A Long Road Traveled
The last time I got as close to the White House as I did this week was many years ago—six years after the Stonewall riots, when I was a 13-year-old National Spelling Bee participant from St. Margaret’s School in Lowell, Mass. We spelling bee kids didn’t make it into the White House that day—we stood outside as first lady Betty Ford spoke to us from a balcony. By then I already knew I was gay. Raised in a staunch Catholic home and taught (and tormented) by nuns, I was certain that an open homosexual (that was the only term I knew back then) could never be allowed inside the White House. I knew nothing of the nascent gay-rights movement—it hadn’t reached Lowell in 1975. All I knew was that that whatever words there were to describe what I was, it would have to be suppressed forever. I assumed that I would have to either become a priest or figure out some other way to hide.
Thankfully, time marched on, and I eventually became a politicized college student rather than a candidate for the priesthood—and ultimately I kicked open my closet door and came out. But I can’t help thinking about that personal history as I replay the reel of yesterday’s visit to the White House in my head. As the executive director of SAGE, an advocacy group for LGBT senior citizens, I was invited, along with some 200 other LGBT leaders, to join the Obamas in commemorating gay pride—which falls this year on the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall riots.
I was accompanied by three SAGE members: a lesbian couple who are 86 and 91, who reminisced about voting for FDR and described Barack Obama as “the most inspiring politician since Adlai Stevenson,” and a Stonewall veteran and founder of the Gay Liberation Front, an activist group formed in the aftermath, who proudly chose his SAGE T shirt over the ties worn by every other man in the room.
Apart from celebrating, we had gone to the White House to make a point: that older people have to be included in the Obama agenda for LGBT progress. And we did what we came to do, with one of our members (the Stonewall vet) even receiving a personal meeting with the president and Mrs. Obama. But as I stood with my partner, in the front row, some five feet from the presidential podium, I realized how intensely personal this experience was for me. I thought about how each member of the SAGE contingent has had our own life’s journey—and each of us was moved deeply and differently by that moment.
See A Long Road Traveled Newsweek
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DOJ Will Not Appeal Veteran’s VictoryIn Transgender Discrimination Case
Signals Commitment By Obama Administration To Protect Transgender Workers From Discrimination
WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Department of Justice decided not to appeal a federal court ruling awarding transgender veteran Diane Schroer the maximum compensation for the discrimination she suffered after being refused a job with the Library of Congress. The deadline for seeking an appeal was June 30. The American Civil Liberties Union has represented Schroer in her case.
The Obama administration’s decision whether to appeal the final ruling in the case has been closely watched in part because the Bush administration defended the case so vigorously, arguing that transgender Americans are not protected by any existing federal laws. The decision not to appeal the verdict is consistent with the Obama administration’s campaign promises to protect transgender workers against discrimination and his administration’s recent order taking steps to bar gender identity discrimination in federal employment.
“I am grateful that the court took the time to examine the case in detail and come to a fair and unbiased decision. In that same light, I am gratified that the current administration saw this for what it was, a case of sex discrimination focused against transgender people, and recognized that it must end in this country,” said Schroer, an Army Special Forces veteran with 25 years service. “The important signal that the administration’s decision sends to all LGBT individuals gives me renewed hope and restores some of my shaken faith in what our country stands for.”
On April 29, 2009, a federal court awarded Schroer maximum damages of $491,190 for back pay, other financial losses and emotional pain and suffering after finding the Library illegally discriminated against Schroer because of her sex. At trial, Schroer testified that she had applied for a position with the Library of Congress as the senior terrorism research analyst and was offered the job. Prior to starting work, she took her future boss to lunch to explain that she was in the process of transitioning and wished to start work presenting as female. The following day, Schroer received a call from her future boss rescinding the offer, telling her that she wasn’t a “good fit” for the Library of Congress.
“We are pleased and relieved that the Obama administration has decided to bring an end not only to years of hard-fought litigation but also to a painful chapter of Ms. Schroer’s extraordinary life,” said Sharon McGowan, a staff attorney with the ACLU LGBT Project. “The administration’s decision not to challenge this important civil rights ruling is a welcome sign that it intends to live up to its commitment to help end transgender discrimination in the workplace.”
The ACLU filed the lawsuit against the Library of Congress on June 2, 2005, charging that the library unlawfully refused to hire Schroer in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits sex discrimination in the workplace. In an earlier ruling in this case, the court issued a groundbreaking opinion that discriminating against someone who transitions from living as one gender to another is sex discrimination under federal law. In reaching this decision, the court compared the discrimination faced by Schroer to religious-based discrimination, saying, “Imagine that an employee is fired because she converts from Christianity to Judaism. Imagine too that her employer testified that he harbors no bias toward either Christians or Jews but only ‘converts.’ That would be a clear case of discrimination ‘because of religion.’ No court would take seriously the notion that ‘converts’ are not covered by the statute.” The court also ruled that the library was guilty of sex stereotyping against Schroer because of its view that she failed to live up to traditional notions of what is male or female.
“This case put employers on notice that discrimination against transgender individuals is like any other form of discrimination – counterproductive and against our principles as a nation,” added Schroer. “But this case alone won’t end the rampant discrimination that transgender people face throughout the country. That’s why we need Congress to pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act that was introduced last week.”
In addition to McGowan, the legal team consisted of Ken Choe, Senior Staff Attorney for the ACLU LGBT Project, James Esseks, Litigation Director for the ACLU LGBT Project and Arthur Spitzer, Legal Director of the ACLU of the Nation’s Capital.
A copy of the decision, the complaint, a video, a bio and photographs of Diane Schroer are available at: http://www.aclu.org/lgbt/transgender/24969res20050602.html
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Federal gay marriage challenge has Hollywood style Reuters
The story of two famous U.S. lawyers from opposite ends of the political spectrum banding together to launch a bold and unexpected fight for gay marriage sounds like it could have been written in Hollywood.
In many ways, it is.
A handful of political filmmakers led by a Democratic consultant have crafted a gay rights challenge they hope will reach the U.S. Supreme Court.
The case which has its first hearing in a federal San Francisco court on July 2 could quickly make gay marriage a national right, or, some veteran gay rights advocates fear, cripple the movement.
The team has political experience, winning referenda in California in particular, and has brought together real-world firepower in the form of Ted Olson and David Boies, the lawyers who faced off in the 2000 election vote recount that led to George W. Bush’s presidency.
What sets them apart is the willingness to take on a court case that advocates steeped in the cause have avoided.
“Patience is a virtue I’ve quite frankly never possessed — if patience is a virtue,” said Chad Griffin, 35, who began his career in the political big leagues more than a decade ago as the youngest person to work on a president’s West Wing staff.
“History is on our side, law is on our side,” added Griffin, who is gay.
Rob Reiner, the “When Harry Met Sally” director and advocate for children’s health, and Bruce Cohen, the producer of “Milk,” a film about the first openly gay elected politician in California, are two of the six-member board of the American Foundation for Equal Rights, founded for the court challenge.
See Federal gay marriage challenge has Hollywood style
Reuters
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TSA refuses to hire HIV+ Air Force Vetr to scan luggage, ACLU to sues – wonder if Obama will at lteat fix this?
“I was looking for a way to be able to serve my country once again and to supplement my income through this financial crisis with the possibility of changing my career. But after a lengthy interview and screening process, I was told that I am incapable and unworthy because I have HIV,” said Michael Lamarre, who worked in intelligence for the National Security Administration while serving in the Air Force from 1984 to 1987. “I am a long term HIV survivor, and it has never interfered in my ability to work. As I have learned having lived with HIV for nearly 20 years, people with HIV need to be able to make a living and support themselves just like everyone else as well as have the right to serve their country.”
Lamarre has lived with HIV for 19 years. His viral load is nearly undetectable and he has never had any of the medical conditions associated with AIDS. Just last November he completed a 165 mile bike ride for charity in just 2 days.
Today the ACLU filed a complaint on Lamarre’s behalf with the Equal Employment Opportunity Counselor for the Eastern Region of the TSA charging that the TSA is in violation of its own policy barring discrimination against people with disabilities. A copy of TSA’s non-discrimination policy is available on their website at: http://www.tsa.gov/assets/pdf/civil_rights_policy.pdf. The complaint also charges that the refusal to hire Lamarre violated his equal protection guarantees. It asks the TSA to rescind Lamarre’s disqualification from employment.
“As we have known for quite a while now, people living with HIV can lead long and productive lives and can make significant contributions in all professions, including baggage screeners,” said Dr. Margaret Fischl, MD, director and principal investigator of the AIDS clinical research unit at the University of Miami. “A baggage screener with HIV would pose no risk to others and would be no more likely to become infected with a cold or virus than anyone else working in the airport.”
A copy of the complaint filed by the ACLU as well as the letter notifying Lamarre that he was being disqualified because he has HIV and the paperwork submitted by his doctor stating he is physically capable of performing the duties is available at http://www.aclu.org/hiv/discrim/39827res20090611.html.
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Gay men vie for East Bay House seat
Two gay men from Fairfield are vying for an East Bay congressional seat set to be vacated by Representative Ellen Tauscher (D-Walnut Creek), whose nomination to a key State Department post received bipartisan support from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee this week.
The full Senate is expected to confirm Tauscher prior to the July 4 holiday. A special election would then be held to fill her seat sometime in the fall.
Should either of the openly gay candidates secure her 10th District seat – and they both face obstacles in being elected – they would raise to four the number of out LGBT people serving in Congress.
Anthony Woods, 28, an African American Iraq war veteran, has gained the most notice, both nationally and locally. He has deftly used his being discharged from the military last December due to his sexual orientation to gain media attention as the debate over the Pentagon’s anti-gay “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy has heated up this spring.
But he is running as a Democrat and would need to best four opponents (so far) in the party’s primary for the special election. The top vote-getters among Democrats and Republicans would then advance to a runoff election, where independent candidates could also enter the race.
See Gay men vie for East Bay House seat
Bay Area Reporter
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Supreme Court Rejects Challenge To “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”
The Supreme Court on Monday agreed with the Obama administration and upheld Pentagon policy barring gays and lesbians from serving openly in the military.
The court said it will not hear an appeal from former Army Capt. James Pietrangelo II, who was dismissed under the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. The federal appeals court in Boston earlier threw out a lawsuit filed by Pietrangelo and 11 other veterans. He was the only member of that group who asked the high court to rule that the Clinton-era policy is unconstitutional.
During last year’s campaign, President Barack Obama indicated he supported the eventual repeal of the policy, but he has made no specific move to do so since taking office in January. Meanwhile, the White House has said it won’t stop gays and lesbians from being dismissed from the military.
In court papers, the administration said the appeals court ruled correctly in this case when it found that “don’t ask, don’t tell” is “rationally related to the government’s legitimate interest in military discipline and cohesion.”
Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman referred requests for comment to the Justice Department, but said the military policy “implements the law.”
“The law requires the (Defense) Department to separate from the armed services members who engage in or attempt to engage in homosexual acts; state they are homosexual or bisexual; or marry or attempt to marry a person of the same biological sex,” Whitman said in a statement.
A legal advocacy group vowed to press ahead with efforts to reverse the policy despite the legal setback.
“We don’t see that at all as bad news for repeal,” said Kevin Nix, spokesman for the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network. “What happened today puts the ball back into the court of Congress and the White House to repeal the law, and that’s where we think it should be right now.”
See Supreme Court Rejects Challenge To “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”
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How to Sell Marriage Equality
Last week, the gay-marriage movement in San Francisco sent volunteers to Fresno to start canvassing for the support of voters in more conservative parts of California. Here are some tips for how to win over people who live in conservative counties:
• Don’t start a conversation by saying, “Your God is a lie.”
• The connection between the persecution of gays and the situation in Palestine is not as clear as you think.
• Don’t refer to stuff you did at Burning Man.
• No one will be impressed by all the gay celebrities you can name.
• Try saying, “You have a very nice lawn” instead of “How do you live in this godforsaken hellhole?”
• “Christian” is not regarded as an insult in all parts of the country.
• Shouting “Fascist!” is not an appropriate way to say, “We’d like to count on your vote.”
• That hilarious story you tell about how stupid someone has to be to join the military isn’t funny to veterans.
• In many parts of California, citizens do not believe that you can judge a person by their carbon footprint.
• Try to keep the focus strictly on the right of gay people to love one another, instead of branching out into the need for legalized pot.
• Try to avoid mentioning astrology … even if you’re really, really sure that the guy with the American flag on his front lawn is a Libra and thus open-minded.
See How to Sell Marriage Equality
SF Weekly
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When asked, this gay soldier told
TUSTIN In a calm corner of his garage, a soldier rummages through reminders of the last ten years of his life. Silver coins. A Middle Eastern sash. An Army pistol. Only a few of the souvenirs in Dan Choi’s war chest will fit into his travel duffel.
As he packs, his mom walks in. She reaches around her son’s boulder-sized biceps for a hug.
“Are you staying for dinner?”
“I’m not sure.”
By nightfall, though, Choi will surely be gone. He’s getting out of Tustin, maybe for good.
Monumental change has unsettled the 28-year-old combat veteran and his family. In March, on national television, he said, “I am gay.”
That was news to a lot of people, including his bosses. And, the three short words thrust Choi into the limelight, booked his calendar with equal-rights rallies – and earned him a pink slip from the military.
But all the cameras and microphones that have trailed Choi since then have captured only part of the story. They haven’t been privy to his parents’ distress, his past anxieties or his newfound sense of liberation.
Thousands of other troops have gotten booted for outing themselves (or being outed) as gay or lesbian. But, like clockwork, most have disappeared from public view. Choi figures he will too at some point.
But he’s not going away now, and he’s not going away quietly.
HIGH SCHOOL LOWS
Over loudspeakers, he ranted.
It was 1998, and President Clinton was getting grilled by national media for his then-alleged affair with a 22-year-old intern. At Tustin High School, Choi, 17, took on the role of Clinton scold. He locked himself in a room and commandeered the public address system to decry the commander-in-chief’s weakness and offer what he saw as a cure-all: faith in Jesus Christ.
Choi’s sister, Grace, then a freshman, recalls her brother’s outburst as “surprising, but not embarrassing.”
Their dad, a Baptist minister who fought in the South Korean Army, helped raise his three kids to battle against injustice and sin. Years later, that duty to speak out would inspire Choi to talk about his sexuality – and throw a crimp in their father-son relationship.
“I always think of the story of a throng of people telling Christ to silence his disciples,” Choi says, adding: “And Christ said, ‘… if they keep quiet, the rocks will cry out.’”
But, in high school at least, Choi’s bold talk came with a cost. The acne-faced student body president lost his job as morning news announcer, and was forced into a sabbatical from student government.
Graduation cleaned his slate. Reinstated as president, the straight-A student gave a parting address to his peers. And, bound for the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, Choi left a rousing, two-page letter in the back of his own yearbook.
“Leave your kingdom,” he wrote to himself, “to be a lonely plebe down in the dump.”
STANDING UP
In a forest near the academy, Choi smeared earth-tone paint on his face and hunkered down with his rifle. Energy-sapping practice missions, he says, were key to his college experience.
On campus, Choi studied environmental engineering. Critically, he also began mastering Arabic.
And he held onto his faith. He led Bible studies in the dorms and recited the “Cadet Prayer” every Sunday with the West Point choir. “Make us to choose the harder right instead of the easier wrong,” he prayed, “and to never to be content with a half truth when the whole can be won.”
Still, Choi concealed a truth. Since fourth grade, he had begged God to take away his attraction to other males. In college, he says, he remained unwilling to “explore” his sexuality.
In 2003, the Iraq War kicked into gear. Choi, now clear-faced and brawny, was soon sent to serve in the Persian Gulf.
There, he says he “greased hands” with elder Muslim Sheikhs, patrolled the Triangle of Death and designed a reverse-osmosis water plant for Baghdad citizens. He also passed on his knowledge of Arabic, as a teacher to thousands of American troops.
Throughout it all, compelled by the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, Choi kept mum about his sexual preference.
His final wartime task, delivering backpacks full of cash to contractors, kept him awake at night. It was around the time of that mission, sleepless in the desert, that he started asking a tough question:
Do I really want to keep lying?
When his tour ended, he wanted to boomerang back to Iraq. But that dream was brought to a halt in March when, on behalf of scores of West Point alumni and active-duty servicemembers, he went public with his sexual orientation.
WAR IN PEACE
On his last afternoon in town, rice steams in the kitchen as, upstairs, Choi sorts through a box of Army accolades.
“Who knows? Maybe one day I’ll be one of those stodgy old veterans wearing all his stuff,” he says, laughing, clutching a handful of medals.
Proud but tired of the half-truth, the highly decorated soldier returned from Iraq in 2008 and ditched reenlistment. Instead, he became a platoon leader in the National Guard. Stationed in New York, he met someone, parked down the street and lived in his car to be close to his first boyfriend.
Then Choi came home to Tustin to come out to his mom and dad – 19 times in fact, to show he wasn’t bluffing. He handed his dad a copy of the book “Loving Someone Gay.” A few days later he discovered it unopened on the floor of his closet.
“They don’t accept it,” Choi says. “And I don’t think they will anytime soon.”
Neither will the military. After his first of several prime time TV appearances, Choi, the rare Arabic-speaking serviceman, received an ultimatum from his employer – accept discharge or stand trial.
His chances before a judge seem slim, based on the dismissal of 12,500 past soldiers.
But he believes the fortunes of an estimated 65,000 gay and lesbian members of the armed forced could be changed if Congress were to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” a move President Obama favors. So, Choi keeps talking to news anchors and shouting to crowds, which strains his home life – and, recently, compelled him to pack up and move.
“Silence is not a right,” Choi says.
“Silence is an unacceptable, inexcusable wrong.”
See When asked, this gay soldier told
OCRegister
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Gay rights advocates rip suit to undo Prop. 8
Gay rights advocates Wednesday blasted two veteran attorneys for filing a federal lawsuit seeking to overturn Proposition 8, California’s voter-approved same-sex marriage ban, saying the move is premature and could be disastrous for the marriage movement.
While they knew of the objections, attorneys Theodore B. Olson and David Boies – who opposed each other during the 2000 Bush v. Gore presidential election case – filed the suit Friday in San Francisco on behalf of two same-sex couples who wanted to be married but were denied because of Prop. 8.
The suit claims the voter-approved measure, which the California Supreme Court affirmed Tuesday, denies same-sex couples the basic liberties and equal protection under the law guaranteed by the 14th Amendment. It asks for a preliminary injunction against Prop. 8 until the case is decided.
Olson said he filed the case not only on behalf of his clients, who include Berkeley residents Kris Perry and Sandy Stier, but on behalf of gay couples elsewhere who want to get married but can’t.
“We can’t tell them to wait, what, five years” for their state to approve same-sex marriage, he said, but acknowledged that it could take two years for his case to reach the U.S. Supreme Court.
While Olson shares the same end goal as same-sex marriage advocates, he doesn’t share their political strategy – to win states individually, with ballot initiatives or laws approved by state legislatures. Several same-sex marriage advocates intend to put the issue to voters in November 2010.
Olson thinks both strategies can work simultaneously. But many gay legal advocates are urging same-sex couples to avoid filing federal lawsuits because federal courts have not been as friendly to gay rights issues See * Gay rights advocates rip suit to undo Prop. 8 San Francisco Chronicle Tags = gay men gay news lesbian news transgender bisexual
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Gay Groups Prepare For Prop. 8 Decision
Gay groups across the nation are preparing for Tuesday’s ruling by the California Supreme Court on the state’s controversial gay marriage ban, Proposition 8. The court announced Friday it would hand down its decision Tuesday morning at 10AM. Justices will rule on a lawsuit that seeks to invalidate the November results of a referendum that placed a gay marriage ban in the California Constitution. Proposition 8 effectively overturned the high court’s 4 to 3 decision that legalized gay marriage last May and put an end to the thousands of gay and lesbian marriages that took place during the June-to-November “summer of love” when gay marriage was legal. The court will also rule on the fate of 18,000 marriages. Gay marriage proponents began preparing for the decision in March, shortly after the court heard oral arguments. The largest event is being organized by veteran gay activists Robin Tyler and Andy Thayer. The Day of Decision is a large, multi-state demonstration scheduled to take place on Tuesday night, just hours after gay activists learn whether they will be celebrating or protesting the court’s decision. California activities connected to the event include: In San Francisco a prayer service at Grace Cathedral is scheduled for Monday at 7PM, while a blessing on Tuesday at St. Francis Lutheran Church begins at 8:30AM; On Tuesday in Los Angeles, a rally will take place outside the County Marriage License Office at 12AM and a rally and march begins at 7PM in the West Hollywood neighborhood; Activists will gather at 7PM Tuesday for a rally at the Palm Springs Courthouse; And San Diegans will rally Tuesday at 5PM at Balboa Park.
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