WATCH: Maddow Calls Out Obama On “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell”

Reacting to yesterday’s decision by the Supreme Court to not hear a case challenging the constitutionality of the military’s longstanding “don’t ask don’t tell” policy, Rachel Maddow featured a segment that broadly called the Obama administration’s oft-stated commitments to ending the practice into question.
Maddow points out that the case itself doesn’t hurt the cause of ending DADT. Advocates for a change in policy were of the mind that the Supreme Court challenge would not be a game-changer. Nevertheless, Maddow opined that the case was “a big deal” because for all of President Barack Obama’s past advocacy in support of ending DADT, he now has a lawyer of his very own arguing that the policy is “rationally related to the government’s legitimate interest in military discipline and cohesion.”
Which is, of course, ridiculous. All “don’t ask don’t tell” is, is a policy by which everyone pretends that the gay and lesbian soldiers that are already serving in the military aren’t really there, and that everything is okay provided that those gay and lesbian soldiers agree to participate in the Grand Shenanigan of Pollyanna Pretense. So, no, Mr, President. No, Mr. President’s lawyer. No. No. And, no. It simply cannot be said that “don’t ask don’t tell” is rationally related to a single blessed thing.

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Illinois gay union legislation stresses the civil aspect

Rev. Frank Senn of Evanston wouldn’t mind if Illinois became the sixth state to recognize same-sex civil unions as binding commitments in the eyes of the law.

But the Evangelical Lutheran pastor would object if his church became the next Protestant denomination to bless same-sex unions as binding commitments in the eyes of God.

“There’s a difference between what is ordered in civil society and what the church can do under the Gospel,” said the pastor, whose son married another man in California before same-sex marriages were banned by the Proposition 8 referendum in November. “I think civil society has its own authority to make whatever social accommodations that seem good to society. We can only act on the authority of the word of God.”

Both decisions hang in the balance. This weekend, Illinois legislators could vote on a bill that would legalize same-sex civil unions and give same-sex couples the same “basic rights” as married couples. See Illinois gay union legislation stresses the civil aspect Chicago Tribune * Tags = gay men gay news lesbian news transgender bisexual

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Gay marriage heat on NH Gov. Lynch

PORTSMOUTH — Proponents and opponents of New Hampshire’s gay marriage bill have been out in force, taking to the airways, telephone lines and streets with the goal of persuading Gov. John Lynch to act on their point of view.

The House is expected this week to vote on a reconciliation of its version and the Senate version of the gay marriage bill, which was passed last week. But both sides said they expect no surprises in the House, leaving Lynch — who has said he opposes gay marriage — at the center of their efforts.

New Hampshire Freedom to Marry Coalition sent volunteers out this past weekend to most of the major cities in the state, including Portsmouth, to gather signatures on a pro-marriage petition. Meanwhile, the National Organization for Marriage funded a $50,000 radio and television campaign aimed at persuading Lynch to remain strong to his commitments.

Mo Baxley, executive director of New Hampshire Freedom to Marry Coalition, said volunteers with petitions fanned out Saturday and Sunday to Concord, Portsmouth, Keene, Plymouth and Manchester. In Portsmouth, volunteers were in Market Square and will remain there during the lunch hour this week. On Sunday, they were in front of South Church, the Unitarian church, gathering signatures from congregants.

The petition urges “the state of New Hampshire to allow same-sex couples to share fully in the rights, responsibilities and commitment of civil marriage.”

Baxley said the group gathered about 1,500 signatures over the weekend, which will be sent to Lynch after the House vote Wednesday, and Lynch will receive additional petitions “in waves” as they come in. Moreover, she said, supporters are also inundating the governor’s phone lines, making upward of 300 calls a day since the legislation passed the Senate.

See Gay marriage heat on Lynch
Seacoastonline.com – Portsmouth,NH,USA

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White House Explains Changes to LGBT Commitments on Website

Yesterday, our reader Sean Chapin alerted me to the fact that a long list of commitments to LGBT issues on the White House site had shrunk to a fraction of its size. Joe.My.God reported on it as well. He received a letter from the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force‘s Director of Communications Inga Sarda-Sorensen who contacted the White House regarding the changes. Now see White House Explains Changes to LGBT Commitments on Website @ Towleroad

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Burundi urged to repeal law criminalizing homosexuality

Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International [advocacy websites] and 60 other groups on Friday urged the Burundian government [joint statement text; press release] to repeal a new law criminalizing homosexuality [JURIST news archive] in the country. The law was promulgated by President Pierre Nkurunziza [BBC profile] on April 22, and subjects those found guilty of engaging in a homosexual relationship to a fine or up to two years in prison, or both. The groups said that the law violates the Burundi Constitution, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights [texts] and would harm anti-AIDS efforts in the country:

We consider the law to violate the rights to privacy and freedom from discrimination protected by Burundi’s Constitution and enshrined in its international treaty commitments, notably the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We deeply regret that the Burundian government has made a decision that writes human rights violations into law.

We regret that the law will hamper Burundi’s attempts to fight AIDS, by further marginalizing an at-risk population.

We respectfully remind the Government of Burundi that according to the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, arrests on the basis of sexual orientation are, by definition, human rights violations. We will carefully monitor any arrests made on the basis of this law.

The law was passed [JURIST report] by the country’s National Assembly in November despite being rejected by the Burundi Senate the previous February. See Burundi urged to repeal law criminalizing homosexuality

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ENDA, end of military ban, DP benefits top Polis’ agenda

The Employment Nondiscrimination Act, lifting the military gay ban and providing domestic-partner benefits to federal employees are the chief first-term goals cited by U.S. Rep. Jared Polis, D-Colo. “We should absolutely be holding our elected officials, including President Obama, to their commitments to support those three pieces of legislation — and our elected members of the House and Senate to deliver on those,” he said. Dallas Voice