Elaine Donnelly: The Face of Anti-LGBT Hate

If Bob Marshall wants to be the king of GOP crazy land, Elaine Donnelly (pictured above) wants to be its queen.  Like Marshall, Donnelly is utterly obsessed with gays and has made a cottage industry career out of seeking to keep gays out of the military.   Her vehicle for this effort has been the so-called Center for Military Readiness (CMR) which, like Bill Donohue's Catholic League, is basically a two person operation.  And other than a Reagan era window dressing appointment, Donnelly has zero experience in or with the U. S. military.  But a lack of any legitimate credentials never seems to deter the faux experts of the far right, especially those claiming to support "Christian values."  Think Progress has a profile of Donnelly who, like Bob Marshall, best belongs in a mental institution.  Here are some excerpts:

In 1993, as Congress considered whether to let President Bill Clinton keep his campaign promise to lift the military’s ban on gay, lesbian, and bisexual service members, Elaine Donnelly took to CNN to warn that doing so would cost the nation millions and destroy the U.S. Armed Forces. “We don’t feel that the soldiers who defend our country should be subjected to this kind of social experimentation. It’s not fair to them. It’s not good for our national defense. And I don’t think that the Congress is going to stand for it. The American people will not stand for it.”

Donnelly’s concern wasn’t just that non-heterosexual soldiers and sailors would distract their straight colleagues — but that they might bankrupt the national treasury. If gay, lesbian, and bisexual Americans were allowed to join, she explained, they would rush to join to receive the “quite generous” medical benefits offered: “If we apply that to those who are at high risk of AIDS — we already know there are 10,000 non-deployable soldiers and their cost of care is about $200,000 each. It’s a very high amount. We’re giving an incentive to apply what is available to heterosexuals to the homosexual population, and that really is an explosive idea.”

Though her dire predictions have proven consistently wrong and her fundraising has declined significantly, more than two decades later, Donnelly and her Center for Military Readiness (CMR) are still leading the fight for discrimination in the military — now working to preserve the military’s current ban on transgender service members.

Elaine Donnelly got her start as a deputy in the fight against equal legal treatment for women, as a culture warrior under anti-feminist legend Phyllis Schlafly. In the 1970s and 80s, she served as national media chair for Schlafly’s Stop E.R.A. campaign, fighting against ratification of the proposed Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. 

In 1984, Donnelly was appointed to the Reagan administration’s Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services and took part in the committee’s study on whether women should be allowed in some combat roles. Donnelly opposed the committee’s recommended expansion.

In 1993, with Schlafly’s support, Donnelly formed the Coalition for Military Readiness, soon after renamed the Center for Military Readiness. The stated mission of the tax-exempt “educational organization”: promoting “high standards and sound priorities in the making of military personnel policies,” and “defending elements of military culture that are essential for morale and readiness in the All-Volunteer Force.” Its advisory board included a who’s who of conservatives including anti-Islam activists Frank Gaffney and David Horowitz, affirmative action opponent Ward Connerly, Focus on the Family founder James Dobson, and National Review Institute president Kate Walsh O’Beirne. 

For most of this time, Donnelly was the sole employee, receiving an average salary of about $50,000 annually. In some years, a small amount of money was also paid to her husband, Terry Donnelly, for admin work; the group’s executive director Tommy Sears seemingly works without pay. In 2011, Terry Donnelly told the Huffington Post, “We just try to put together enough money for Elaine to do her research,” and that CMR is their sole source of income.

In practice, CMR has been most visible in its two losing battles — the effort to keep women out of combat and to keep LGBT people out of the military.  . . . . Donnelly and CMR not only opposed the “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” compromise from the beginning, they actively argued for a return to the days of outright prohibition.

In 2008, Donnelly traveled from her Livonia, Michigan home to Washington, DC, to address the U.S. House Armed Services Committee’s military personnel subcommittee. . . . . Raising the specter of having to allow “transgenders in the military,” “HIV positivity,” and of a “sexualized atmosphere in our Armed Forces,” she told the committee it should keep the current rule in place, but should also consider once again asking applicants their sexual orientation to avoid having to train people who are not eligible to be in the military.

The Washington Post’s Dana Milbank wrote that, “Inadvertently, Donnelly achieved the opposite of her intended effect,” and her comments “had the effect of increasing bipartisan sympathy for the cause.”

Predictably, with its signature issue [DADT] now gone, funding for CMR dropped in 2011 and 2012. Contributions and grants dropped to $128,877 and then $111,036 — and Donnelly’s salary fell first to $31,639 and then to $24,950. 

In need of a new message, the Center first moved to try to ensure the military not recognize same-sex relationships. . . . .  But this message too became largely moot last June when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional — meaning that same-sex marriages must be equally recognized by the military.
But it appears Donnelly and her Center have recently found one more battle to fight. While the 2010 Don’t Ask Don’t Tell repeal ended the ban on allowing gay, lesbian, and bisexual Americans to serve openly, it did not end the military’s ban on transgender service members.

Seizing on a similar issue to its old favorite, the Center for Military Readiness quickly moved to claim its traditional role of chief defender of exclusion. Donnelly has already hauled out the arguments she has used so often against gay, lesbian, and bisexual service members and women in combat — now arguing that transgender inclusion would cost too much and would make people uncomfortable.

One take away from the article is the question of why the GOP gives any recognition or credence to crackpot organization like Donnelly's and far too many other "ministries" and rackets that are ultimately merely vehicles for a few nutcases to make a living peddling hatred and discrimination.  Anyone other that tawdry political whores ought to run screaming the moment they hear Donnelly's name. 

Military Sexual Assault Scandal Grows, Second Sex-Assault Prevention Official Investigated

To listen to the Christofascists one would think that all sexual assaults and illicit sexual behavior is caused by us homos.   The U.S. military continues to underscore that the real problem is those nasty heterosexual males who seem to believe that they can behavior outrageously - and in a criminal manner - with impunity.  How else to explain the Army's investigation of a sergeant first class responsible for handling sexual-assault cases at Fort Hood, Texas, over allegations that he has engaged in abusive sexual contact and other related matters. Funny how we don't hear any outrage from professional gay haters like Elaine Donnelly or Tony Perkins when the sexual predators are straights.  The chart above highlights the magnitude of the problem.  The Washington Post looks at the growing scandal.  Here are highlights:

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Tuesday evening ordered the armed services to immediately “re-train, re-credential and re-screen” tens of thousands of military recruiters and sexual-assault prevention officers as the revelation of another sex-crime scandal rocked the Pentagon.

Hagel’s order came in response to the Army’s disclosure Tuesday that a sergeant first class responsible for handling sexual-assault cases at Fort Hood, Tex., had been placed under criminal investigation over allegations of abusive sexual contact and other related matters.

Investigators are also scrutinizing allegations that the sergeant may have forced a subordinate into prostitution, according to a U.S. official familiar with the case. 

The Army investigation comes just 10 days after a lieutenant colonel who led the Air Force’s sexual-assault prevention programs was arrested in Arlington County on charges that he groped and battered a woman in a parking lot.

Officials said the noncommissioned officer had been suspended from duties as an “equal-opportunity adviser” and sexual-harassment and assault prevention officer at Fort Hood, one of the Army’s biggest installations. The Pentagon did not disclose when the allegations first came to light or how many victims may have been involved.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), also a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said she would introduce legislation Thursday to change military law so that independent prosecutors, not commanders, would be responsible for handling sex crimes and other serious offenses. Military leaders have strenuously resisted such proposals.  “It is time to get serious and get to work reforming the military justice system that clearly isn’t working,” Gillibrand said.

The Washington Post reported Monday that military recruiters across the country have been caught in a string of sexual-assault scandals over the past year. The Pentagon, however, does not have a grasp on the extent of the problem because it does not track sex crimes committed by its personnel against civilians before they enlist.

Military officials said most victims are reluctant to press charges because they fear retaliation from their superiors or ostracism from their units, or that investigators won’t take their cases seriously.  Lawmakers and victim advocates also blame an unwillingness among many commanders to deal with the problem forthrightly.

Frankly, allowing the military to police itself on sexual assault matters is like leaving the Catholic Church hierarchy to police the ranks of the clergy against sexual abuse.  It just does not happen and the problem goes on unabated.    Gillibrand is correct that independent prosecutors need to take over sex crimes committed in the military.  Meanwhile, the silence of the Christofascists is deafening.

Head of Air Force Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Arrested for Sexual Assault

Prior to the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, the hate merchants of Family Research Council and the always lunatic Elaine Donnelly shrieked that open service by gays and lesbians would usher in all kinds of sexual assaults and destroy morale.  Of course, none of these dire predictions have come to pass.  But they were right about one thing - there is a huge problem of sexual assaults in the military.  And its principally the heterosexual males who are doing the assaulting.  And nothing underscores the problem more than the arrest of Lt. Col. Jeffrey Krusinski (pictured at right and still bearing marks from his would be victims defense of herself) who was charged with groping a woman in a northern Virginia parking lot on Sunday.  Krusinski is the - or more accurately, was - head of the Air Force's Sexual Assault Prevention and Response unit.  The Virginian Pilot looks at the debacle.  Here are highlights:

The sexual battery arrest of the Air Force officer who led the service's Sexual Assault Prevention and Response unit underscores how far the Defense Department has to go in addressing the plague of sexual crimes in the military, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee said Tuesday.

Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., told a committee hearing that a Pentagon report to be released later Tuesday reportedly estimates that, on average, there are more than 70 sexual assaults involving military personnel every day.

Authorities in Arlington County, Virginia, said Lt. Col. Jeffrey Krusinski was charged with groping a woman in a northern Virginia parking lot on Sunday. Krusinski was removed from his post in the sexual assault unit after the Air Force learned of his arrest. He started in the post in February.  "While under our legal system everyone is innocent until proven guilty, this arrest speaks volumes about the status and effectiveness of (the Defense) department's efforts to address the plague of sexual assaults in the military," Levin said.

The Pentagon report says that the number of sexual assaults reported by members of the military rose from 3,192 to 3,374 in 2012, while the department estimates that as many as 26,000 service members were assaulted, based on anonymous surveys, according to officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the report.

A police report said that the 41-year-old Krusinski was drunk and grabbed a woman's breast and buttocks. The woman fought him off and called police, the report said.

Two cases involving decisions by three-star generals to overturn guilty verdicts in sexual assault cases have outraged members of Congress and propelled a bipartisan push to change the military justice system to essentially strip commanding officers of their ability to reverse criminal convictions.

Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., is holding up the nomination of Air Force Lt. Gen. Susan Helms, tapped to serve as vice commander of the U.S. Space Command, until the Missouri Democrat gets more information about Helms' decision to overturn a jury conviction in a sexual assault case.

So far, not a word from Mr. Perkins or Ms. Donnelly.  I can only wonder who long before they somehow say these crimes and outrages are all the fault of gays.

Gay West Point Cadet Escorts His Boyfriend to Winter Formal

While hardly a major story in many ways, but as the Facebook page of Knights Out notes, the images above are a sign of progress:

This, ladies and gentleman, is progress at an Academy in which we can be proud. A member of the Academy's Spectrum group and his boyfriend at Yearling Winter Weekend last weekend.

The added enjoyment factor comes from knowing that the photos will drive vitriolic hate merchants like Elaine Donnelly and Tony Perkins absolutely berserk.  It is hard to believe the positive changes that have occurred.  When I was the age of the young men in the photos, being gay was still classified as a form of mental illness.  It does get getter, albeit not quickly enough.

West Point Chapel to Host First Gay Marriage

Get out the foul weather gear.  The spittle is going to be flying by the bucket full amongst the Christianists and professional bigot Christian set - and their political whores in the GOP will be similarly convulsing - as they get wind of the fact that the cadet chapel at West Point is going to be the scene of a same sex wedding.  The happy couple are Brenda Sue Fulton and Penelope Dara Gnesin and their wedding will be held today.  A story in USA Today looks at the coming nuptials which will be yet another example of the mainstreaming of same sex marriage despite the efforts and shrieks and howls of  far right religious extremists who seek to inflict their toxic religious beliefs on all Americans.  I can easily envision Elaine Donnelly writhing and convulsing on the floor in a pool of spittle in reaction to the story.  Here are story highlights:

The first same-sex marriage at the U.S. Military Academy's Cadet Chapel at West Point will be celebrated Saturday as Brenda Sue Fulton and Penelope Dara Gnesin exchange vows.  The ceremony comes a little more than a year after President Obama ended the military policy banning openly gay people from serving.

Fulton, a veteran and the communications director of an organization called Outserve — which represents actively serving gay, lesbian and bisexual military personnel — confirmed in an e-mail to USA TODAY Friday night: "We will be the first same sex couple to wed at the Cadet Chapel at West Point."

The wedding will be the second gay marriage West Point has hosted. The first was a small, private ceremony last weekend between two of Fulton's friends in a smaller venue on the campus.

In September 2011, the Pentagon issued guidance stating that "determinations regarding the use of DOD real property and facilities for private functions, including religious and other ceremonies, should be made on a sexual-orientation neutral basis, provided such use is not prohibited by applicable state and local laws."

Fulton, 53, said she is getting married at the academy because "West Point has been an important part of my life," but also because Gov. Chris Christie in her home state of New Jersey vetoed a gay marriage bill earlier this year. 

"We had always said that we wanted to get married in New Jersey," Fulton told USA Today, but "we didn't want to wait any longer," particularly because Gnesim, 52, is a breast cancer survivor and suffers from multiple sclerosis.

"It is wonderful for us to celebrate the recognition that New York state will give our marriage," Fulton said, but "there is also some regret that we can't get married in our home state."

Tony Perkins' Spittle Flecked Comments on Anniversary of DADT Repeal

Remember how the Christofascist whined and convulsed over the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell a year ago yesterday?  Remember all the dire predictions about the collapse of the U. S. military and how it was predicted that straight males would either leave the military or refuse to enlist in the first place?  Naturally, none of the predicted horrors have occurred so hate merchants like Tony Perkins and Elaine Donnelly who used DADT repeal to shake down the ignorant and simply minded are posturing to try to save face.  Now Perkins - a pathological liar and friend to white supremacists - is saying it will take 20+ years for the damage to make itself evident.  I guess he still needs some kind of shtick to keep the money flowing in.  Here's a sample of his batshitery and lies via Joe My God:

"Has America's military completely collapsed in the first year after repeal? Of course not--our service members are too professional to let that to happen. But these challenges are only a non-story because the media won't tell the story. We need only look at no-fault divorce in the 1970s to recognize that radical shifts in public policy take decades to fully manifest.

Let's hope the same isn't true for our brave men and women in uniform."  

A year ago, Perkins indeed was predicting an immediate collapse.   I guess those straight Southern boys enlisting in the military haven't found "teh Gay" to be so terrifying after all.  As Right Wing Watch reports some of the other usual gay-haters were more circumspect in their statements since the experience in the military has not matched their hysterical dire predictions of a little more than a year ago.  Here's a sampling:

On this day last year, the military certified the repeal of the discriminatory Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy after Congress overturned the policy. Religious Right activists warned that the military will suffer as a result, however, their ominous predictions failed to materialize as studies show that the new policy is working and benefiting the military.

Consequently, it wasn’t a surprise that anti-gay groups were largely quiet today on the anniversary as their warnings about an exodus of soldiers, a drop in enlistments and a return of the draft were clearly wrong.

Ron Crews of the Chaplains Alliance for Religious Liberty released a statement that the “radical sexual agenda in our military” is leading to significant “negative consequences,” citing one example of possible sexual harassment, same-sex ceremonies on bases and the supposed “silencing” of chaplains and DADT supporters

Focus on the Family’s political arm CitizenLink also said in a post quoting Crews and calling for Congress to pass a GOP-backed bill banning same-sex ceremonies on military property, which they said would preserve religious freedom by barring all chaplains from performing such ceremonies.

Peter Sprigg of the Family Research Council, who predicted an increase in rape if the policy was repealed, pivoted away from his group’s hysterical claims to instead focus on possible same-sex marriages in the military, a result of the “radical sexual and social agenda” pushed by “homosexual activists.” Sprigg also cited a survey from the Military Times, but didn’t mention that the same poll found negative views of the repeal among service members are declining.

He also dismissed claims that the military would have “completely collapsed in the first year after repeal” since “our service members are too professional to allow that to happen,” but FRC president Tony Perkins did in fact predict the reinstitution of the draft and that congressmen who voted for the repeal will have “blood on their hands

The truth is that these individuals and organizations are premeditated liars who have but one agenda: impose their religious beliefs on all Americans like some would be Christian Taliban.

Study on DADT Repeal: Openly Gay Service A Success

Remember all the shrieks and dire predictions from the Christianists before the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell?  Well, a new study shows that none of the horrors forecast by hate merchants like Elaine Donnelly and Tony Perkins have come to pass.  Instead, a new study shows that DADT repeal has not reduced military readiness and that the integration of openly gay and lesbian members of the military has proceeded more or less problem free.  A piece in the Huffington Post looks at the study's findings.  Here are highlights:

[A]llowing gays and lesbians to serve openly has not compromised military readiness.  .   .   .   .   co-authors include professors at the U.S. Military Academy, U.S. Naval Academy, U.S. Air Force Academy, and U.S. Marine Corps War College.

What did we find? The comments of a heterosexual Army Ranger who we interviewed sums up the story. He said that repealing DADT "didn't change anything... We've got a guy in the unit who is gay. We've been working together for years and everyone knew, but no one ever cared. For us it's all about whether or not you're good at your job... it's all about quiet professionalism, not about your sexual orientation." Even opponents of DADT repeal told the same story.

Only two service members, both chaplains, were identified as having left the military as a result of DADT repeal. A Pentagon spokesperson told us that she was not aware of a single episode of violence associated with repeal. Pentagon data show that recruitment and retention remained robust after repeal. Survey data also reveal that service-wide, the troops reported the same level of morale and readiness after repeal as they did prior to repeal. And our statistical experiment found that cohesion increased after repeal. Prior to repeal, experts predicted that disaster would follow from allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly. In light of those concerns, the evidence we found is striking.

Last month, the GOP added a provision to its platform that implies that some members of the party suspect that DADT repeal has not gone smoothly:  .   .   .   But if concerns remain about repeal's impact on combat effectiveness or the military's ability to pursue its mission, those concerns should finally be laid to rest.

Let's be candid.  DADT was NEVER about military readiness.  It was always about self-styled "godly Christians" writing discrimination into the nation's laws to punish LGBT individuals for refusing to conform to fear  and hate based Christianist religious beliefs.  Claims to the contrary - like largely everything else claimed by Christianists and their GOP puppets - simply lies.

America Now Has Its First Openly Gay General

Elaine Donnelly must be writhing and convulsing on the floor with a trail of spittle pooling next to her.  Why?  Because the U.S. Army now has an out lesbian general.  It's got to be more than the delusional Donnelly can cope with based on her past batshitery and obsession with her fantasies about threat of gay sex in the military.  The out general in question is Brigadier General Tammy Smith who is pictured above with her wife Tracey Hepner.  Here are highlights from Think Progress on the development:

Tammy Smith has been promoted to the rank of brigadier general in a private ceremony today, making her the first openly gay flag officer to come out while serving in the U.S. military. Less than a year after the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, Smith — who served in Afghanistan last year — is now the most senior openly gay public military figure.

Smith discussed her promotion with Stars and Stripes, focusing on the honor of the opportunity rather than her sexual orientation:

“All of those facts are irrelevant,” she said. “I don’t think I need to be focused on that. What is relevant is upholding Army values and the responsibility this carries.” [...]
Stars and Stripes interviewed Smith last summer before the “don’t ask, don’t tell” repeal was finalized. Speaking under a pseudonym, she said she had no plans to come out to her colleagues, but was looking forward to the relief of knowing that her career wouldn’t be threatened if she was found out.

“Finally my partner and I will be able to go out and have drinks together without worrying,” she said then.

Smith’s promotion marks an important milestone, and while the fight for equality continues, the future is bright for the LGBT military community: The Air Force Academy graduated its first openly gay cadets this past May. For her part, Smith has been extremely humble: “For me, the story is about the promotion and the opportunities it brings.”

Yesterday's San Diego Pride

One can only image the shrieking and flying spittle that must be enveloping Christofascist circles as a result of yesterday's San Diego Pride Parade where uniformed members of the U.S. military participated in the parade.  Elaine Donnelly must have nearly had an aneurysm.   And Bryan Fischer and Tony Perkins must be spraying spittle on all those around them.

Personally, it is wonderful to see these service members on parade.  It goes a long way toward dispelling the image of gays promoted by the "godly Christian" set: alcoholic, drug using freaks and sexual perverts.  Obviously, none of the service members pictured above fit that image and they participation in the parade underscores the truth.  Here are a few highlights from the San Diego Union-Tribune:

It’s been a momentous year for San Diego’s LGBT community.  City leaders renamed a street in honor of Harvey Milk. A large rainbow flag is now a permanent fixture flying above Hillcrest. 

This November, voters will have the opportunity to elect the city’s first openly gay mayor. And active-duty members of the military wore their uniforms for the first time in Saturday’s San Diego LGBT Pride Parade with the government’s blessing. 

The loudest cheers from the parade crowd of nearly 200,000 were reserved for them.  The U.S. military contingent included about 40 members — some active, some retired. As they assembled in the staging area, countless spectators took pictures of and with them. Most of the active-duty personnel said they were under orders not to give interviews although photos were fine.

 We are slowly and steadily winning the war for equality.  Expect the haters to become even more vile and vitriolic as they fight a rear guard action on a mindset headed for the trash heap of history.

 

Uniformed Military Service Members to March in San Diego Gay Pride Parade

OMG!  U. S. military troops are going to be allowed to march in uniform in thee San Diego Pride parade.  I'm sure that when she hears this news Elaine Donnelly will have to be rushed to the emergency room in a seizure like state with spittle running down her cheeks.  For newer readers, Elaine Donnelly is basically a one person show that parades around under the self-created title of President of the Center For Military Readiness claiming that openly gay service members will destroy the U. S. military.  As is the norm for conservative faux experts, Donnelly has absolute ZERO military service background herself yet pontificates as if she was a retired four star general.  In reality, she - like Maggie Gallagher and Tony Perkins - is a professional gay hater who will disseminate any and all kinds of lies to denigrate and marginalize LGBT Americans.   God forbid that the large public see gays and lesbians as loyal, patriotic Americans who look just like everyone else.  Oh, the horror!!!  Sadly, the Pentagon is saying that allowing uniformed troops in the Pride Parade will be a one time event.  Here are highlights from the Los Angeles Times:

 

Gay military personnel can wear their uniforms in San Diego's LGBT Pride Festival and parade, the Pentagon announced Thursday.

An announcement from the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense said that wearing their uniforms is permitted "provided service members participate in their personal capacity and ensure the adherence to miltary service standards of appearance and wear of the military uniform."

The decision marks the first time that gay personnel will be permitted to wear their uniforms in a gay parade.
Saturday's parade through the Hillcrest neighborhood is San Diego's first gay pride parade since the repeal of the "don't ask, don't tell" rule that prohibited gay military personnel from serving openly.

Dwayne Crenshaw, executive director of San Diego Pride, said the Pentagon's decision "is a giant leap in the right direction'' toward full equality for gays and lesbians in the military.

Military rules bar personnel from wearing their uniforms in any way that will "bring discredit" to the armed services or appears to take sides in a political issue.  The announcement ensures that all military personnel are covered by the same policy. Before the announcement, the decision was being made by individual commands.

As more service members serve openly in the Hampton Roads area I believe that it will do much to change minds and hearts among many local residents.  Yes, the Bible thumpers will have a cow as gays are more openly accepted in all walks of life, but hopefully their influence and numbers will dwindle.

Military Chaplains Cite Few Problems After DADT Repeal

Remember all of the shrieking and predictions of a mass exodus of members of the armed forces and the chaplain ranks if DADT was repealed?  Shrill hater like Elaine Donnelly and Tony Perkins and others went on and on ad nausea about how DADT repeal would cripple the military and deter meeting recruitment targets. So what has happened during the nine months since DADT repeal?  Absolutely nothing to support the claims of the gay haters.  That's right, nothing.  Yes, there have been a few chaplain retirements, but few have been linked to DADT repeal.  It would seem that the chaplains themselves, not to mention the ranks of the military, are not the religious zealots and bigots that the professional Christian set painted them to be.  The Virginian Pilot reports on the fact that DADT repeal continues to be a non-event outside the ranks of hate groups like Family Research Council and the worse Kool-Aid drinking elements of the GOP's Christofascist base.  Here are highlights:

WRIGHTSTOWN, N.J. - Col. Timothy Wagoner has been an Air Force chaplain for 20 years, serving a denomination — the Southern Baptists — that rejects same-sex relationships.  Yet here he was at the chapel he oversees, watching supportively as an airman and his male partner celebrated a civil union ceremony.  "I wouldn't miss it," Wagoner said at the McGuire Air Force Base chapel, days later. "I don't feel I'm compromising my beliefs ... I'm supporting the community."

Wagoner didn't officiate at the ceremony — he couldn't go quite that far. But his very presence at the gathering was a marker of how things have changed for active-duty clergy in the nine months since the "don't ask, don't tell" policy was repealed and gays could serve openly.

Prior to repeal, various conservative groups and individuals — including many conservative retired chaplains — warned that repeal would trigger an exodus of chaplains whose faiths consider homosexual activity to be sinful. In fact, there's been no significant exodus — perhaps two or three departures of active-duty chaplains linked to the repeal.
Moreover, chaplains or their civilian coordinators from a range of conservative faiths told The Associated Press they knew of virtually no serious problems thus far involving infringement of chaplains' religious freedom or rights of conscience.  "To say the dust has settled would be premature," said Air Force Col. Gary Linsky, a Roman Catholic priest who oversees 50 fellow chaplains in the Air Mobility Command. "But I've received no complaints from chaplains raising concerns that their ministries were in any way conflicted or constrained."

Wagoner would not have been willing to officiate at the June 23 civil union ceremony at the McGuire chapel, nor would his Catholic or Mormon colleagues. But he had no problem with another member of his team, Navy Chaplain Kay Reeb of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, doing so.

Reeb, who will be will leaving the Navy in a few weeks after 20 years as a chaplain, held a couple of pre-ceremony consultations with the couple — Tech. Sgt. Erwynn Umali and civilian Will Behrens — and was impressed by their commitment to one another.

On hand at the chapel were the couple's family and friends, several gay-rights activists, and Sgt. Elizabeth Garcia, the chaplain's assistant who handled logistical arrangements. And then there was Wagoner, whose denomination preaches that homosexuality is sinful and is "not a valid alternative lifestyle."  "As a Southern Baptist, why was I here? I was here to lend support," Wagoner said. "I was here supporting Airman Umali. I've worked with him. He's a comrade in arms."

He [Archbishop Timothy Broglio of the Archdiocese for the Military Services] concurred with the estimates that only a handful of chaplains have left the military because of the repeal. He said "two or three" Catholic chaplains had resigned their commissions in recent months, and guessed that repeal may have been a factor though they didn't cite that specifically.

Another conservative denomination with a large contingent of chaplains — 114 on active duty — is the Assemblies of God.  Scott McChrystal, a retired Army chaplain who oversees them, said the concerns that preceded repeal had not been borne out.

Bishop James Magness, the coordinator for about 75 active-duty and reserve Episcopal chaplains, said he'd heard a common, positive verdict about repeal from his more conservative Catholic, Mormon and Southern Baptist colleagues.

"The whole argument about religious liberty is so incredibly uninformed, and inflamed by some of the very conservative legal groups," Magness said. "In reality, there's been very little if any of the services forcing any ministerial activity on a chaplain against his or her will."

What likely frightens the gay haters the most is the real likelihood that as chaplains from conservative denominations become more familiar with gays and same sex couples,  they will change their perceptions on gay relationships and ultimately gay marriage.  Familiarity breeds not just tolerance but acceptance.  Nothing would hurt the bank accounts of hate groups more than having military chaplains counter their anti-gay message.

Adm. Mike Mullen to Headline SLDN Anniversary of DADT's End

Elaine Donnelly's and Tony Perkins' heads must be exploding at the news that retired Admiral Mike Mullen - former head of the Joints Chiefs - will be headlining the SLDN event celebrating the end of Don't Ask, Don't Tell.  To listen to Donnelly and Perkins one would think America is on the verge of collapse now that gays are allowed to serve openly in our military.  Never mind that much of the original founding and training of the nation's army traces back to a gay many who helped the United States win independence from Great Britain (a topic I will write more about soon on this blog and in a VEER Magazine column).  The reality is that none of the horrors that the Christofascists predicted have come to pass with the demise of DADT.  Indeed, the only thing that did happen was that the hate merchants like Perkins and Donnelly can no longer point to DADT as evidence that their anti-gay bigotry is justified.  Metro Weekly looks at the coming celebration and Admiral Mullen's role in it.  Here are some excerpts:

On Sept. 18, retired Admiral Mike Mullen, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will join Servicemembers Legal Defense Network aboard the USS Intrepid in New York City to mark the one-year anniversary of the end of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," the group is telling supporters today.

In an email being sent to supporters today, SLDN executive director Aubrey Sarvis wrote of the fundraising event, "This historic and emotional event presents a unique -- indeed, a once in a lifetime -- opportunity to reinforce the meaningful part that Admiral Mullen played in the DADT repeal process."

Mullen took the lead on making the case to Congress to repeal DADT, telling the Senate Armed Services Committee on Feb. 2, 2010, that he supported repeal -- and made a moral case for doing so.

"Speaking for myself and myself only, it is my personal belief that allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly would be the right thing to do," he told the committee. "No matter how I look at this issue, I cannot escape being troubled by the fact that we have in place a policy that forces young men and women to lie about who they are in order to defend their fellow citizens. For me, personally, it comes down to integrity: Theirs as individuals and ours as an institution."

Of the troops, Mullen added: "I also believe that the great young men and women of our military can and would accommodate such a change. I never underestimate their ability to adapt."

The event, which SLDN spokesman Zeke Stokes says will be a fundraiser for SLDN, will be the lead event of a week of events by the group to mark the anniversary.

Gay Marine Says "I Do" At Homecoming

I recently posted about the great pro-marriage equality ad from the United Kingdom that shows a gay soldier returning from deployment who has his boyfriend propose to him.  Now, life has imitated art and a real life Marine was greeted by a proposal from his boyfriend when returning to Camp Pendleton in California.  No doubt the Bible beaters are going to go into absolute convulsions once they see this image of love.  Here are highlights from the San Diego LGBT Weekly:

Balloons, signs, tears, and joy may not be unusual sights on military bases when family and friends await their returning veteran’s safe return home from a long deployment, but a wedding proposal by a boyfriend to his Marine boyfriend is. That’s what happened Tuesday at Camp Pendleton, when San Diego resident, Cory Huston, himself a Navy veteran once assigned to the Marines as a hospital corpsman asked Marine Avarice Guerrero to marry him. It is believed to be the first proposal of marriage and engagement between two gay men – not to mention two war vets – on a US military base.

April 24, under a bright Southern California sky at Camp Pendleton’s Camp Del Mar near Oceanside, Calif., a full two hours before his boyfriend’s return from the badlands of Afghanistan, Cory Huston waited nervously. Huston, who was discharged under the former Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy, chain smoked as he rehearsed the simple proposal he would deliver when Guerrero would arrive.

He told LGBT Weekly that by popping the question, and assuming Guerrero would say yes, he would not only be changing his and his beau’s lives forever, but also the landscape of marriage among gay servicemembers.

Finally, luggage in tow, Guerrero emerged with a smile on his face. Upon seeing Huston, Guerrero dropped his bags; aimed a kiss toward Huston’s lips; and opened his arms to his boyfriends waiting embrace. The time and distance of 10 months’ separation evaporated in a public show of affection that less than a year ago would have been cause for court martial. After a few minutes of emotional holding and kissing, Huston went anxiously down on one knee; looked up at Guerrero, who was dressed from head to toe in military fatigues; and produced an engagement ring and the time-honored phrase, “Will you marry me?”  Huston’s mild tremble, a result of hours and days of anticipation about this day, was quickly quieted by the one word every hopeful fiancé wants to hear: “Yes.”

Maggie Gallagher will likely wet herself as she is wracked with rage (ditto for Elaine Donnelly) while the spittle flying around Tony Perkins and Bryan Fischer will require full foul weather gear.Kudos to these guys.  I hope they have a long and happy marriage.

Quote Of The Day - Sgt. Brandon Morgan

Like the photo of a returning female sailor returning to port in Virginia Beach being kissed by her partner not so long ago, the photo of Sergeant Brandon Morgan kissing his partner (I posted about the homecoming recently) has become emblematic of the new U. S. military where gay and lesbians can proudly serve their country without hiding who they are and constantly fearing witch hunts and forced discharge. In this region with a huge military personnel presence, the repeal of DADT has been a wonderful development.

Brandon Morgan spoke with The Daily Beast and it is instructive that like so many of us in the LGBT community for a period of time he threw himself into religion in an effort to deny that God had made him gay. Having engaged in that pattern myself for roughly 37 years, I fully understand why so many of us try to deny our reality. I also know all too well the amount of wasted energy and hidden internal strife (and outright self-hatred) that such denial engenders. Here are some highlights from The Daily Beast interview:

When Marine Sgt. Brandon Morgan, 25, returned home to Hawaii on Feb. 22 from a deployment in Afghanistan, he found partner Dalan Wells, 38, waiting for him. When a friend snapped a photo of their welcome-home kiss and posted it online, it quickly went viral and has been viewed tens of thousands of times on blogs and Facebook. It has been interpreted as a sign of a more open military in the wake of the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell.” Sergeant Morgan tells Matthew DeLuca how the photo came to be.

I used to be a very, very fanatical Christian, not that there’s anything wrong with being a Christian, but my beliefs, my core beliefs, definitely have changed as I’ve grown up because of the way I live, the way I am. I joined the Marine Corps because I felt I wanted to be the voice of God in the Marine Corps.

I’m pretty sure people very close to me like my mother, my father, and my sister always knew that there was something different about me. I was always at the church, and had those values, had that idea that homosexuality was wrong according to the Christian faith.

Eventually, nature comes out.

I was married at one point to a woman, but that was a huge mistake, because looking through my faith beliefs I mistook a friendship and thought it was love, which it wasn’t. It took so many mistakes in my life to have the courage to know who I was.

Dalan works on the base and we actually met at the Single Marine and Sailor Program. I walked in and I saw him, and I have to say it was love at first sight. I’ve loved that man ever since I first saw him.

Dalan and I have known each other for four years, and we’ve been really good friends. He helped me through the divorce. As time went on and we were ramping up to deploy, I asked him out, as I knew who I was but couldn’t come out under the DOD policy [“don’t ask, don’t tell”]. He said no because there is a significant age difference.

Every email he sent me I would read a hundred times. Weeks just flew by and I couldn’t wait to get home, and I was like, “When I get home, I’m going to give him the best kiss I can think of.”

All my superiors are happy for me that I finally have a love, someone to be with, that I’m not always hanging out at the single Marine center on the weekend. I believe that the general consensus was that the military didn’t want this, but the people who say that can’t really speak on the behalf of my Marines. My Marines, my family, have welcomed me, they’ve been very happy for me. We’re a family. They care for me the way they always have.

I was a little worried, to be honest. I was afraid that some people’s views of me might change. But that was just my own personal misgiving, a fear I had to overcome. I should have had more faith in my Marines than that. I’m not always right, and I was very glad I was wrong about that.

No doubt this beautiful story of love and two souls finding each other will have Elaine Donnelly, Tony Perkins, Maggie Gallagher and similar hate merchants in convulsions with sheets of spittle flying across the room. But, love is love and who are we to presume that God, the creator, Allah, or whoever made a mistake when he/she made some of us gay and allowed us to find pure, sincere and unselfish love with some of the same sex? To me, it's those who question God's creation who are the blasphemers, not LGBT individuals.

Another Sign of Life After DADT Repel

A picture is is worth 1000 words - image from Towleroad. Somehow I suspect this photo would put Rick Santorum and Elaine Donnelly into spittle spewing convulsions.

How to Save Marriage: Religious Sex -Toy Sites

What makes a vibrator holy? That's a question investigated by an article The Daily Beast which demonstrates that someone there has a great sense of humor. The post looks at the growing market for sex toys via "religious" sex-toy shops online and is too funny. Sample sites are "Covenant Spice" which describes itself as "Christ honoring sex and romance site for couples," and "Intimacy of Eden" which promises to ignite passion and romance for a healthy, heavenly marriage." Apparently, the theory behind the products is that good sex will strengthen the marriages of the self-congratulatory pious set. After all, these "godly Christians" have been raised to view all things sexual as nasty and dirty. Even as they lust for it probably all the more - sort of the forbidden fruit is always more alluring type of thing.

However, don't hold your breath waiting for Catholic related online shops to spring up any time soon. Per the teachings of the bitter old men in dresses in Rome, sex is only for procreation (unless you're a priest raping an altar boy, of course) and if there's even a hint of pleasure and enjoyment involved, then a trip to the confessional is clearly in order. Maybe Maggie Gallagher and Elaine Donnelly should check out these sites so that they could losing their obsessions with gay sex. Here are some highlights from the post:

Sex and religion have long been perceived to be at odds, with carnal pleasures representing sin more than saintliness. Yet in recent years, a handful of savvy Christian, Jewish and Muslim entrepreneurs have embraced the notion that the two can coexist in a way that jibes with doctrine—and even glorifies traditional values by strengthening marriages.

Enter the religious sex-toy industry, which carefully markets and sells a range of sexual-pleasure products to the faithful. With the voice and disposition of a summer-camp director, Joy Wilson founded Book 22 a decade ago, when she had trouble “getting her body to respond” to her husband after their second child, and her online search for remedies yielded scandalous imagery that offended more than it helped. The pioneering site, named after the Biblical book also known as the Song of Solomon, now faces growing competition from rival vendors including Hooking Up Holy, Intimacy of Eden, and Covenant Spice.

And the industry grew exponentially this fall with the launch of the Orthodox Jewish shop Kosher Sex Toys, and last year with the Muslim vendor El Asira.

To be clear, the “religious people” targeted are married, heterosexual religious people; pious sex-toy vendors market their products exclusively to these couples. Unlucky in love and looking for some solitary fun after morning prayers? Look elsewhere.

The burgeoning niche, part of the roughly $15 billion sex-toy industry, reports that business has been steadily growing, with most sites shipping a few hundred orders per month. Clients usually find them through Google, say the owners, or a thoughtful religious leader or astute sex therapist.

To an outsider, visiting the religious sites feels a bit like listening to the bleeped-out version of an explicit hip-hop song: the substance is the same, it’s just missing the X-rated details. None of the sites feature any nudity, instead relying on mannequins to display lingerie. Nor do they feature any sexy language. Kosher Sex Toys, for example, rewrites product descriptions that risk shocking its audience. (The “Butterfly Clitoris Stimulator” becomes, simply, the “Vibrating Stimulator.”) And while they don’t flaunt their holiness, they’ll occasionally rely on religious messaging to sell themselves, or perhaps put potential customers at ease. Book 22, for example, promises to “enhance the intimate life of all God’s children.”

Despite consistencies across the religious sites, the vendors do vary based on doctrine, audience, and each owner’s preferences. Wilson refuses to sell anal devices and condoms, not because she objects, but because her customers do. “The Catholics protested the condoms, and the evangelical Christian community is sensitive about anal sex and play,” she said. “But I’ll special order anything if people ask.”

The homepage for El Asira, which means “The Society” in Arabic, is partitioned by gender, with two ornate mosque doors—and while it carries women's lingerie and a range of massage products, oils and lubricants sell best.

Meanwhile, Kosher Sex Toys’ Gavriel won’t stock male masturbatory aids because, he says, God frowns on wasted potential, according to the Torah. However, since Judaism doesn't prohibit female self-pleasure, he carries myriad trinkets that buzz. He also proudly sells whips and drip candles; performance-enhancing pills and sprays; clear-heeled shoes and thigh-high boots; and a variety of handcuffs, restraints, and tools for cutting them off.

Indeed, navigating ingrained religious beliefs, and misconceptions, about sex and pleasure poses a continuous challenge for site owners, who have either taken it upon themselves to advise clients or enlisted the help of experts. Wilson pursued a master's degree in counseling to better help her customers. And Kosher Sex Toys keeps the rabbi and sex therapist Ribner on call as a licensed authority on both sex and scripture. Because of a lack of proper sex education, Ribner said, religious couples often suffer from misguided advice.

Will Defenders of DADT Be Held Accountable for Their False Predictions?

In the run up to the repeal of the discriminatory - and purely religion derived - Don't Ask Don't Tell policy, the haters of the far right hyperventilated and foamed at the mouth over the supposed dire consequences that DADT repeal would inflict on the U. S. armed forces. A funny thing has happened, however. None of the dire predictions are materializing thus proving that the justifications for the policy were lies. Yep, outright lies. But then, lying seems to be one of the hallmarks of the self-anointed defenders of "family values." The truth always seems to be the first casualty with these folks whether it's their peddling of fraudulent "ex-gay" programs to claiming that gays in the military serving openly and proudly would destroy the military. A piece in Huffington Post written by Nathaniel Frank, author of "Unfriendly Fire: How the Gay Ban Undermines the Military and Weakens America", that I bookmarked last week asks the much needed question of whether those who peddled lies and untruths will be held accountable. Here are some highlights:

For years, defenders of anti-gay exclusion in the military have claimed that equal treatment was incompatible with a strong military. For nearly as many years, researchers pointed out that there was no evidence to support this claim that letting gays serve openly would harm cohesion, recruitment, or readiness, and that all the data actually showed the opposite: discrimination and dishonesty were what undermined the military; equal treatment strengthened respect for military law, helped expand the pool of qualified recruits, and removed an impetus for harassment and denigration that are anathema to good order and discipline.

This week . . . . marks three months since the new policy of open service went into effect. So how do we assess the change, and, equally important, now that it's behind us, does it even matter anymore?

in the U.S., fear and anxiety about change had swelled into full-blown paranoia. And this sentiment was being exploited and inflamed by political opportunists. There is even firsthand evidence that military and cultural leaders exaggerated the threat to unit cohesion throughout the debate over "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," in an effort to give credibility to what was, at bottom, simple prejudice.

This is why assessing the ultimate impact of ending "Don't Ask, Don' Tell" matters. And it matters enormously. Throughout our history, opponents of equal treatment have insisted that it would wreak havoc on society, indeed that it would cause such grave disruptions that equality was an unacceptable threat to civilization. This "disruption" theory was wielded against African Americans, immigrants, women, gays and lesbians, and transgender people, to name a few. It is perhaps the sharpest tool in the arsenal of people who refuse to rise above passions and prejudice . . .

For years, we heard that lifting the ban would undermine cohesion, spur a mass exodus of troops from service, hurt military families, and actually cost lives, that it would disrupt our defenses, weaken our country, and threaten civilization. Yet the ban ended three months ago, with little fanfare. Were all the naysayers wrong? Have any of them been held accountable? And will opponents of equality going forward get away with using the same "disruption" theory to convince policymakers to oppose full equality for LGBT and other Americans?

Because that's what they're trying. We hear that letting gay couples marry will disrupt the social fabric of American life, undermine marriage, kill a "culture of life," dry up the Western population, and threaten our civilization. If this is what was said about gay people serving openly (which it was), and if none of it happened, then the lesson is monumental: a culture of anxiety has become a politics of paranoia, which has pulled the wool over our collective eyes in service to maintaining an unjust status quo. Will we let it happen again and again and again? Will anyone be held accountable for steering us so terribly wrong?

The report, "Accountability and DADT," documents -- all in one place -- 60 of the main predictions of disruption that would allegedly result from openly gay service, and the names of the people who made them.

Below are excerpts of some of the most dire predictions. . . . . accountability is essential to justice -- past, present, and future. The next time you have a discussion about the costs and benefits of equal treatment, remember (whatever your position) what history shows: opponents of equality always claim it will disrupt society; almost always, it doesn't. If this holds true for ending DADT, will the naysayers have the courage to say, "I was wrong"?

Sample Predictions of Harm and Disruption Resulting from Openly Gay Military Service (from the new report, "Accountability and DADT"):

"[Lifting the ban] may even prove decisive to the viability of the all-volunteer force. That viability may, in turn, determine our ability to avoid in the years ahead -- as we have for the past four decades -- a return to conscription to meet our requirements for warriors in those conflicts." --Frank Gaffney, Jr., Center for Security Policy, 2011

"[Surveys suggest that if the ban is lifted, a minimum of] 24,000 current members of the armed forces might be lost over and above normal discharge attrition in a one-to-three year period... Because these personnel would be completing one or more terms of service, they would, in fact, represent a hemorrhage of mature, skilled losses from the professional ranks. This is an enormous risk to the viability of our armed forces." --General Carl Mundy, former Commandant of the Marine Corps, 2010, in a letter addressing Congress

"If the law is overturned and open homosexuals are welcomed into the military, the number of homosexuals in the armed forces can only increase -- leading to a corresponding increase in same-sex sexual assaults." --Peter Sprigg, Family Research Council, 2010

Read the full report here to see more of the lies and untruths put forward and the hate and fear merchants who made them. Here's one from the utterly insane Elaine Donnelly:

Lifting the ban would lead to “inappropriate passive/aggressive actions common in the homosexual community,” “forcible sodomy” and "exotic forms of sexual expression.” - Elaine Donnelly, Center for Military Readiness, 2008

Sign the Petition and Make Congress Call Out False Anti-Gay Testimony

Petitions by Change.org|Start a Petition »

I for one am beyond over watching Congress hold hearings on LGBT related issues only to see the talking heads of registered hate groups providing utterly fraudulent testimony based solely on extreme religious beliefs and/or discredited junk science - all typically without challenges or any serious questioning. Examples include anti - DADT doyenne Elaine Donnelly, self-enriching political whore Maggie Gallagher, self-loathing closet cases like Robert Knight and many others. Now, Change.org has started a petition to demand that Congress stop providing a platform to anti- LGBT bigots, liars and religious extremists. If you're willing to sign the petition - I've already signed it - do so by going here. As my blogger compatriot Alvin McEwen states:

In June of this year during a Congressional hearing on the Defense of Marriage Act, Sen. Al Franken exposed Focus on the Family’s Tom Minnery's attempt to inaccurately cite a study to defame same-sex households.

Earlier this year during another Congressional hearing on DOMA, National Organization for Marriage’s Maggie Gallagher committed the same distortion – i.e. inaccurately citing a study to defame same-sex households.

The Family Research Council was declared as an official anti-gay hate group last year by the Southern Poverty Law Center for its tendency to spread propaganda about the gay community such as gays molest children at a high level and same-sex households harm children.

However, the head of the Family Research Council - Tony Perkins - is frequently called as a Congressional witness on many occasions from discussing issues of gay equality to the selection of Supreme Court judges.

This false testimony needs to be stopped. Please consider signing the petition.

Elaine Donnelly's So-Called "Center for Military Readiness" Trashed in New Report

Elaine Donnelly (pictured at left) - who I mentioned in the previous post - is one who will hopefully be seeking a new line of work with the demise of DADT. A new piece on Huffington Post looks at the fraudulent nature of Donnelly's "Center for Military Readiness" which operates out of her home and provides both her and her husband a steady income from peddling hate and bigotry. Given the true nature of Donnelly's operation one can only wonder why the main stream media - not to mention members of Congress - ever gave this woman a shred of credibility. She's no better than a crazy aunt that one would like to keep hidden from the public eye. Worse yet, her supposed non-profit entity doesn't meet general standards for non-profits. Why on earth hasn't the IRS gone after the organization? It's all about enriching the Donnellys and disseminating lies and false information. It's a pattern seen over and over again with so-called "ministries" and "educational" groups run by Christianists. Here are some story highlights:
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WASHINGTON -- The leading opponent of repealing the Pentagon's "don't ask, don't tell" policy and a decades-long critic of expanded opportunities for military women runs a nonprofit organization that watchdog groups say has filed inaccurate and misleading reports to the IRS, lacks a credibly independent board and is operating uncomfortably close to the line that separates education from lobbying.
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The Center for Military Readiness (CMR), the tax-exempt nonprofit founded by Elaine Donnelly nearly 20 years ago, bills itself as "an independent non-partisan public policy organization that specializes in military personnel issues." But the "small think tank" headquartered out of Donnelly's suburban Detroit home and run day-to-day by her husband Terry is the single most influential conservative voice pushing back against social progress in the military.
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An examination of a decade's worth of CMR's 990 tax forms and interviews with several nonprofit experts reveal a mom-and-pop operation that has repeatedly failed to comply with standard rules required of 501(c)3 groups like CMR.
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CMR does not have a written conflict of interest policy, a whistle blower policy or an independent process to review compensation for the Donnellys and their executive director Tommy Sears, a former defense industry lobbyist based in Washington. The group also did not fill out a tax form required of nonprofit organizations that pay a family member in excess of $10,000. Donnelly's husband Terry earns more than that as CMR's administrator. Borochoff said the documents are routinely found in well-run nonprofits.
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n 2010, Donnelly earned $48,476 as CMR's president, a pay cut from the $55,674 and $54,035 she was paid in 2008 and 2009 respectively. Her husband Terry was paid $11,718 last year, better than 2009 when he made $9,812 but nearly three times less than the $31,248 he was paid in 2008. Last year, the couple claimed more than $28,000 for travel and home office expenses.
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CMR'S ability to influence far-reaching social debates is all the more remarkable considering the limits of its funding. It annually brings in around $250,000 in revenues from a network of like-minded conservative foundations. Though its website includes a page where supporters can contribute $25 to become a "member," the group has little or no revenue from membership dues in recent years. Terry Donnelly said CMR is "not a membership organization in the truest sense," though he claimed it has "well over 10,000" people on its email list.
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CMR, like similar organizations, is not required to publicly release its list of donors. A partial accounting by the liberal watchdog Media Matters reveals, unsurprisingly, that CMR's patrons include conservative and Christian groups such as Focus on the Family.
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Donnelly admits she may be out of step with the times. . . . She is already focused on "educating" lawmakers like Foxx to assure the Pentagon doesn't sidestep DOMA -- which the president this week vowed to help repeal -- and give married gay troops the same benefits as straight couples.
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It's time that the media and Congress recognize that Donnelly is pretty much a nutcase with no legitimate credentials who is funded by anti-gay organizations with one goal: denigrating and stigmatizing LGBT citizens. She deserves about the same credibility as a member of the Klu Klux Klan.

Military to Certify End of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Today

The Washington Post is reporting that the Pentagon will certify the end of Don't Ask, Don't Tell today thus setting the stage of the final end to this discriminatory policy that raised Christianist anti-gay bigotry to a national policy level. Expect more shrieking and screaming form the professional Christian hate groups as they lose one of their most special privileges and tools to depict LGBT citizens as inferior. With DADT headed for the trash heap of history some of the Christofascists - e.g., Elaine Donnelly - will be faced with the prospect of needing to find a real job as donations likely start to dwindle. In this region with its huge military presence I expect over time the number of "out" members of the LGBT community will rise as service members cease to be afraid to reveal their true selves. As that happens, I believe the trend towards openness will spread into the business world, including the many defense contractors located in Hampton Roads. Here are some highlights from the Post story:
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Top Pentagon leaders will say Friday that the military is ready to permit gay men and lesbians to serve openly in the military, allowing President Obama to formally end the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, according to a U.S. official and others familiar with the plans.
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In accordance with a law passed in December that set in motion the process of ending the ban, Obama first must receive notice from Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta and top uniformed brass that the military is prepared to end the policy before the government stops enforcing it. The policy will end 60 days after Obama formally certifies the repeal in writing to Congress.
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If Obama signs the certification in the coming days, the ban would end in late September.
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Obama met Wednesday at the White House with Panetta, who will be formally sworn in to his new job by Vice President Biden on Friday at the Pentagon. The White House isn't planning to formally mark the end of “don't ask, don’t tell” with any type of public event until the end of the 60-day period, sources said.
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Once the almost 18-year ban ends, gays and lesbians serving in military uniform will be able to publicly reveal their sexual identity without fear of dismissal or official rebuke, openly gay men and women will be able to enlist in the military, and gay couples may be allowed to wed at military chapels or live together on military bases in states that recognize same-sex marriages.
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As the Post goes on to report, the end of DADT will not end all legalized discrimination for LGBT service members because DOMA will continue to bar military spousal benefits for gay couples, including potential housing options and survivor benefits. Thus, Christianist bigotry will not be totally removed from the nations laws and the need to repeal DOMA will become more evident than ever. Nonetheless, the end of DADT is huge - especially for areas like Hampton Roads and other parts of Virginia where the military has a huge presence.