The shrieks, convulsions and sheets of flying spittle will be moving into high gear as the Christofascists get wind that Eric Fanning (pictured above), a gay man has been appointed Acting Secretary of the Air Force. With luck, Tony Perkins and his gay hating compatriots will have an aneurysm. An article in The Advocate looks at the appointment. Here are highlights:
Eric Fanning, undersecretary of the Air Force, became acting secretary of the branch Friday with the retirement of Michael Donley, making Fanning the highest-ranking LGBT person in the Department of Defense.
“President Obama is yet to nominate Donley’s replacement, so Fanning should be serving in the dual roles for a while,” notes BuzzFeed.
The interim assignment makes Fanning the civilian head of the Air Force. The Senate confirmed him as undersecretary in April. Before that, he had been deputy undersecretary and deputy chief management officer for the Navy since 2009.
While he is limited in the advocacy he can do in his job, he said he personally supports the adoption of an explicit policy barring anti-LGBT discrimination in the military, and he would like to see openly transgender people be able to serve. And he would like to see the Defense of Marriage Act struck down, as it stands in the way of many benefits for married same-sex military couples by preventing the federal government from recognizing their relationships.
“In some ways, DOMA, which I think is a terrible law, made the repeal of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ easier because it took some of the more emotional issues off the table,” he told the Blade, “but in terms of extending benefits, I think everyone who serves in uniform should have full access to legal benefits, and so DOMA is the main roadblock to that.”
Religious belief needs to be driven out of both the U.S. Military's policies and the civil laws. Christofascists in their ignorance and hate can believe what they want, but their views should have no place in public policy or the nation's laws.
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