A Marine Silent No Longer on Gay Marriage

Discovery that one knows someone who is gay is often the most powerful force in causing one to rethink past prejudices and bigotry.  It's one of the reasons that being "out" and living your life honestly and openly is such a powerful tool to advance LGBT equality.  Yesterday, while I was stuck in a court hearing in Norfolk, the boyfriend was at a judicial retirement ceremony in Hampton for a friend retiring from the bench that included a "who's who" of the Hampton/Newport News legal community.  Later he remarked at dinner with friends at the country club (where we are always made to feel welcome) that he had been amazed at the number of congratulations he received at the judicial retirement party on our upcoming marriage.   Yes, it can be a little nerve wracking at times being "out" living in Virginia, but it does make a difference and it furthers the cause of equality for all.  A heartfelt op-ed in the Washington Post by a former Marine Corps sergeant underscores how knowing and respecting someone gay is not only an eye opener, but also a vehicle to change hearts and minds.  Here is the op-ed in full:

I slept with a gay man for six months in Afghanistan.  No one asked. He did not tell.

In 2005, I and 200 Marines in my squadron deployed to Afghanistan to support the global war on terrorism. We were stationed at Bagram air base, a deep bowl surrounded by snowcapped mountains, where it rained and snowed while the sun beamed, prompting one Marine to remark, “Welcome to Afghanistan, the only place on Earth where you get all four seasons and a rocket in the same day.”

We lived in “B-huts,” wooden houses with no internal structure, subdivided into “rooms” by flimsy plywood boards. Every moment was spent in close quarters: working in small offices, eating meals in the chow hall, sleeping in our racks, exercising. We saw each other at our best and our worst, shared secrets and fears, lost patience with and supported one another through the duration of deployment. 

Sgt. Santiago and I spoke often, if casually. He routinely had one of the highest physical fitness test scores in our unit and never missed a chance to go salsa dancing stateside with fellow Marines, including our senior enlisted Marine and his wife, whom he persuaded to join a few times. He also proudly displayed his Puerto Rican flag in his barracks. Nevertheless, he was a reserved man, quiet, private. I assumed these were inherent personality traits. I didn’t realize that he was hiding something.

I believed I knew the men in my B-hut better than I knew most of my friends at home, yet the man sleeping next door had a secret he dared not reveal for fear of being removed from active duty. It never crossed my mind that he was gay — or that I could have done so much more to be his friend.
●
Even as a kid, Andy was exceptionally affable, the kind of person who could talk to a trash can. He never met a stranger, and he unfailingly seemed to know where he was going. Andy was surrounded by a close group of friends, always together, always laughing. It’s fair to say everyone enjoyed being around him.
In our teens, Andy and I would go on mission trips around the country, helping to clean or build homes, with a little vacation Bible school on the side. Perhaps Andy knew then that he was gay — it seems likely — but he flirted with girls, same as the rest of us. If he did know, he kept it to himself, and I lived in ignorance about it.

It would be 20 years before Facebook told me what I didn’t know about my childhood friend. About the same time, Sgt. Santiago’s news broke through the same social network: Both men were engaged to be married. To men.

There was suddenly nothing I wanted more than make amends.
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No, I never gay-bashed. I didn’t bully, I didn’t hate, I didn’t torment.

But I did say “fag” to a fellow Marine in front of Sgt. Santiago. I did stay seated in the pew when my minister challenged, “Don’t let anyone tell you that this church is soft on homosexuality.” Silence is a most powerful consent.

I would think: Civil unions, what’s wrong with that? I considered myself “accepting” and “tolerant,” excusing the soft discrimination that’s easy to shrug off, the implicit inequality of separate but equal.
The irony was that I had always imagined that if I’d lived in the time of segregation and the civil rights movement, I would be the white Southerner who was proud to march with the NAACP — that I would tear down bigoted beliefs and demand equality for all, even putting myself at risk if need be.
But I didn’t do those things. I watched the fight right in front of me without question, inactive and accepting — just like the generations before me.

Well, no longer.
●
Andy and Sgt. Santiago both happen to live in New York now, and in a single visit I managed to apologize to and feel the weight of my embarrassment before each of them.

I blinked back tears as I spoke to Sgt. Santiago, who slept next door in Afghanistan, watching for my life as I watched for his:

“I’m sorry I let you down.”

To Andy, my childhood friend who still worships the same God as I do:
“Finding out you are gay has been instrumental in my supporting gay marriage. I’m sorry it took this long.”

And to both of them:

“I aim to do everything I can to make up for being late to the party.”

We don’t need to look backward for a chance to stand up for principles. Life isn’t about always being right — I was wrong for a long time — but about learning from mistakes and making amends. So I started with those conversations and writing about the effect these two men had on me, about how someone raised a Southern Baptist can love everyone equally and can advocate marriage equality.

If you’re reading this and you go to church every Sunday but you know that discrimination is wrong, or you’re serving overseas and worried that you or others in your squadron can’t be themselves, there is something you can do. Write. Speak out. Find the Andys and Sgt. Santiagos in your life and make amends. There is still time to be on the right side of history.

Has Cuccinelli Lied About His Departure From the Marine Corps?

I won't pretend that I cannot stand GOP gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli.  Personally, Cuccinelli - like Rick Santorum - strikes me as an overly strident closet case who (i) spews anti-gay propaganda in reaction to his own self-loathing and (ii) suffers from near hysteria over the fact that even fathering seven children hasn't turned him straight (I figured it out after having 3 children).  But Cuccinelli's disqualification for being Governor of Virginia involves much more than his closeted situation,  The man is a liar and an extremists who strikes me as Virginia's equivalent to Dick Cheney when it comes from megalomania and viewing himself above the law.  A case in point is Cuccinelli's apparent dishonest in respect to his discharge from the U. S. Marine Corps Reserves.  Here are highlights from the Virginian Pilot:

In 1993, Ken Cuccinelli entered the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves under a program to train future officers for a career as a military lawyer.

But two years later, he resigned his commission after serving just a few weeks on active duty – never having completed all of the training requirements he initially signed up for.  Since entering public life as a state senator more than a decade ago, Cuccinelli, now Virginia’s attorney general, has generally downplayed his short-lived military career.

Cuccinelli has said the U.S. Marine Corps discharged him because it had no use for him after he completed law school.

However, a document obtained by The Virginian-Pilot, which Cuccinelli’s Virginia Attorney General’s Office twice declined to release under open records requests, suggests the story may not be that simple.  In an email earlier this year, a Marine official advised a member of Cuccinelli’s staff that a campaign explanation about the premature end of his military career is inconsistent with its version of events, . . . . .

   . .. his response caught the attention of a Marine public affairs officer who recently told the attorney general’s office that while most of the statement is correct, “the second sentence may be technically accurate for the most part, but what it communicates is not.”

Anything Cuccinelli says needs to be verified.  The man is insane.  Something doesn't sound right in the context of his Marine Corps service such as it was.  But then again, maybe being a Marine was just another part of his effort to convince himself of his "manliness" and heterosexuality.   As I have said before, I continue to receive e-mails and post comments that claim Cuccinelli has played for the LGBT team in the past.  But to take him down and "out" him, I need someone willing to come forward and sign a shown affidavit and provide a corroborating storyline.  With that, I and blogger allies could make Cuccinelli's life very exciting.

Have America's Fool's Errands in Afghanistan and Iraq Made Us Less Safe?

This blog has long been a critic of America's fool's errands in Afghanistan and Iraq.  Both misadventures have helped bankrupt the nation and have thrown away thousands of American lives needlessly (for the record, I have a son-in-law still recovering from wounds suffered in Afghanistan over 5 months ago).  One need only check out any major newspaper on any given day to see stories of carnage, bombings, utter, and he was one of the lucky ones corruption and religious extremism continuing to occur if not thrive.  But as an op-ed in the Washington Post by a former Marine who served in Afghanistan notes, these wars of American hubris may well have made us less safe in the long run.  Here are op-ed highlights:

This past week, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev reportedly told investigators that he and his brother set off bombs near the finish line of the Boston Marathon in part because of their opposition to the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. As a Marine who fought in Afghanistan in 2008 and 2010, the news made me wonder: Had my war brought the horrors of battle home?

I deployed to Afghanistan believing my presence in that country would help stop attacks such as Boston’s from happening. But instead, my war has spilled over, striking the city where my 22-year-old brother goes to school and where my mom, until recently, felt perfectly safe eating lunch outdoors.

The Tsarnaev brothers aren’t the first alleged terrorists to cite U.S. military intervention in other countries as a reason for targeting civilians, and they won’t be the last. Despite our best efforts and valor, I wonder, have America’s wars made the homeland less safe? Sure, we’ve killed and captured thousands of radicals who wanted to harm Americans. But in doing so, have we created more?

It wasn’t always easy to justify serving in a war that has devolved from its initial aim of ousting the Taliban and al-Qaeda to a nation-building effort that appeared to have come 10 years too late. The conflict has dragged on for more than a decade, becoming increasingly unpopular after years of mixed results and no clear definition of victory.

Some of my best friends came home in flag-draped coffins, and no one ever convincingly explained to me why and what for. On a recent winter afternoon, after Afghan President Hamid Karzai delivered an upbeat speech at Georgetown on the future of Afghanistan, I had the chance to ask him what the sacrifice of my brothers-in-arms meant to him and his countrymen.

The answer I received was a diatribe. Karzai cited Sept. 11, 2001, and America’s global war on terror but never directly answered my question. I would have liked a “thank you” or a sentence with “greatly appreciated” in it. But there was not a hint of gratitude in his response.

While I was deployed, I went to bed at night believing that I was protecting the homeland because coming after me and my fellow Marines was a much easier commute for those so hell-bent on killing Americans. But that argument no longer makes sense if my war has inspired enemies at home.

The brother who stands accused of packing pressure cookers with low-grade explosives and ball bearings is an American citizen. My own countryman was apparently responsible for filling my mom with deep hatred, for killing an 8-year-old boy and three others, for attacking my home town.

But my war failed to help those people at the finish line. As those bombs exploded, my war came home.

Sadly, I agree with the author.  Given the hundreds of thousands of innocent people who have died because of these wars, often through deliberate action as well as gross negligence by American military personnel, I suspect that we have created thousands more jihadist.  And some of them are right here in America.  These wars were caused by hubris and greed and those who took America to war based on lies remain unpunished.  Their innocent victims are both here in America and in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Marine Corps to Spouse Clubs: Admit Same-Sex Spouses

In somewhat of a surprising move, the U. S. Marine Corps has directed spouses clubs operating on its installations must either admit same-sex spouses or move off Marine Corps bases.  So far, none of the other branches of the U.S. military have taken such a direct and uncompromising position.  The Marine Corps ultimatum comes in the wake of the ongoing controversy within the Army's Fort Bragg Base in North Carolina where the officers' spouses club  denied admission to a same-sex spouse.  As readers may recall, before the repeal of DADT, the Marines were among the most vocal supporters of DADT.  Here are highlights from Federal News Radio:

The Marine Corps has advised its legal staff that spouses clubs operating on its installations must admit same-sex spouses if they wish to remain on the bases.  It's a step that the other service branches have not yet announced as they grapple with how to accommodate same-sex couples following repeal of the don't ask, don't tell policy that barred gays and lesbians from serving openly.

Underscoring the challenges, the Marines' legal advisory - obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press - refers to an ongoing controversy at the Army's Fort Bragg in North Carolina where the officers' spouses club has denied admission to a same-sex spouse.

The Marine Corps commandant's Staff Judge Advocate, in an e-mail to legal offices throughout the corps, said the Fort Bragg events had "caused quite a stir" and cautioned, "We do not want a story like this developing in our backyard."

The memo noted that spouses clubs and various other private institutions are allowed to operate on bases only if they adhere to a non-discrimination policy encompassing race, religion, gender, age, disability and national origin.  "We would interpret a spouses club's decision to exclude a same-sex spouse as sexual discrimination because the exclusion was based upon the spouse's sex," the memo said.

A Marine Corps spokesman, Capt. Eric Flanagan, said the Marines cannot directly control the actions of independent organizations such as spouses' clubs, but added, "We expect that all who are interested in supporting Marine Corps Family Readiness would be welcome to participate and will be treated with dignity and respect."

The Defense Department has not issued similar guidance covering all service branches, and for now is taking the stance that the Fort Bragg spouses club is conforming with the existing rules because the non-discrimination clause does not extend to sexual orientation.

I can just hear the shrieks and imagine the flying spittle among the professional Christian and Christofacscist organizations.  Nothing gives them more joy or buoys their self-congratulatory piety more than bashing gays and the less fortunate.

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.

Anti-gay Bigotry Alive and Well in Hampton Roads

While many have applauded the photo of Marine Sgt. Brandon Morgan kissing his partner Dalan Wells upon Morgan's return from a deployment to Afghanistan, the knuckle dragging Neanderthals and Bible beating Christofascists in Hampton Roads reacting to a story in the Virginian Pilot have demonstrated why the region remains a cultural and economic backwater that is non-appealing to progressive and innovative businesses. From the comments, it's obvious that many of those leaving homophobic comments (i) want special rights from far right Christianists and (ii) hold open hostility to some of the concepts enshrined in the nation's founding documents. Concepts such as this one:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

Thankfully, the majority of the comments are supportive of Morgan and Wells, so perhaps there's hope for the region as the nasty bigots die off. Here's a sampling of the mindset that shows that Hampton Roads is still a bigoted backwater:

I cant wait until we see the serviceman kissing his sheep or blow up doll on the pier without discrimination.

Thank goodness he wasn't waering lipstick and carrying a purse. Semper Fi?????????????????????

Absolutely disgusting

Yep, these are the same folks who probably voted for members of the Virginia GOP who support invasive vaginal ultrasounds for women, want to buy unlimited numbers of guns, and view women as chattel. They probably go to church on Sundays too and congratulate themselves on their godliness. Here are highlights from the story that prompted the homophobic batshitery:

[L]ast weekend a friend posted a photo of their embrace on the Gay Marines page on Facebook. Morgan, in desert camouflage, is seen wrapping his legs around Dalan Wells' legs. A large American flag, draped floor to ceiling inside an aircraft hangar at a Marine base in Hawaii, is in the background.

Photos of exuberant servicemen and homecomings aren't new. But this one, taken some five months after the repeal of the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy prohibiting gay servicemen from openly acknowledging their sexuality, is among the first showing a gay active duty serviceman in uniform kissing his partner at a homecoming.

More than 40,000 people have clicked the "like" button for the photo on Facebook, and thousands have shared it with their friends on several social media sites. Journalists are inundating Morgan with interview requests, and supporters from as far away as Italy are flooding his inbox with messages of thanks and encouragement.

Many of the more than 10,000 comments on the Gay Marine page's posting of the photo page celebrated the image. Luis Perez wrote "Best to you and your loved ones. You inspire so many people with your bravery, including this wonderful homecoming."

Few disparaged Morgan for kissing a man. The critical comments generally questioned the appropriateness of a Marine in uniform wrapping his legs around a partner.

Feedback from fellow Marines has been positive too, Morgan said, though he has some regret for jumping on Wells. He called that "excess amount of public display of affection." His superiors have talked to him about it, he said, and he agrees he went a little too far. The Marines have rules, even at homecomings, Morgan said.

Meanwhile, via the Seattle Post-Intelligencer here's a photo from the homecoming of the aircraft carrier USS Stennis on Friday, March 2, 2012 in Bremerton, Washington, as the USS Stennis returned to home port after a seven-month deployment in which the aircraft carrier launched the last Navy air mission over Iraq and more than 1,000 flights over Afghanistan.

The Neanderthals need to crawl back into their caves and under the rocks where they belong. Like it or not, the world and society are moving on.

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.

Marine Commandant Embraces DADT Repeal

As some will recall, I was not what would be described as a fan of Marine Commandant General James Amos who prior to passage of DADT repeal legislation made a number of homophobic anti-gay comments. Now, with the DADT repeal accomplished, Amos seems to be setting an example of moving on and supporting the new legal reality of open service by gay and lesbian service members. Now Amos has even indicated that he'd be welcoming to a gay couple showing up at the Marine Ball as noted in the above video. It's quite a remarkable change of course. Think Progress has details on Amos' new perspective. Here are highlights:

Marine Commandant Gen. James Amos — who strongly opposed the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell last year — told NPR’s Morning Edition yesterday that he is “very proud” of how the Marines have handled the repeal of the policy last month. “I’m very pleased now,” Amos said and explained that his previous statements in support of the ban were expressing the hesitancy for change within the Marine Corps.

Amos also came out in support of gay Marines bringing their same-sex partners to the Marine Corps Ball:

NPR: How comfortable are you with the idea of a gay couple showing up?

AMOS: I’m fine with it. I’m fine with it. I expect it to happen, I expect it to happen across the Marine Corps. And I mean, that’s part of the repeal of Don’t Ask, Dont’ Tell. I mean, that’s part of it. You can’t go half way. You can’t say we’re going to repeal it and you now can become public, but I’m going to restrict your behavior. We’re not going to do business that way.

Hopefully other senior military officers will wake up and accept that it is a new day for the U.S. military and that religious based bigotry and discrimination have no place in the ranks. Indeed, those who seek to maintain bigotry and discrimination be they chaplains or otherwise need to be discharged.

A Marine Continues to Fight to Defend the Constitution

While the Christianists love to wrap themselves in religion and the American flag, in truth their true goal is to subvert the United States Constitution for which the nation's flag is but an emblem. The Christianist goal - as frequently voiced by Bryan Fisher and other Christianist hate group talking heads - is nothing less than to either over throw the U.S. Constitution completely and impose a Christianist theocracy or at a minimum strip constitutional protections from all but the Christianists and their like minded religious extremists. Despite these Christianist goals, elected officials sworn to uphold the Constitution (and those like Mitt Romney seeking elected office) grovel before and prostitute themselves to those who in reality are traitors to the nation - my local member of Congress, Scott Rigell is, in my opinion, one such prostitute/traitor.

For me, it is sickening to watch. But not all of those who have sworn to defend and uphold the U.S. Constitution are willing to throw their sworn oaths on the dung heap and pander to the Christianist agenda. One such individual is Craig Stowell, a former Marine, who wrote and op-ed to the New Hampshire Union Leader opposing GOP/Christianist efforts to repeal New Hampshire's same sex marriage law. An image of Stowell's article is set out above (click on it to enlarge it). He definitely gets it right when he says no real conservative believes in managing the personal lives of law abiding citizens. No, it is only false conservatives and religious extremists who want to police the bedrooms of tax paying citizens and inflict their own seriously mentally disturbed beliefs on all citizens.

Byran Fischer rants about Mormons and Muslims not being allowed to hold public office or enjoy constitutional rights. Fischer has it backwards. If anyone should face such limitations - and I don't advocate this - its the Christianists and those who put personal religious beliefs above the U.S. Constitution and the equal rights of other citizens.

Marines Hit the Ground Running in Seeking Gay Recruits

The U.S. military did much to hasten the acceptance of black Americans when the military was integrated under Harry Truman. True, bigotry still exists, especially in the South, but familiarity with those who are perceived as different is the best way to end stereotypes and falsehoods spread by bigots and hate merchants such as the professional Christian set. With the end of Don't Ask, Don't Tell on Tuesday, it's remarkable that the U.S. Marine Corps is already out actively seeking to recruit gay citizens. Elaine Donnelly must be convulsing on the floor after wetting herself at this news! And I can just imagine the spittle flying from Tony Perkins' lips! The only bizarre aspect of the Marine Corps effort is that Tulsa, Oklahoma was chosen to launch the initiative. Here are some highlights from the New York Times:

[O]ne of the strangest days in the history of the United States Marine Corps unfolded without the protests and insults that Sergeant Henry had feared. Sergeant Henry, who had been invited to set up a recruiting booth on the first day of the end of “don’t ask, don’t tell” at the Dennis R. Neill Equality Center in downtown Tulsa, instead spent it in quiet conversation with a trickle of gay women who came in to ask about joining the Marines.

“It’s your business and you don’t have to share it,” Sergeant Henry told Ariel Pratt, 20, who asked whether she would face discrimination in the military as a lesbian serving openly. “But you’re also free to be at the mall with your girlfriend.”

The Marines were the service most opposed to ending the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, but they were the only one of five invited branches of the military to turn up with their recruiting table and chin-up bar at the center Tuesday morning. Although Marines pride themselves on being the most testosterone-fueled of the services, they also ferociously promote their view of themselves as the best. With the law now changed, the Marines appear determined to prove that they will be better than the Army, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard in recruiting gay, lesbian and bisexual service members.

The Marines were at the gay rights center at the invitation of Toby Jenkins, the center’s executive director, who said he saw no better way to celebrate the end of “don’t ask, don’t tell” in a conservative state that strongly supports the military.

The Marines did in fact think that Mr. Jenkins’s invitation might be a hoax, so they checked him out and talked to their superiors, who talked to their superiors. Then they took a deep breath and decided to go. As the day wore on, the Marines said the bust in recruiting had been made up for in media exposure and public relations. Sergeant Henry and his public affairs officer, Capt. Abraham Sipe, gave interviews at the center with five local television stations, three print reporters and one correspondent for National Public Radio. In between, gay rights supporters stopped by to shake their hands.

By 5 p.m. the Marines had packed up their booth and chin-up bar and headed out, with plans to come back later to attend a panel discussion. It was all uncharted territory. As Sergeant Henry had said the day before of the new world the Marines now inhabit, “At first it’s going to be kind of shock and awe.”

But like a good Marine, he was with the program: “My take is, if they can make it through our boot camp, which is the toughest boot camp in the world, then they ought to have the opportunity to wear the uniform.”

We obviously have a long way to go for full equality, but perhaps we're off to a good start.

No Opt-Out for Opponents of Gays in Military

While visiting troops in Afghanistan, Defense Secretary Gates made it clear that religious extremists and bigots in the U.S. military who have their panties in a major wad over the repeal of DADT will NOT have the option to opt out of the military and seek an early discharge. To do otherwise would send a dangerous signal that white supremacists, anti-Muslim and/or anti-Hispanic bigots, and others who discriminate against their fellow citizens should be entitled to special rights as well. As members of the U.S. military, service members are to defend and uphold the U.S. Constitution, including the Equal Protection Clause and the right to religious freedom of ALL citizens, not just the Bible beaters. Reuters has coverage on Gates' statements. Here are some highlights:
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Defense Secretary Robert Gates bluntly told Marines on Sunday that they won't be able to opt out of their enlistment just because they disagree with a government decision to end a ban on gays serving openly in the military.
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Gates, who is on a tour of Afghanistan to bid farewell to the troops before stepping down at the end of the month, was quizzed by a Marine sergeant about the controversial policy during a question and answer session at a base in southwestern Helmand Province.
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"We have not given the Marines a chance to decide whether they wish to continue serving under that. Is there going to be an option for those Marines that no longer wish to serve due to the fact their moral values have not changed?" he asked. "No," Gates responded. "You'll have to complete your ... enlistment just like everybody else."
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"The reality is that you don't all agree with each other on your politics, you don't agree with each other on your religion, you don't agree with each other on a lot of things," he added. "But you still serve together. And you work together. And you look out for each other. And that's all that matters."
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If we do this right, nothing will change," he said. "You will still have to abide by the same rules of behavior, the same discipline, the same respect for each other that has been the case through all the history of the Marine Corps."
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In some ways I suspect that some of the homophobes in the military are scared shitless not that gays will come on to them, but that gay service members may out perform them and thereby burst their egotistical bubbles. It's sad that some only feel good about themselves when they are looking down on someone else.

Top Marine: DADT Repeal Won't Lead to Exodus

One of the repeated claims of professional gay haters such as Elaine Donnelly (who has ZERO military experience herself and will I assume be unemployed once DADT repeal is final) is that the repeal of DADT will lead to a mass exodus of service members from the military. As is the norm with Ms. Donnelly, she has no real data to back up her claims or, to the extent that she claims does, she's dragged it out of elderly homophobes who left military service ages ago. Thus, it is a nice take down of Donnelly and those of her ilk to hear that Gen. James Amos, Marine Commandant, is disputing the lies of Ms. Donnelly and other professional homophobes and gay hating Christians like Tony Perkins. Amos was not a fan of DADT repeal - and I was very harsh on the man - but he now seems to have gotten fully on board with repeal and seems motivated to back the repeal policy as any good officer ought to follow orders from his/her superiors. Here are highlights of Amos' statements via AOL News:
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The Marine Corps commandant who once said openly gay service members would be a dangerous "distraction" and was among the most outspoken opponents of repealing the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy said today he does not expect to lose troops over the change.
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"I haven't had any indication yet at all, not at all," Gen. James Amos told reporters when asked if he expected the mass exodus of troops that Sen. John McCain and other critics predicted if the ban was lifted. . . . . He said he addressed some 12,000 Marines about the change and "everyone said, 'Sir, we got it. We're going to do this thing.'"
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The about-face by the Marines' top general came before the ink was dried on the law and was underlined in a video Amos taped with the Corps' Sgt. Maj. Carlton W. Kent last month. In it, he said the service "will step out smartly to faithfully implement this new law. It's important that we value the diversity of background, culture and skills that all Marines bring to the service of our nation."
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Amos told reporters, "I think there probably will be in probably all the services, but I don't think it's going to be of any magnitude that's going to cause much more than a blip. So I'm very optimistic."
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Amos said training of military lawyers, counselors and chaplains began Feb. 7. He said he and the service's three-star generals and their spouses underwent a training session recently in New Orleans, and he expects all leaders down to company commanders and platoon sergeants to have been briefed by the middle of next month.
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I'm sure that there will be bigoted Christianists who try to buck the repeal policy - these folks always want special rights to ignore the laws and policies that they want applied to others when it comes to non-discrimination against themselves. Yep, it's always a one way street with Christianists.

A Gay Marine Who Saved a President

(Image above provided by a reader)

Given the efforts of organizations like Concerned Women - Bitches in my view is more appropriate - for America who want American history sanitized to omit any references to the contributions of LGBT Americans, it's important that our true contributions be highlighted. Fortunately, a opinion column in the Sacramento Bee does just this in its look at Marine veteran of Vietnam, Billy Sipple, who tackled a woman named Sara Jane Moore as she pulled a revolver from her purse to fire at President Gerald Ford back in 1975. Despite what our enemies and religious zealots would have others believe about us, LGBT Americans are just as patriotic and have contributed at least as much to the nation as have heterosexuals. Here are highlights from the Bee's column:
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Sipple, the son of a Detroit autoworker, had been discharged from the Marines in 1970 and made his way to San Francisco in search of acceptance, like so many others. On Sept. 22, 1975, Sipple was on the sidewalk outside the St. Francis Hotel hoping to catch a glimpse of another Michigan native, Gerald Ford. Sipple looked up as a woman named Sara Jane Moore pulled a revolver from her purse. Without a second thought, Sipple lunged at her.
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Feinstein, then the president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, didn't see the assassination attempt but had been Ford's host at the St. Francis. "It was a gay man who grabbed her gun, which deflected the shot aimed at our president," Feinstein said on Saturday, the day that the Senate voted to end the "don't ask, don't tell" policy that had forced countless military men and women to remain closeted.
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Perhaps the prejudice and fears that led to the policy fed the demons that haunted Sipple. Sipple surely suffered. Sipple's brother, George, told me that the Marines at one point denied Sipple was ever in the service. There were, after all, no gay Marines.
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Two days after the assassination attempt, San Francisco Chronicle columnist Herb Caen disclosed Sipple's sexual orientation, and quoted Milk and another gay man "who claim to be among Sipple's close friends described themselves as 'proud – maybe this will help break the stereotype.' Sipple had been out of the closet in San Francisco. But like so many others who sought freedom by settling in the city, Sipple had not told his family back in Michigan. His parents were shocked at the news. His father never got over it, he later said.
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Wayne Friday, then an investigator for the San Francisco District Attorney's Office, stopped by one of Sipple's Polk Street hangouts in February 1989. The bartender asked that Friday check in on Sipple, who hadn't been around.
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Friday found Sipple dead on his bed, half-gallon bottles of bourbon and 7-Up nearby. He had been there two weeks. The framed note was on a wall.
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"Dear Mr. Sipple,
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"I want you to know how much I appreciated your selfless actions last Monday. The events were a shock to us all, but you acted quickly and without fear for your own safety. By doing so, you helped to avert danger to me and to others in the crowd. You have my heartfelt appreciation."
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Gerald Ford signed it.

Marine Commandant Pledges to "Personally Lead" Gay Troop Integration

I've been less than kind in my commentary on Marine Corps Commandant General James Amos who, prior to last Saturday's Senate vote on DADT repeal seemed to be doing all he could do to torpedo repeal. Now, in a Stars and Stripes article, Amos as pledged to "personally lead" the integration of gay troops in the Marine Corps. If Amos is true to his word, he will be setting the standard for the Corps - and hopefully other previous homophobes in the U. S. Military. As I have made clear in the past, in my opinion if freedom of religion under the U. S. Constitution means anything at all, it means that LGBT service members should not be punished and stigmatized for their failure to live their lives according to Christianist religious dictates. And by extension, military commanders who cannot support LGBT equality need to resign their commissions for failure to support and defend the Constitutional rights of ALL citizens. Here are highlights from Stars and Stripes:
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One week after warning the distraction of repealing “don’t ask, don’t tell” could risk Marines’ lives, Gen. James Amos, commandant of the Marine Corps, pledged to lead the effort to integrate openly gay Marines.
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“I, and the Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps [Carlton Kent], will personally lead this effort, thus ensuring the respect and dignity due all Marines,” Amos said. “On this matter, we look forward to further demonstrating to the American people the discipline and loyalty that have been the hallmark of the United States Marine Corps for over 235 years."
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Amos’ statement sent to reporters came Sunday evening, one day after the Senate adopted the repeal, capping a stunning, climactic day on the chamber floor.
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Here is Amos’ full statement: "Fidelity is the essence of the United States Marine Corps. Above all else, we are loyal to the Constitution, our Commander in Chief, Congress, our Chain of Command, and the American people. The House of Representatives and the Senate have voted to repeal Title 10, US Code 654 "Policy Concerning Homosexuality in the United States Armed Forces." As stated during my testimony before Congress in September and again during hearings before the Senate Armed Services Committee earlier this month, the Marine Corps will step out smartly to faithfully implement this new policy. I, and the Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps, will personally lead this effort, thus ensuring the respect and dignity due all Marines. On this matter, we look forward to further demonstrating to the American people the discipline and loyalty that have been the hallmark of the United States Marine Corps for over 235 years."

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Kudos to General Amos and I hope that he demonstrates the class set forth in his statement.

DADT Repeal - A Last Chance to Make History

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has indicated that the House will vote today, Wednesday, December 15, 2010, on a stand-alone bill to repeal “don’t ask , don’t tell” introduced by Rep. Patrick Murphy. If passed, the bill will move to the Senate where John McSenile and others will have to face a straight up or down vote with no excuses such as seen on the voluminous Defense Authorization Act. In short, it will be a come to Jesus moment when the bigots of the GOP will be forced to approve something the military and the American public are ready to see happen. The New York Times has a editorial that calls on the Senate to do the right thing and end something that is religious based discrimination against LGBT service members. Sadly, reports are that the Liar-in-Chief has been silent on this new approach to repeal and Obama has done nothing to censure Marine Corps Commandant, General Amos for his inflammatory anti-repeal remarks. Like many in the LGBT community I am holding my breath. Meanwhile expect major batshitery eruptions from Elaine Donnelly and anti-gay hate groups. Here are highlights from the Times editorial:
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The chances of ending the military’s ban on open service by gay and lesbian soldiers improved significantly on Tuesday when House Democratic leaders said they would introduce a fast-track repeal bill and quickly send it on to the Senate. Once the House bill is approved, the onus will be on Senate leaders to act swiftly, and on a handful of moderate Republicans to fulfill their promise to bring long-denied justice to the military’s ranks.
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The House’s decision means that Senate Republicans will have no excuses left. This is no longer an issue of priorities — the tax bill was headed toward approval in the Senate on Wednesday — or process. Any lawmakers still on the fence should listen closely to all of the military leaders who say this discriminatory policy drives out far too many talented, and expensively trained service members.
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Several Republican senators, including Ms. Collins, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Scott Brown of Massachusetts, have said they would join the Democratic majority in reaching those 60 votes, and the test of their promise could arrive very shortly. . . . If Congress can put an end to the military’s discriminatory policy and support these other vital measures, an often ugly political year could end with some historic successes.

Obama Needs to Demand Resignation of Marine Corps Commandant

I have voiced my concern - alright, outrage - previously at the Liar-in-Chief's selection of General James Amos as the new head of the U. S. Marine Corps. Amos has made no secret of his open contempt for LGBT Americans and has argued for the retention of the religious based policy of discrimination known as Don't Ask, Don't Tell. And all of this was known to the Liar-in-Chief BEFORE he tapped Amos to head up the Marine Corps. Now, Amos - who can only be described as a bigoted bigot who cares little for the U. S. Constitution which he is sworn to uphold - has shot off his mouth again claiming that repeal of DADT will result in military deaths. Obama needs to ask for Amos' resignation NOW - and if Obama fails to do so immediately, it will underscore the reality that he's never given a damn about seeing DADT repealed. It's all been smoke and mirrors and a desire to tap into LGBT money and votes. The Beverly Hills Courier has details on Amos' verbal diarrhea. Here are highlights:
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The chief of the US Marine Corps said Tuesday that ending a ban on openly gay troops in the military could jeopardize the lives of Marines in combat by undermining closely knit units. General James Amos, commandant of the Marine Corps and an opponent of lifting the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" prohibition, cited a Pentagon study saying Marines fighting in Afghanistan were worried that permitting gays to serve openly could disrupt "unit cohesion."
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"When your life hangs on a line, on the intuitive behavior of the young man ... who sits to your right and your left, you don't want anything distracting you," Amos told reporters at the Pentagon. "I don't want to lose any Marines to distraction. I don't want to have any Marines that I'm visiting at Bethesda (hospital) with no legs," he said.
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Obama's fellow Democrats are pressing for another vote on the issue, but it remains unclear if the measure will win enough support in the final days of the current session.

Republicans, who oppose scrapping the ban, will take control of the House of Representatives from January and Democrats in the Senate will see their majority dwindle to 53 out of 100, meaning the move is highly unlikely to pass during the next session of Congress.
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Besides being Liar-in-Chief, Obama is commander-in-chief and Amos' statements amount to nothing less than wilful insubordination. The old bigot needs to be sent into retirement, preferably with a demotion in rank as well.

What's Wrong with the U. S. Marine Corps?

Apparently the new Marine Corps slogan should be "The Few, The Proud, The Bigoted" given that military branch's hang ups over gays in the military. Is the problem a question of leadership or some kind of macho psychosis that can't deal with the fact that gays can be as tough and manly as any straight guy? Living in this heavily military area, I've seen my share of gay Marines and none of them fit the effeminate male stereotype that our detractors like to project on gays as a class. Tammy S. Schultz, director of national security and joint warfare at the U.S. Marine Corps War College, has an op-ed in the Washington Post that challenges the Marine Corps leadership on its tolerance - if not nurturing - of homophobia. As I have said before, the Liar-in-Chief nominated a known homophobe as the new Commandant of the Corps, so responsibility for this phenomenon flows directly to the White House. Here are highlights from the op-ed:
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But there's one part of the military where resistance [to DADT repeal] is greater than in any other: the United States Marine Corps.
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That is clear from early reports about a survey sent to 400,000 active duty and reserve service members on "don't ask, don't tell" that will be officially released next month. More than 70 percent of respondents, spanning all branches of the military, said the effect of repealing the prohibition on openly gay troops would be positive, mixed or nonexistent. But about 40 percent of the Marine Corps respondents expressed concern about lifting the ban.
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What is it about the Marines? Compared with the other services, why do a disproportionate number of them overtly resist ending "don't ask, don't tell"?
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In the Corps, the creed that "every Marine is a rifleman" means that no matter the Marine's specialty, he or she is ready to fight. Marines do battle where the stakes are high and the quarters close. Although they have individual specialties, they all have infantry in their blood. As a rule, ground pounders are more conservative, resistant to change and likely to uphold tradition. This equates to a fear of the unknown - in this case, serving in combat with an openly gay Marine.
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[F]or some . . . the notion of a gay Marine seems almost impossible, as though this most masculine and punishing service simply isn't for gay people. You don't need to spend time with Marines, as I have, to realize how important the warrior ethos is to them.
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In the Marines, anything that seems to contradict or challenge that warrior culture is treated like a foreign particle entering a body's immune system - it is rejected. This visceral reaction will not change if we dismiss those who value these traditions.
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I have researched the implications of repealing the law, willing to land wherever the facts led me. The argument that we can't repeal the policy because it would impair troops on the ground from carrying out their missions is specious; the opposition to the policy on practical or logistical grounds is surmountable.
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The values of honor, courage and commitment are inseparable from the Marines. By definition, gay and lesbian Marines break one or more of these core tenets every time they have to hide or lie about who they are. Eventually, gay Marines must out themselves by upholdingCorps values, or continue compromising the very values that make them Marines.
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The examples from other countries where homosexuals are allowed to serve suggest that many will go about their lives as normal, but without the fear of being discharged if discovered. The key to reconciling Marine culture with the open service of gay men and women will not be found among the rank and file or even among closeted service members; it must come from Corps leaders. Most research on how to integrate minority groups into the military has a common thread: the utmost importance of leadership to the process.
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How the change affects the Marines is up to the leadership. A Marine officer once told me that, besides all Marines being riflemen and riflewomen, what sets them apart is discipline: "If the law changes," he said, "we will comply with the law. You can take that to the bank." I believe he's right.
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The Corps' motto, "semper fidelis," means "always faithful." There is no qualifier for sexual orientation. Once a Marine, always a Marine.
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Again I ask, WTF was Obama doing when he deliberately appointed a homophobe to head up the Corps?

More Religious Inspired Bigotry in the Military

With the Pentagon supposedly investigation unlawful Christianist proselytizing activities by the commanding general of Fort Eustis and Fort Lee here in Virginia, the soon to be former Marine Commandant, James T. Conway (at right), has shot off his mouth and made it clear that religious based discrimination is alive and well in the U.S. Marine Corps. It outrages me that men sworn to uphold the U.S. Constitution - which last time I looked guaranteed religious freedom for ALL Americans, not just Christianists - get away with actively subverting that same Constitution and endeavoring to impose their personal religious beliefs on all. This situation needs to stop NOW - and these individuals need to be discharged from the military. LezGetReal has a story on Conway stating that if gays are allowed to serve in the U.S. Military, they need to be segregated from other servicemembers. Such a move would affirm the religious based discrimination of bigots like Conway himself. Our spineless Commander in Chief ought to be chewing out Conway for these remarks, but we all know that will never happen. Here are some story highlights:
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Soon to be former Marine Commandant James T. Conway has expressed his desire, once again, to allow for segregation between straight Marines and lesbian and gay Marines. This form of segregation is something that has been off the table since July, when it was made absolutely clear that the only thing that the Pentagon might consider is installing shower curtains in communal bathrooms.
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According to Conway, he would want to make such arrangements voluntary in order to accommodate the moral and religious concerns of his soldiers. He stated that many Marines are incredibly religious and because of that they would not want to room with lesbians or gays. One is left wondering if he is saying this of himself because his homophobia is rather rampant.
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Conway has bitterly opposed the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell from the beginning. Here is the audio clip of him being interviewed about this particular view:

Army official: Suicides in January 'Terrifying'

In yet another example of the cluster fuck left to the nation by the Chimperator and Emperor Palpatine Cheney, the U.S. Army has announced more dreadful news about the soaring suicide rate among our servicemen. Knowing men - and women - who have been deployed over and over again, often witnessing horrifying carnage, it really should be no surprise that this phenomenon is occurring. Especially in light of the fact that often quality mental health care is not provided to service members. The Bush/Cheney regime talked alot about "supporting the troops," but in reality, they might just as well have told our armed services members to "go fuck themselves." Talk is cheap and that's all these evil men put out. Here are some highlights from CNN:
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One week after the U.S. Army announced record suicide rates among its soldiers last year, the service is worried about a spike in possible suicides in the new year. The Army said 24 soldiers are believed to have committed suicide in January alone -- six times as many as killed themselves in January 2008, according to statistics released Thursday.

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If those prove true, more soldiers will have killed themselves than died in combat last month. According to Pentagon statistics, there were 16 U.S. combat deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq in January. "This is terrifying," an Army official said. "We do not know what is going on."

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Col. Kathy Platoni, chief clinical psychologist for the Army Reserve and National Guard, said that the long, cold months of winter could be a major contributor to the January spike. . . . But Platoni said she sees the multiple deployments, stigma associated with seeking treatment and the excessive use of anti-depressants as ongoing concerns for mental-health professionals who work with soldiers. Those who are seeking mental-health care often have their treatment disrupted by deployments. Deployed soldiers also have to deal with the stress of separations from families.

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Platoni also said that while the military has made a lot of headway in training leaders on how to deal with soldiers who may be suffering from depression or post-traumatic stress disorder, "there is still a huge problem with leadership who shame them when they seek treatment." The anti-depressants prescribed to soldiers can have side effects that include suicidal thoughts. Those side effects reportedly are more common in people 18 to 24.

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The 2008 numbers were the highest annual level of suicides among soldiers since the Pentagon began tracking the rate 28 years ago. The Army said 128 soldiers were confirmed to have committed suicide in 2008, and an additional 15 were suspected of having killed themselves. The statistics cover active-duty soldiers and activated National Guard and reserves. . . . Suicides for Marines were also up in 2008. There were 41 in 2008, up from 33 in 2007 and 25 in 2006, according to a Marines report.