Forced into closet by nation they serve
Wednesday in Annapolis, the United States Naval Academy welcomed the most racially and ethnically diverse class in its history: 14 percent Hispanic, 10 percent African-American - and perhaps 2 percent to 3 percent homosexual. I added that last part. No one knows how many plebes are gay or lesbian, but studies have placed the percentage of homosexual men and women serving this nation’s military in that range, with some 65,000 said to be on active duty. It’s a fairly safe assumption that a small percentage of plebes will have to keep their sexuality a secret if they want to graduate from the academy and, after that, fulfill their obligations to the country.
That’s what “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” demands.
It forces men and women serving the nation to lie about their sexual orientation or risk discharge. An estimated 13,000 men and women have been discharged under Don’t Ask in the 16 years since the law took effect. The Servicemembers Legal Defense Network says 277 of the discharges have occurred since Barack Obama became president. As a candidate, Mr. Obama pledged to end Don’t Ask. Last week, the he reiterated his support for eventual repeal of the law by Congress.
Skip Muller was a midshipman at the Naval Academy at the start of the Don’t Ask era. Prior to entering the academy, he had studied Russian at the Defense Language Institute in California.
“As an 18-year-old I struggled to understand my own sexuality, while all around me I saw people actively targeted, investigated and ejected from the military because they were homosexual,” Mr. Mullen writes on the Web site of USNAOut, an organization of gay Naval Academy alumni. “I forced myself to date women and live the lie that consumed and exhausted me for years to come.”
After graduating from the academy in 1996, Mr. Muller served two tours aboard destroyers, the second cut short by honorable discharge under Don’t Ask. See
Forced into closet by nation they serve
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“Connecticut homosexual Legislators keep the real Catholic Church under fire” whine right wing bllogger
Two Connecticut homosexual Legislators have declared war on the real Catholic Church.
Senator Andrew McDonald and Representative Michael Lawlor, are behind this vicious movement.
They aim to destroy the real Catholic Church by dragging Connecticut into Obama’s growing Marxist conspiracy to kill the Church; the last large obstacle to their plans for a Marxist America worshiping at a government approved Church.
The Diocese of Bridgeport is being attacked and labeled “an unregistered lobbyist” because it’s fighting back against their proposed state law to strip real Catholic priests of their authority to run parishes. This attack is designed to drain Church resources and it is.
These attacks beg the question: who benefits?
Ed note: Perhaps thsoe in the Roman Catholic church who make a living by “fightingt” gay marriage, hiding behind the “church’s” tax exempt status while playing politics? See Connecticut homosexual Legislators keep the real Catholic Church under fire.
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Gay pride invitation goes sour Albany Times Union
ALBANY — A local woman whose vandalized Volkswagen launched her on a career as a gay activist welcomed nationwide as a speaker, often in conjunction with a documentary film she made about her experiences, will not be in the Capital Region for this weekend’s gay pride festival because of a dispute with event organizers.
The activist, Erin Davies, blames the Capital Pride Committee, a group of community volunteers and staffers of the Capital District Gay & Lesbian Community Council, for scuttling an Albany showing of her award-winning documentary, “Fagbug.”
Accepted at dozens of film festivals in the U.S. and abroad, the movie will be shown tonight, the date originally planned. But the screening has been moved from a 250-seat theater at the State Museum to the Photography Center of the Capital District in Troy, where it will be shown in a room that seats approximately 20.
“They tried to bribe and threaten me, but I wouldn’t let them and just found another place,” said Davies, 31. She alleges that anonymous members of the committee thought her $10 suggested ticket price for the museum screening was too high and vowed to remove the showing from Capital Pride listings unless she lowered it. Davies makes her living with paid speaking engagements and film screenings; the admission price was meant to offset some of the difference between what she normally receives for appearances and the $500 fee she had agreed to for the museum event, she said.
Organizers and other people involved in discussions with Davies dispute her account of what happened and characterize Davies as having a martyr complex that led her to exaggerate routine, if frustrating, negotiations into antagonism and personal attacks.
“We absolutely support (the screening). It’s always been one of our events,” said Nora Yates, executive director of the community council. The screening was included in printed calendars and is mentioned, with its new Troy location, on the community council’s Web site. Founded in 1970, the CDGLCC, believed to be the oldest such continuously operating group in the country, is the prime force behind the 11-day, 34-event Capital Pride 2009 observance that culminates with Sunday’s pride parade and festival in Washington Park.
See Gay pride invitation goes sour
Albany Times Union
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Women Inmates Segregated For “Looking Gay”
Virginia’s largest women’s prison rounded up inmates who had loose-fitting clothes, short hair or otherwise masculine looks and placed them in a separate cell block. That’s according to prisoners and corrections officers who talked to The Associated Press about the practice. They say dozens were moved in an attempt to split up relationships and curb illegal sexual activity at the 1,200-inmate Fluvanna Correctional Center for Women in Troy. Some straight women were sent to the wing strictly because of their appearance. Civil rights advocates called the moves unconstitutional punishment for “looking gay.” Fluvanna Warden Barbara Wheeler denied that any housing decisions were made based on looks or sexual orientation, and said doing so would be discriminatory. Inmates said life in the so-called “butch wing” or “locker room wing” wasn’t much different than other units. But both inmates and employees said the unit was locked down more often than others, and the women said they were verbally harassed by staff.
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Gay Marriage in California
To the Editor:
Re “Ruling Upholds California’s Ban on Gay Marriage” (front page, May 27):
How distressing to hear that Proposition 8 was upheld in California! For years, I have been asking what the downside of gay marriage is, and I have yet to hear a logical response.
Most often I hear that marriage between same-sex couples demeans or destroys the sanctity of marriage and/or family. I wonder, then, why we don’t ban divorce or unhappy marriages! It seems to me that a loving marriage between any two people does more to endorse and protect the sanctity of marriage than a joyless opposite-sex marriage.
There is no downside to a love-filled union. Gay or straight, marriage should be celebrated, not banned.
Laure Dunne
Norwalk, Conn., May 27, 2009 See Gay Marriage in California New York Times * Tags = gay men gay news lesbian news transgender bisexual
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Utah prime location for gay-rights movement
Salt Lake City » Valerie Larabee is a lesbian, out and living in Salt Lake City, where the shadow of the Mormon church can feel long and cold for people who are gay. “My friends who don’t live here think I’m nuts,” said Larabee, a former Air Force officer and financial planner, who moved to Utah in 1997 and now runs the Gay Pride Center on Salt Lake City’s west side. While much of the country moves in fits and starts toward greater acceptance of gay people and endorsement of equal rights, the politically active Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the often ultra-conservative Mormon-dominated Utah Legislature have found themselves squarely on the opposite side of that trend. In the U.S., gay marriage is legal in Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, and Vermont. Utah has made it illegal twice: Once in statute and again when voters banned the practice in the state constitution. Undaunted, activists say the current political and social climate in many ways make this “the best time” to be gay in Utah. The lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community — especially along the population-dense Wasatch Front — is growing and energized. “I think we are the frontline of the culture war,” said Troy Williams, a former Mormon and the gay host of “Radioactive,” a talk show on public radio. “This is where the fight is and this is where the really exciting stuff is happening.”
Utah prime location for gay-rights movement
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Zimbabwe Gay rights debate brews a storm, Anglican preist: Gays ‘had to be completely destroyed, ‘ we are ‘a Christian nation’
They, homosexuals, had to be completely destroyed,” he said.
“Poofters must know that we are a Christian nation,” said Tawanda Gumbo of Kuwadzana. “They chose to be gay.
Forget this nonsense about them being born gay.
If it is true that some people are born gay then we should see some animals that are attracted to the same sex as well.
The fact that there are no gay cattle, elephants, etc, shows it’s something that people choose to do, something that is not natural, something that is against God’s will.”
Stella Mugwengwe
See Zimbabwe Gay rights debate brews a storm on new Constitution
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Utah opposition to civil unions shows proponents of Prop 8 Lied - again
You may remember how proponents of Prop 8 claimed they were not against Civil Unions for queers - they only wanted to protect marriage from being destroyed, etc.
Well, over in Utah (home of The Mormon Church) we can now see the truth: far right conservatives and the Mormon Church are against any form of equality for LGBT people. Read on:
Attorney General Mark Shurtleff said Friday that Utah’s constitutional amendment banning gay marriage also prohibits civil unions, and that Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. is wrong when he says it’s open to interpretation from the courts. “When it comes to civil unions, it’s absolutely clear. There is no doubt,” Shurtleff said in an interview. “That’s in the Constitution.” Utah voters approved Amendment 3 to Utah’s Constitution in 2004, stating that marriage can only consist of a union between a man and a woman and that “No other domestic union, however denominated, may be recognized as a marriage or given the same or substantially equivalent legal effect.” On Thursday, Huntsman said that it is not clear that the Constitution bans civil unions. “I think that ultimately could be a court case and that might be adjudicated in court if it comes to that level,” Huntsman said during his monthly KUED news conference. “But [the amendment] wasn’t clear. That spoke to marriage and anything subordinate to marriage, I think, would probably be adjudicated in a court of law.” Shurtleff said that, based on the language of the amendment and the legislative intent and history, “they clearly were prohibiting civil unions.” On Friday, Shurtleff sent a Twitter message to 380 correspondents: “It is NOT a matter for the courts, the PEOPLE have spoken!”
Salt Lake Tribune - United States
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The Wingnut explains why conservatives fear gay marriage
The Wingnut explains why conservatives fear gay marriage
From his undisclosed location, our undercover conservative columnist answers one of your most pressing questions: Do right-wingers really think that legalizing gay marriage will destroy our social fabric?
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/04/wingnut-expla…
EQCA Executive Director Geoff Kors: “Prop. 8 destroys the fundamental principle of equal protection”
“By taking away a fundamental right from one group, Prop. 8 destroys the fundamental principle of equal protection – a principle codified in our Constitution and intended to protect minority groups from the oppression of the majority. Without the right to equal protection, every Californian risks discrimination at the ballot box.
“Equality California has sued on behalf of our members to invalidate Prop. 8. Today, our team of attorneys, led by the National Center for Lesbian Rights, Lambda Legal, and the ACLU, argued that Prop. 8 usurps the guarantee of equal protection and bypasses our legal safeguards. More than 300 leading civil rights organizations, legal scholars, and faith leaders submitted amicus briefs to the court, indicating their support of our argument. And this week, the state Assembly and state Senate passed resolutions stating their belief that Prop. 8 is an invalid revision to the Constitution.
“But victory in the courts is far from certain and no matter the outcome, the work to achieve acceptance and understanding must continue. Prop. 8 showed how much work there is left to be done and invalidating that discriminatory, unconstitutional amendment is just the beginning.
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Equality California (EQCA) is the largest statewide lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender-rights advocacy organization in California. In the past decade, EQCA has strategically moved California from a state with extremely limited legal protections for LGBT individuals to a state with some of the most comprehensive civil-rights protections in the nation. EQCA has passed over 50 pieces of legislation and continues to advance equality through legislative advocacy, public education and community empowerment. www.eqca.org
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