Gay advocacy groups press Obama
Gay advocacy groups, disenchanted by President Obama’s inaction so far on campaign promises on their issues, are launching a campaign to get his administration to take a stand on the federal anti-gay marriage law.
The first federal lawsuit against a key section of the Defense Of Marriage Act was filed on last month by Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders on behalf of eight same-sex married couples and three surviving spouses from Massachusetts. Obama’s Department of Justice until the week of June 22 to respond.
During his campaign, Obama promised to seek a repeal of the act, which allows states to not recognize gay marriages from other states. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs reiterated the president’s position last month. He opposes gay marriage, but does support civil unions and equal treatment for gays. In recent weeks, New Hampshire and Vermont have moved to join Massachusetts in legalizing gay marriage.
In the grassroots effort, organizers are asking participants to print out a “flip flop card” with the statement, “President Obama, please don’t flip flop on DOMA!” and mail it to the White House.
“President Obama, the defense of this discriminatory and archaic law will be tantamount to nothing short of a flip flop from your previously stated intentions. We’re asking you Mr. President, to take a principled stand for equality under the law and be the bold leader that we voted into office,” Paul Sousa, who leads the Boston-based Equal Rep, said in a statement.
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Same-sex spouses challenge US curbs
Fifteen gay and lesbian residents from Massachusetts who wed after this state legalized same-sex marriages filed a discrimination suit today, challenging a federal law that defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman.
Six same-sex couples and three men whose husbands have died — one of the deceased was retired congressman Gerry E. Studds — said in the suit that the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act treats them like second-class citizens and is unconstitutional. The 92-page complaint was filed in US District Court in Boston.
The suit, which legal specialists described as the first serious challenge to the federal law signed by President Bill Clinton, contends that the statute has deprived the plaintiffs of benefits enjoyed by heterosexual married couples.
Those benefits include health insurance for spouses of federal employees, tax deductions for couples who jointly file federal income tax returns, and the ability to use a spouse’s last name on a passport.
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Businessman offers $100M toward AIDS vaccine research
The hunt for an AIDS vaccine, a scientific quest that has stumped infectious disease researchers for two decades, is receiving a $100 million boost from a Massachusetts technology magnate, whose gift will create a Boston institute fusing the expertise of doctors, engineers, and biologists.
Stunned by scenes of desperation he witnessed in HIV-ravaged South Africa, Phillip Terrence Ragon is spending a considerable chunk of his fortune to accelerate research for a vaccine that would slow the relentless spread of the virus that causes AIDS and now infects more than 33 million people worldwide.
The money, $10 million a year for the next decade, will go to Massachusetts General Hospital but be shared with other research powerhouses, including Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. An announcement of the gift, the largest in Mass. General’s history, is expected this morning from Ragon, 59, the founder and sole owner of InterSystems, a Cambridge company that provides database software to hospitals and other industries.
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The Boston Globe
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Marine General Questions Obama Plan to Study Gay Ban, Scholars Concur that More Study is Unnecessary and Could Have Political Costs
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — A retired Brigadier General for the U.S. Marine Corps has questioned the Obama administration’s plan to form a Pentagon commission to study “don’t ask, don’t tell.” “There’s been enough studying throughout the years,” said General Hugh Aitken. “Creating a new study will not change the facts.” Aitken participated in a comprehensive 2008 review of the policy which found that there is no evidence showing that openly gay service would harm the military, and a great deal of evidence showing it would not.
According to a February 1st Boston Globe report, the Obama administration has decided not to move forward on repealing “don’t ask, don’t tell” until the Pentagon can “undertake a detailed study of how a change in the policy would affect the military.” This may not happen for several months or longer, says the Globe article.
But scholars echoed General Aitken’s argument. Dr. Nathaniel Frank, senior research fellow at the Palm Center and author of the forthcoming book, Unfriendly Fire: How the Gay Ban Undermines the Military and Weakens America, said he has reviewed “all of the evidence on gays in the military, and there is simply no question about whether or not a policy change would undermine unit cohesion. It would not.”
Dr. Laura Miller, a well-respected military sociologist who co-authored a study on gays in the military with the late Charles Moskos, author of the gay ban, said, “you don’t need a commission to tell you that you need to retain every able, trained, experienced and productive member at a time when both the stakes and the manpower needs are high.”
Dr. Gary Gates, a UCLA scholar who has authored a number of studies on gays in the military, agreed that “the proposal to study ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ yet again seems unnecessary. Extensive scholarly research already shows that allowing the 65,000 gays and lesbians currently in uniform to serve openly will not harm the military in any way.”
Professor Diane Mazur, a former Air Force officer who teaches at the University of Florida and who has published widely on gays in the military, added that “every research study published over the last fifteen years has concluded that military readiness is not harmed — and may be strengthened — when all qualified Americans can serve and no one has to live in secrecy.”
Relevant research includes an extensive 1993 study by the RAND corporation as well as two official military studies: a 1989 study by the Defense Personnel Security Research Center and the Navy’s 1957 Crittenden report. It also includes numerous academic studies published in leading military journals such as International Security, Armed Forces and Society, and Parameters, the official journal of the U.S. Army War College. Most recently, a bi-partisan panel of retired flag officers, which included General Aitken, released a report last year which found that “don’t ask, don’t tell” was unnecessary and harmful to the military. All these studies reached the same conclusion: that allowing open gay service would not undermine the military.
Frank’s new book, which is being called the definitive story of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” chronicles the history of the 1993 debates over gay service and shows that, even then, the word “study” quickly became code for “delay and kill.” “Sam Nunn said any review of the gay ban should begin with a ‘Pentagon study’,” said Frank. “Colin Powell said the president should move cautiously and ‘study’ the issue; Bob Dole said the president should appoint a ‘study commission’; and ultimately President Clinton called for a 6-month ‘study’ period. The result was ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ which has made no one happy. I think there’s a lesson here.”
Dr. Aaron Belkin, director of the Palm Center and a nationally recognized expert on gay service, said that President Obama has stroke-of-the-pen authority to suspend gay discharges because, while the law mandates discharge if a “finding” is made of homosexual conduct, nothing in the law requires that such a finding be made. Given CNN’s December 2008 poll showing 81 percent public approval for open gay service, Belkin said, Obama should not hesitate to end the policy by executive order.
“Ironically, Obama’s careful effort to avoid Clinton’s mistakes could cause him to repeat them,” he said. “When President Clinton called a time-out to study the situation, that allowed opposition forces time to rally. In some cases, the Pentagon just needs to be told what to do.” Belkin said he has been told privately by top military officials that in cases like this one, they often prefer to be told what to do. “They know it’s the right step,” he said, “and sometimes they’d rather it be made for them.”
The Palm Center is a research institute at the University of California, Santa Barbara. The Center uses rigorous social science to inform public discussions of controversial social issues, enabling policy outcomes to be informed more by evidence than by emotion. Its data-driven approach is premised on the notion that the public makes wise choices on social issues when high-quality information is available. For more information, visit www.palmcenter.ucsb.edu.
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Rudnick’s ‘New Century’ is a funny time
The one-liners fly furiously in “The New Century,” Paul Rudnick’s collection of four short plays that SpeakEasy Stage Company is presenting at the Boston Center for the Arts. Once they’ve all landed, you may be left wondering whether they actually add up to much, but while they’re in the air it’s hard to do anything but laugh.
“Make remarks, not war,” declares one of Rudnick’s characters, the flauntingly flamboyant Mr. Charles. The slogan could easily decorate a banner above any of Rudnick’s outlandish but decidedly unmilitant vignettes, from Mr. Charles’s own cable-access show in Palm Beach, where he’s been banished from New York for being “too gay,” to the opening monologue by one Helene Nadler of Massapequa, Long Island, mother of three gay children.
In Helene’s case, there is an actual banner over the stage, and it reads “P.L.G.B.T.Q.C.C.C. & O.” As Helene soon informs us, this stands for “Parents of Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, the Transgendered, the Questioning, the Curious, the Creatively Concerned, and Others,” and Helene is here to show us that she is the most accepting, most loving, most liberal-minded mother of all time.
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Obama team takes blame for Robinson slight
President-elect Barack Obama’s inaugural committee is taking the hit today for V. Gene Robinson’s invocation at the Sunday welcoming concert not being televised nationally, Politico reports.
Tens of thousands of attendees did hear the opening prayer given by Robinson, the openly gay New Hampshire Episcopal bishop, but viewers on HBO’s broadcast missed it.
The inaugural committee says the entire broadcast, including Robinson’s invocation, will be shown on the big TV screens along the National Mall on Tuesday.
“We had always intended and planned for Rt. Rev. Robinson’s invocation to be included in the televised portion of yesterday’s program. We regret the error in executing this plan – but are gratified that hundreds of thousands of people who gathered on the mall heard his eloquent prayer for our nation that was a fitting start to our event,” inaugural committee spokesman Josh Earnest told Politico.
Robinson had been given the slot after he and other gay advocates protested Obama’s selection of evangelical preacher Rick Warren to give the invocation at Tuesday’s inauguration. Warren pushed for Proposition 8, which overturned gay marriage in California. Obama team takes blame for Robinson slight
Boston Globe, United States - 1 hour ago
Tens of thousands of attendees did hear the opening prayer given by Robinson, the openly gay New Hampshire Episcopal bishop, but viewers on HBO’s broadcast …
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Obama’s address at last night’s concert, and a few more gay … AfterElton.com
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Hannity criticized gay Episcopal bishop for “partisan hatred,” but called partisan Rev. Falwell a “very dear friend”
On the January 13 edition of Fox News’ Hannity, Sean Hannity claimed that Rev. Gene Robinson — the openly gay Episcopal bishop from New Hampshire whom President-elect Barack Obama has selected to deliver the invocation at his inauguration kickoff — “bashed President Bush” in a prayer published in GQ magazine. Hannity then stated: “You know, all along, I actually thought pastors were supposed to spread the love of God, not fan the flames of partisan hatred.” However, Hannity did not criticize his frequent guest, the late Rev. Jerry Falwell — whom Hannity called a “very dear friend”– despite Falwell’s history of inflammatory, partisan rhetoric directed at Democrats.
According to the Episcopal Church website, Robinson said he would use some of the prayers that he wrote for GQ — which do not mention Bush by name — in drafting his prayer for the inaugural event. In one prayer, titled “A Prayer for Barack Obama,” reproduced on Boston Globe religion reporter Michael Paulson’s Articles of Faith blog, Robinson wrote in part:
O God, we give you thanks for your child Barack, as he assumes the office of President of the United States.
Give him wisdom beyond his years, and inspire him with Lincoln’s reconciling leadership, FDR’s courageous boldness and vision, and JFK’s ability to enlist the best efforts of our people.
Give him a quiet heart, for our Ship of State needs a steady, calm captain for these times, not a fierce warrior who knee-jerk reacts to every real or perceived threat.
Give him stirring words, for we will need to be inspired and motivated to make the personal and common sacrifices necessary to facing the challenges ahead.
But while Hannity criticized Robinson for “partisan” remarks, he frequently hosted Falwell, founder of the conservative Moral Majority and frequent critic of Democrats and progressive positions. Falwell had a history of inflammatory statements about former President Bill and Secretary of State-designate Hillary Clinton. For example, Falwell publicized, co-financed, and distributed The Clinton Chronicles, a video that contained anti-Clinton allegations of drug trafficking and murder. On the October 22, 2003, episode of CNN’s Crossfire, Falwell said, “I think that we needed Bill Clinton, because we turned our backs on the lord and we needed a bad president to get our attention again.” Falwell also called Hillary Clinton “a bad person with a criminal mind,” and said during the lead-up to the Democratic presidential primary, “I think Hillary would be the worst thing that would ever happen to America.” Falwell also told the Associated Press, “I don’t think anybody doubts that the Republicans have a better record and a better commitment to national security than the Democrats do.”
Despite these and other partisan remarks by Falwell, Hannity devoted an entire broadcast of Hannity & Colmes to Falwell the day after his death, during which he referred to Falwell as “a very dear friend of mine” and said, “He may have misspoke once or twice. But he devoted his life, to his religion.” Before his death, Falwell was frequently a recipient of Hannity’s praise. On the January 24, 2007, broadcast, Hannity discussed filmmaker Alexandra Pelosi’s documentary about evangelical Christians with her and said, “I hope you also capture people like Franklin Graham and the Reverend Falwell. They spend millions of dollars a year to help people in a lot of very positive ways. Did you capture that?” Pelosi responded, “Listen to you. You’re just doing P.R. for them.” Also, during a discussion of children born into poverty on the July 2, 2006, edition of Hannity & Colmes, Hannity cited Falwell as an example of people who are “charitable” and said, “Jerry Falwell has a home for any girl who’s pregnant. He’ll send them to school. He’ll give them free health care if they have their baby.” Hannity also delivered the commencement address at Falwell’s Liberty University in May 2005.
As Media Matters for America noted, Hannity applied a double standard on the January 12 broadcast of his show when he said, “I don’t like the lyrics that refer to women as ‘B’s’ and ‘ho’s,’ and we’ve had many discussions about this,” despite the fact that he previously aired concert footage of rock musician and right-wing activist Ted Nugent calling Obama a “piece of shit” and referring to Hillary Clinton as a “worthless bitch.” After airing the clip, Hannity referred to Nugent as a “friend and frequent guest on the program.”
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