Troops question impact if gay ban is lifted

(Washington) Troops attending the first meeting of its kind on ending the ban on gays in the military said Tuesday they want to know what changes were in store for them if gays were allowed to serve openly.

Picked at random and assembled in the Pentagon auditorium, about 350 rank-and-file troops asked the leaders of a new working group whether bunking arrangements would change and if the spouses of gay personnel would be given military family benefits, among other issues.

The answers to those questions aren’t expected until the end of the year, when the working group releases its findings on the impact openly gay service might have on the force.

Officials say they will spend the next several months reaching out to troops and their families in focus groups and meetings like the Tuesday forum to determine what concerns they’ll have to address.

Attendees of the Tuesday session said that one female Marine stated that bunking with a lesbian would be the same as being told to share a room with a man. A soldier said he didn’t want to wade into the political debate and that he would follow orders.

Another service member asked if a gay service member who gets married – now forbidden under law – would receive military family benefits.

At one point, a moderator asked how many troops believed they have served with a gay person. About half the people in the audience raised their hands.

Attendees described the meeting on condition of anonymity because they said they were not authorized to speak publicly on the issue.

President Barack Obama has called on Congress to lift the ban. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has said a repeal of the 17-year-old “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy is inevitable. But he says he wants to do it in a way that would mitigate any risk to unit effectiveness.

Accordingly, Gates has assigned his chief legal counsel, Jeh Johnson, and Army Gen. Carter Ham to lead a working group on the subject. The results of their review are due Dec. 1.

One issue officials have been wrestling with is how to gauge the opinion of gay service members without forcing them to break the law by disclosing their sexual orientation.

Officials say it is likely that a third party will be hired to help survey the force and reach out to gay troops.

Troops question impact if gay ban is lifted

The answers to those questions aren’t expected until the end of the year, when the working group releases its findings on the impact openly gay service might have on the force.

Another service member asked if a gay service member who gets married – now forbidden under law – would receive military family benefits.

At one point, a moderator asked how many troops believed they have served with a gay person. About half the people in the audience raised their hands.

Attendees described the meeting on condition of anonymity because they said they were not authorized to speak publicly on the issue.

Accordingly, Gates has assigned his chief legal counsel, Jeh Johnson, and Army Gen. Carter Ham to lead a working group on the subject. The results of their review are due Dec. 1.

One issue officials have been wrestling with is how to gauge the opinion of gay service members without forcing them to break the law by disclosing their sexual orientation.

Officials say it is likely that a third party will be hired to help survey the force and reach out to gay troops.

Troops question impact if gay ban is lifted

The answers to those questions aren’t expected until the end of the year, when the working group releases its findings on the impact openly gay service might have on the force.

Another service member asked if a gay service member who gets married – now forbidden under law – would receive military family benefits.

At one point, a moderator asked how many troops believed they have served with a gay person. About half the people in the audience raised their hands.

Attendees described the meeting on condition of anonymity because they said they were not authorized to speak publicly on the issue.

Accordingly, Gates has assigned his chief legal counsel, Jeh Johnson, and Army Gen. Carter Ham to lead a working group on the subject. The results of their review are due Dec. 1.

One issue officials have been wrestling with is how to gauge the opinion of gay service members without forcing them to break the law by disclosing their sexual orientation.

Officials say it is likely that a third party will be hired to help survey the force and reach out to gay troops.

Obama picks MN woman as 1st openly gay US marshal

(Washington) President Barack Obama has nominated a Minnesota policewoman to become the first openly gay person to serve as a U.S. marshal.

Sharon Lubinski is an assistant chief in the Minneapolis Police Department, where she has worked for 20 years.

Obama has had a rocky relationship with gay activists, who want him …

Brits showing the way for American repeal of military ban?

The cover photo of an out soldier on the British army’s official magazine is a symbol of the success of the military’s nearly decade-long policy to allow openly gay personnel, according to this article. The British military reportedly has been advising its U.S. counterparts on a strategy to repeal its own gay ban. The Independent (London)

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The Gay Movement, After Marriage New York Observer -

On the night of June 26, two days before the gay pride parade would overtake Manhattan in honor of the 40th birthday of the Stonewall riots that are popularly imagined as the birth of the gay rights movement, a group numbering a couple of dozen mostly gay men and women found themselves crammed into the parlor floor of the West Village townhouse of John Connor, a former banker who lives with his companion, the designer Steven Gambrel.

It raged and stormed outside, while inside, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, the first openly gay person to win that office, thanked the group for coming.

They’d been summoned either because they had money or because they had influence in the “gay movement,” such as it is today, and the organizers of this affair needed their money and influence to stage a large national march for gay rights in Washington, D.C., this October.

The mood was intense, and hardly celebratory, despite the tremendous progress toward legalizing gay marriage in New York State that many of the attendees had been involved in.

“We want results,” Ms. Quinn said. “We want them now. We don’t want to be told any longer that we have to wait. ‘Cause look, in Albany? They said they couldn’t do marriage at the beginning of the session—that they had to get other business done first. And now it’s exploded in Albany. If they kept their promise from Day 1, we wouldn’t be where we are.”

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Southwark votes in first openly gay mayor

The first openly gay mayor of Southwark, south-east London, has been elected.
Councillor Jeff Hook, whose full title will be The Worshipful The Mayor of Southwark, will take on the role for the 2009-10 period with his civil partner as his official consort.
Speaking to PinkNews.co.uk, Mr Hook said that although he is the first openly gay mayor in Southwark, he is not the first in the UK. Robert Crossman who served as Mayor of Islington in 1986-7, is believed to hold that title.
Regarding the importance of public figures’ openness about their sexuality, he said: “I’d like a situation where it’s not an issue. A gay person can ride to the top as much as anyone else.”
Mr Hook, the representative for Rotherhithe, reportedly took on tough competition in the run-up to being elected. See Southwark votes in first openly gay mayor
PinkNews.co.uk

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Ellen DeGeneres proves a gay can win over America

Which celebrity would you feel most comfortable leaving your kids with?

Ellen DeGeneres and Portia De Rossi; Jennifer Aniston; Rachel Ray; Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt; or Oprah Winfrey?

If you answered “Ellen and Portia,” you agreed with the 10,000 mostly moms who participated in a recent survey on AOL’s “Parent Dish.”

Thirty-one percent picked the lesbian couple, followed by Aniston (22 percent), Ray (20 percent), “Angelina and Brad” (18 percent), and Winfrey (9 percent).

The perky comedian has captured America’s heart since her huge coming out at age 39 in 1997, including on her award-winning “Ellen” situation comedy and the cover of Time magazine.

Twelve years ago, Ellen’s move was gutsy, potentially career-crushing. Tennis legend Martina Navratilova says her own earlier coming out cost her millions of dollars in endorsements from companies skittish about having a lesbian advertise their products.

But, over these dozen years, Ellen, her gifts, her personal life and her bank account have blossomed.

After hosting the Emmys and the Grammys, Ellen in 2007 became the first out gay person to host the Academy Awards.

She has done ads for American Express and Advil, teamed up with One-a-Day multivitamins to urge women to get checked for breast cancer and, get this, is a Cover Girl.

Pop culture, I’m quick to admit, is my weak suit. So when I found myself shouting “No way!” at the delightful “Parent Dish” results, it was time to do a little TiVoing of Ellen’s daytime talk show: How has this wonder woman pulled off being so 100 percent gay, beloved and successful?

Three shows — and a lot of chuckles — later, I understand. Ellen creates an enchanting, playful land, where she, contestants and the audience embrace the basic goodness in themselves and others.

There are winners — and the also-winners. In one particularly funny contest, audience members Aimee and Pennylane donned huge, padded sumo wrestler outfits and had to answer goofy questions — “How many inches are in 12 inches?” — and waddle to grab a football to win a key that might start a $40,000 Ford Taurus.

When it became clear that Aimee had found her true calling, Ellen gave the last key to Pennylane. No foul was called by Aimee.

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Another possible first: An OPenly LGBT Supreme Court Justice?

Among the people whose names are being floated for the Supreme Court is Stanford Law Dean Kathleen Sullivan, a top constitutional scholar who has been active in gay rights battles in the Supreme Court, and who as the blog of the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund writes, would be the first openly gay person on the court.

The group Lambda Legal wrote Obama in January pressing the appointement of “‘out’ LGBT judges.”

Human Rights Campaign emails over a statement from its legal director, Lara Schwartz, that the group “looks forward to seeing more openly-LGBT people appointed to the federal courts and other positions” but that “what’s most important is a nominee must have a track record that demonstrates her or his ability to consider and decide cases fairly.”

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Grandfield teacher suspended for controversial play surrounding gay hate crime

Grandfield_A controversial play could cost Grandfield High School teacher Debra Taylor her job. She teaches the school’s Ethics and Street Law class, and says she was told by Superintendent Ed Turlington not to run a play titled “The Laramie Project.” The play is about a gay person who was murdered. After being forbidden to put on the play, Taylor held a mock funeral for the play in class so students could have closure. She says the mock funeral got her suspended.

7News spoke with Taylor, students, and parents on Thursday, but Turlington did not comment after our calls or emails. Taylor says she can’t comment either, but she hopes for a positive outcome.

The students say the superintendent didn’t think the subject matter of the play was appropriate for the community. Student Amber Squires says she doesn’t understand why her teacher was suspended. She says the class has covered other mature matters in the past, and that the matter must have been sensitive to school officials. “Our ethics class goes over stuff like that all the time,” she said. “Abortion, stem cells – this topic was very sensitive to our school or the school board.”

Amber says it wasn’t the sensitive subject matter that may have caused controversy. “They were trying to turn it into that we were promoting gay rights’ or something,” she said. Her mother agrees and wonders why Turlington waited until the students had worked for one month on the play before cancelling it. “He would know in advance what it was supposed to be about – that’s what I don’t understand about this whole thing is about,” said Elizabeth Squires.

Elizabeth says the entire thing may have been a misunderstanding from the beginning. She says the superintendent should have given it more thought. “He just took it the wrong way,” she said. “I don’t think he read the script, or knew what the story was really about.” Amber says she now is using her teachers own classroom lessons to defend her. “She always taught us to speak our minds and have our voices heard,” she said.

Amber says that the class has been turned into a reading class, and students have had to start the class over. She says they have had to learn a completely new curriculum. Turlington says the school board plans to meet next week to determine whether they will keep Taylor on as a teacher. He says he may be able to comment after that meeting.

See Grandfield teacher suspended for controversial play surrounding …

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