand the process, but overall I think the LGBT community is doing what it can to forge ahead. Just like every other cause has previously. We don’t "stand in line and wait our turn," because we've seen that doesn't accomplish anything. We ask, we demand, and we fight for what we want.

Fight For Your Own Money, Please

Yesterday, I spent the evening watching talking heads speak about Tea Bagging. I watched Rachel Maddow giggle with glee as she marveled at the protestors ignorance of the colloquial meaning of Tea Bagging. I listened as Keith Olberman derided the Tea Baggers as puppets of the grand corporate marketing scheme. I even witnessed Anderson Cooper admit to not being able to effectively talk while being Tea Bagged. And it was all good stuff.

But with all the Liberal pundits spouting off about the hilarious double entendre of Tea Bagging, I had to stop and wonder exactly what they were protesting. Just like every protest, some random, non-related people showed up to join in the protesting fun. Racists freaks, anti-Government bums, Christian "Rights" groups, and even pro-war protesters (whatever the fuck that means) showed up to join in the fun. I swear, it's like a gay rights march in reverse. The problem I had though is that the talking heads tended to focus on those fringe characters to deride the protestors as Crazy or Insane when the fringe participants were hardly representatives of the majority there. They weren't shunned in most cases, mind you, but I hardly think one man carrying a racist, anti-Obama poster counts as the totality of the message the larger group was trying to convey.

I'm willing to set aside a few of the fallacies of this "grass-roots" movement to examine the concept. Sure, it wasn't a grass roots movement, it was backed by and supported by corporate lobbyist firms. And sure, many of the protestors were protesting Obama's bailout package… even though they supported Bush's less-stringent version just a few months ago. Putting that all aside, do these people have a point? Will the raising of taxes on the wealthiest Americans (which, by the by, would not affect the overwhelmingly vast majority of the protestors in the least) really do anything to save our country? And will these bailout packages make a difference?

In my opinion… well, I have no idea if the bailouts will save us. Finance is not my area, and it's obviously not the area of most of the talking heads on TV. Most of the experts seem to think they will help, but I've grown weary of partisan experts anyway, so it's hard to say. What I can say is that if you get a chance to watch last night's Daily Show, you should probably do so, as their guest did a great job at explaining why the past 10 years of deregulation have led us to this point, and how re-regulating industries rife with greed can only benefit us all. If we need to bail out all the financial institutions in this country in order to reign in their practices, than so be it.

What else I know is that I'm still amazed at how easily poor and middle class Americans can be manipulated to fighting for rich people. I did not hear of many wealthy people showing up at these Tea Parties, the people that are actually affected by Obama's tax increases. Instead I saw tons of middle-class white people crying. Why? I still have no idea. Just like yesterday's post about the fight for Marriage, I am baffled at why middle-class people that will NEVER be in that top 1% of the wealth curve insist on fighting for rich people's right to have, keep and make more money than them. It's as if they are still disillusioned into believing they'll be there some day, if only they buy enough lottery tickets…

I just don't understand is all. We've got A LOT to fight for in our lives, and these people choose to fight over some one else's money. Let the rich people complain about their money themselves! Stop fighting about what isn't yours in the first place and get back to working on things that will actually affect your quality of life.

A Sailor Walks Into A Debate...

I need you to check out this story. If that isn't a shining example of why the military's current anti-gay policies need to go, I don't know what is. People should not have to live like this, not when they are serving in defense of our country. The only thing that DADT improved (if you can even use that word) is that it is no longer a dishonorable discharge from the military, as it would have been for David.

The policy needs to end, and not in a quaint little "when the time feels right" time-frame that we've recently been blindsided with. The time will never "feel right" for bigots, same goes for marriage equality. It is the Government's job to force these changes and do what is right and correct. Furthermore, it is the responsibility of the President to live up to his promises, and I think it's fair to call him out on his presumed failures when his people are making statements to the effect of "Yeah… we don't really care about DADT…. TY for you Vote though! LYLAS!"

Check out David's blog, then feel free to copy and paste my letter to Obama from yesterday and send it to the President. Or write your own. Modify it and send it to your Representative and Senator. This policy has to go, and it's going no where as long as we allow our Government to sit back and do nothing.

Obama Caves On Oath Of Office

Obama decided that it would be better to take the Oath of Office again, even though it was completely unnecessary, than it would be to tell the whiny, right-wing idiots to shut the hell up and stop acting like little children. Essentially, he called the Chief Justice to the White House yesterday to re-adminster the Oath of Office using the correct placement of the word "faithfully" because some people were screaming that he isn't technically President until he takes the Oath verbatim, even after Obama's team said specifically that they would not re-do the Oath. Whiny. Fucking. Bitches.

What really irks me about this is that it confirms to me that my voice in this administration doesn't matter. Why is that? Because I can raise a LEGITIMATE concern about the use of an extremist hate-mongerer to deliver the blessing and invocation over Obama's inauguration and I am told to shut the hell up and get back to the corner. However, when a few bitchy, irritating fucks complain about the misuse of ONE FUCKING WORD, well then, the entire administration needs to come to a halt to appease the idiots that DIDN'T EVEN VOTE FOR OBAMA!

The VAST majority of the LGBT community worked the asses off to get Obama elected, and many more supported him unconditionally, yet we are handed a slap in the face named Rick Warren and told that our priorities aren't that important. But heaven forbid the right-wing talking heads at Fox News dare say something negative! Hurray Obama, Bill O'Reilley just said something bad about you closing Guantanamo, you need to change your mind on it and re-open it immediately!

I Wish I Could Get Away With Being As Stupid As These People...

I'm sure everyone has watched yesterday's Inauguration ceremonies celebrating Barack Obama's ascendency into the Presidency. Notice the key words in that sentence: ceremonies and celebrating. Because that's all yesterday was, a formalized ceremony that is not at all required, but the people like to celebrate these achievements, so we hold these massive to-do's so we the people can enjoy the regime change.

Since we've all watched the ceremony, we've all seen Obama's slightly flubbed Oath of Office. And if we've seen it, then the crazy idiot right-wingers have as well. And if they've seen, then they must be screaming that it must mean that Obama isn't really our President yet, which is exactly what I said they'd do the moment I saw it happen.

To be sure, the twits are running around on national TV screaming about how the Oath is in the Constitution, so it must mean that Obama can't become President until he says it exactly the way it's written. Well, that's a quaint notion. If we were going to follow that path of following the Constitution to the exact word of it, me thinks their dear former-President Bush would be hanging in some gallows by now.

What they don't realize is the Oath is truly a formality. It's not a necessity. Obama became President yesterday at noon Eastern. Period. Regardless of an Oath or ceremony or miracle from god, he became President. There's no avoiding that.

Good luck with your lawsuits and whatnot. Please make sure you go on TV as much as possible to complain about it as well because we all need to see your faces and know who to point and laugh at while in public.

A Little Bit Of Hope

Just want you all to remember that even though we've experienced some really rough times over the past three months, tomorrow brings the brightest hope our community has seen in a long time. Regardless of the Rick Warren fiasco, or the HBO debacle, or even the Prop 8 quagmire from hell, Barack Obama's inauguration ushers in a new world of potential gains for the LGBT community.

However you choose to spend and/or celebrate tomorrow, we have to keep hope alive that our lives will be better over the next few years. Not just because of Barack Obama, although I think he and his administration will be a catalyst in some respects, but because we deserve better lives. We deserve equality. We deserve respect. We deserve to be treated fairly and with love and acceptance.

Tomorrow's inauguration means so much more than just another President assuming his throne.

The Return Of Alan Keyes!

Oh, glorious day! I thought that after he had been ridiculously and soundly beaten by Barack Obama for the Senate seat in 2004, and after his own daughter came out of the closet as a lesbian to shun his anti-gay rhetoric, we had seen the last of Alan Keyes. But I was very wrong, and now we have one of our favorite nut-jobs back in the public eye.

What'd he do this time? Well, the same BS he tried to pull in the Senate race: claiming that Obama isn't really a natural born American citizen at all!

Longtime gay foe and former Obama challenger Allan Keyes has filed a lawsuit in California to block the state from giving its electoral votes to the President-elect until Obama provides documentary evidence that he is indeed a natural born citizen of the United States.

...

The Obama campaign countered similar accusations during the presidential primaries by posting Obama’s certification of live birth, and saying: “Barack Obama was born in the state of Hawaii in 1961, a native citizen of the United States of America.”

The state of Hawaii in October said that Obama’s birth certificate is genuine. The Constitution requires that a President must have been born in the US.

Well, good luck with that one Keyes. You know, that election was 4 years ago at this point, don't you think it's time to let it go? And did you really think you had a shot in hell winning that race in Chicago?

How long will the anti-gay, anti-Obama, anit-anything-that-makes-sense-in-this-world jackoff continue on his tirades? Not sure, but he's kind of comical in his own way. If he could just turn his ignorance into a persona and put it on stage, it'd be comedy gold!

Dear Mr. Obama

Hi there!

Listen, I know I'm just some dude from Chicago, but I'd really appreciate a minute of your time.  I've got a few things I'd like to talk to you about.

First, I know you're a smart guy.  Really smart actually.  So I'm hoping your already in front of this, but do me a favor and appoint your own cabinet.  I mean, make it your own.  We liked Clinton, for the most part, but please don't reappoint his entire staff.  You won't get anywhere, and definitely won't achieve that goal of Change, if you simply re-hash the past.  I'm not saying don't bring along some of the good ones, but please make this your cabinet, not Clinton 2.0.

Second, I need you to jump on this gay civil rights movement.  Like yesterday.  I've ready your platform, and I have to say that I'm floored and excited by it.  I'm also realistic.  We're not getting all of those things.  It's just reality.  We deserve it all and more, and we'll keep fighting for it all, but I'm pretty sure you alone can't make that happen.  And I'm a bit jaded by the last Democratic administration who, just as soon as they had promised us the world, turned around and tossed us right under the bus as soon as they had the chance.  So, please, if you're going to do it, do it, but don't promise anything you don't plan on acting on.

In summation, we've all placed a lot of hope in you, so if you could try to achieve that and not play safe, we'd really, really like it.  All of us, particularly in the Gay Community, have really felt personally attacked over the past 8 years, and we feel even more so given the results of this last election.  Please, help us rectify this situation.

Thanks and in peace and love,

dickie

PS - Why haven't you said a word about the protests going on across the country?  Just curious, because we'd all love to hear what you have to say.