Monday, March 08, 2010
The Military Can Handle Admitting Gays
I have often thought that the proponents of Don't Ask, Don't Tell do not seem to realize that their position is basically an insult to the U.S. Military in general and every enlisted person in particular. According to the DADT proponents, the members of the military are so unprofessional and so unsettled as to their own sexuality that they just cannot handle serving with someone who is openly gay. It seems not all that many years ago, the same story line was disseminated by racists who did not want black Americans integrated into the military. Or more recently, the male chauvinists who supposedly would lose it if women were allowed to serve in roles other than nurses and secretarial positions. It is a farce, of course, that our members of the military are such flighty and delicate individuals that the presence of a gay will just throw them over the edge. The Chicago Tribune has an editorial that basically makes this case. Republicans in Congress would do well to read it and stop listening to Christianist loons like Elaine Donnelly who nearly wets her panties thinking about gays. Here are some highlights: *
Gays have always been there and always will be. What difference would it make if they could be open about their identity? Probably not much.
*
One poll found that most service personnel know or think that a member of their unit is gay, and most of these say the knowledge doesn't affect cohesion. For that matter, Gen. John Shalikashvili, former head of the Joint Chiefs, points out that the ban on gays was suspended "without problems" during the 1991 Persian Gulf War.
*
The service chiefs who want to keep the "don't ask" policy seem to think foreign militaries' experience has no relevance to our military. In recent decades, more than two dozen countries have decided to admit gays, including Israel and Britain, and the problems that critics feared have not materialized. No one has explained why the U.S. military is incapable of handling a challenge that so many others have met.
*
[P]ostponing a change until the nation is at peace could mean a delay of many years. And wartime seems a particularly bad moment to sacrifice the training and dedication of so many service members who happen to be gay.
*
Decades ago, many people in the U.S. military didn't welcome integrating blacks or women into their ranks. Today, it's hard for young people to wonder why all the fuss. Someday, long after "don't ask, don't tell" is history, posterity will wonder the same thing.
Gays have always been there and always will be. What difference would it make if they could be open about their identity? Probably not much.
*
One poll found that most service personnel know or think that a member of their unit is gay, and most of these say the knowledge doesn't affect cohesion. For that matter, Gen. John Shalikashvili, former head of the Joint Chiefs, points out that the ban on gays was suspended "without problems" during the 1991 Persian Gulf War.
*
The service chiefs who want to keep the "don't ask" policy seem to think foreign militaries' experience has no relevance to our military. In recent decades, more than two dozen countries have decided to admit gays, including Israel and Britain, and the problems that critics feared have not materialized. No one has explained why the U.S. military is incapable of handling a challenge that so many others have met.
*
[P]ostponing a change until the nation is at peace could mean a delay of many years. And wartime seems a particularly bad moment to sacrifice the training and dedication of so many service members who happen to be gay.
*
Decades ago, many people in the U.S. military didn't welcome integrating blacks or women into their ranks. Today, it's hard for young people to wonder why all the fuss. Someday, long after "don't ask, don't tell" is history, posterity will wonder the same thing.
The New McCarthyism
Personally, I do not handle criminal defense work for a number of reasons - the most significant being that I would be hard put to defend someone I thought guilty. But that's not to say that I do not respect attorneys who do take on criminal cases because having defense counsel is important if we are to keep our legal system from deteriorate into show trials and quasi-lynch mobs. Like it or not, for the system to work overall, defense counsel play an important role in keeping the system honest. Or at least as honest as fallible humans are able to do so. Extremists on the far right, however, are rejecting the concept of innocent until proven guilty and are now attacking defense attorneys merely for doing their role. An example of one such extremist is Liz Cheney, daughter of Emperor Palpatine Cheney who has nothing but contempt for the legal system. A trait apparently inherited from her delusional and amoral father. The New York Times has an important editorial taking people like Ms. Cheney to task. Here are some highlights. *
In the McCarthy era, demagogues on the right smeared loyal Americans as disloyal and charged that the government was being undermined from within. In this era, demagogues on the right are smearing loyal Americans as disloyal and charging that the government is being undermined from within.
*
These voices — often heard on Fox News — are going after Justice Department lawyers who represented Guantánamo detainees when they were in private practice. It is not nearly enough to say that these lawyers did nothing wrong. In fact, they upheld the highest standards of their profession and advanced the cause of democratic justice. The Justice Department is right to stand up to this ugly bullying.
*
It did not take long for the lawyers to become a conservative target, branded the “Gitmo 9” by a group called Keep America Safe, run by Liz Cheney, daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, and William Kristol, a conservative activist (who wrote a Times Op-Ed column in 2008). The group released a video that asks, in sinister tones, “Whose values do they share?”
*
On Fox News, Ms. Cheney lashed out at lawyers who “voluntarily represented terrorists.” She said it was important to look at who these terrorists are, including Salim Ahmed Hamdan, who had served as Osama bin Laden’s driver. Let’s do that.
*
In order to attack the government lawyers, Ms. Cheney and other critics have to twist the role of lawyers in the justice system. In representing Guantánamo detainees, they were in no way advocating for terrorism. They were ensuring that deeply disliked individuals were able to make their case in court, even ones charged with heinous acts — and that the Constitution was defended.
It is not the first time that the right has tried to distract Americans from the real issues surrounding detention policy by attacking lawyers.
*
If lawyers who take on controversial causes are demonized with impunity, it will be difficult for unpopular people to get legal representation — and constitutional rights that protect all Americans will be weakened. That is a high price to pay for scoring cheap political points.
*
I would venture that if anyone is twisted and needs to be demonized it's Ms. Cheney and those like her who have no regard for the rule of law and prefer to play to those with a base lynch mob mentality. It's pretty disgusting, but then one need only look at her father, an advocate of war crimes.
In the McCarthy era, demagogues on the right smeared loyal Americans as disloyal and charged that the government was being undermined from within. In this era, demagogues on the right are smearing loyal Americans as disloyal and charging that the government is being undermined from within.
*
These voices — often heard on Fox News — are going after Justice Department lawyers who represented Guantánamo detainees when they were in private practice. It is not nearly enough to say that these lawyers did nothing wrong. In fact, they upheld the highest standards of their profession and advanced the cause of democratic justice. The Justice Department is right to stand up to this ugly bullying.
*
It did not take long for the lawyers to become a conservative target, branded the “Gitmo 9” by a group called Keep America Safe, run by Liz Cheney, daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, and William Kristol, a conservative activist (who wrote a Times Op-Ed column in 2008). The group released a video that asks, in sinister tones, “Whose values do they share?”
*
On Fox News, Ms. Cheney lashed out at lawyers who “voluntarily represented terrorists.” She said it was important to look at who these terrorists are, including Salim Ahmed Hamdan, who had served as Osama bin Laden’s driver. Let’s do that.
*
In order to attack the government lawyers, Ms. Cheney and other critics have to twist the role of lawyers in the justice system. In representing Guantánamo detainees, they were in no way advocating for terrorism. They were ensuring that deeply disliked individuals were able to make their case in court, even ones charged with heinous acts — and that the Constitution was defended.
It is not the first time that the right has tried to distract Americans from the real issues surrounding detention policy by attacking lawyers.
*
If lawyers who take on controversial causes are demonized with impunity, it will be difficult for unpopular people to get legal representation — and constitutional rights that protect all Americans will be weakened. That is a high price to pay for scoring cheap political points.
*
I would venture that if anyone is twisted and needs to be demonized it's Ms. Cheney and those like her who have no regard for the rule of law and prefer to play to those with a base lynch mob mentality. It's pretty disgusting, but then one need only look at her father, an advocate of war crimes.
Sunday, March 07, 2010
I am Now a Bilerico Project Contibutor
For some months now, I have been contributing articles to Bilerico-DC, a Virginia/DC/Maryland affiliate of the national blog The Bilerico Project. After today, I will be contributing stories to the main national blog. Needless to say it is both exciting and an honor to be working on a blog with so many amazing writers and which has been described by the Washington Post as one of the "must read" LGBT blogs:*
Pam's House Blend is an influential voice in the gay political blogosphere, must-reads that include the Bilerico Project, Towleroad and AMERICAblog, each attracting a few hundred to a few thousand hits a day. Just as the liberal Net-roots and the conservative "rightroots" movements have affected traditional party structures, the still relatively small gay political presence online is rebooting the gay rights movement in a decentralized, spontaneous, bottom-up way. It's spreading news via blogs, Facebook and Twitter. Online, a story about two 16-year-old girls in a Lutheran private school in California being expelled for "conducting themselves in a manner consistent with being lesbians" -- as the school's lawyer describes it -- goes viral. And hits nerves.
*
I will sincerely do my best to live up to this lofty standard.
Equality Virginia Issues a Challenge to Gov. Bob McDonnell
Since his time as attorney general, now Governor Bob McDonnell has taken the lazy way out and mouthed platitudes about not condoning discrimination within respect to state employees. More recently, during his campaign for governor, McDonnell claimed that he had evolved since the days when he wrote his CBN University thesis which among other things advocated that the civil laws should punish gays when ever possible to discourage their "lifestyle." Now as governor, McDonnell has lamely blamed the Virginia General Assembly for its failure to pass employment non-discrimination protections for GLBT Virginians as his rationale for rescinding protections for gay Virginians employed by the Commonwealth. In short, he has pretended that his hands have been tied by the legislature. Frankly, it has McDonnell's way of talking out of both sides of his mouth: claiming he's not a bigot while not doing anything that would upset his puppeteers at The Family Foundation and Pat Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network. Jon Blair, Executive Director of Equality Virginia has called McDonnell's bluff: procedurally McDonnell can introduce a bill instituting protections for LGBT employees in the ongoing legislative session and demand that Republicans who have heretofore killed such legislation support the bill in order to demonstrate that Virginia does not support legalized discrimination against any of it's citizens; Here are some highlights from Jon's letter: *
The Honorable Robert F. McDonnell
Governor of Virginia
P.O. Box 1475
Richmond, VA 23218
*
Dear Governor McDonnell:
*
I write to ask you to end your silence, and to act on behalf of all Virginians.
*
Since taking office in January, you have chosen not to support efforts to amend Virginia law to codify a state “policy” against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. You have explained your inaction and your “no position” on pending legislation saying that you have a “policy” against such discrimination in your office, even though that “policy” does not, and according to the opinion you once issued as Attorney General, cannot apply to all state employees or even to the employees of your own Cabinet members.
*
Now, a letter, signed on March 4, 2010 by the current Attorney General and sent to the state’s colleges and universities, casts doubt, under your own legal analysis, about whether you can even enforce a “policy” of nondiscrimination within the Office of the Governor.
*
If yours and the Attorney General’s analysis of existing state law is correct (and we strongly question whether it is), this means that you would be acting without legal authority if, as Governor, you sought to enforce your “policy” against discrimination to protect any person in your office from adverse action based on his/her sexual orientation or gender identity. Thus, you cannot argue with any validity that you can, as Governor, protect anyone from discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity without a change in the law.
*
The good news is that it is not too late for you to exert leadership to change the law, as many Virginians, our academic and business leaders, and the Richmond Times Dispatch and other editorial writers have urged you to do. Under the Constitution of Virginia and the legislative procedural rules, you may send a bill down for consideration at any time before the legislature adjourns sine die on Saturday, March 13, 2010.
*
Accordingly, Equality Virginia respectfully requests that you write the House of Delegates or the Senate requesting the immediate introduction of either or both of the following:
*
1) a bill to amend the nondiscrimination policy in Section 2.2-3900 B.1. of the Virginia Human Rights Act to include sexual orientation and gender identity (such legislation would moot the Attorney General’s advice to the colleges); and
*
2) a bill identical to SB 66 governing nondiscrimination in the state workforce or HB 1116 governing nondiscrimination in state and local employment (such legislation would implement the nondiscrimination policy for public employees, including those in your office and at state universities and colleges).
*
Failure to take positive action during this legislative session to encourage enactment of a state policy against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity will be seen by the thousands of gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and transgender Virginians (and the many thousands more Virginians who count themselves among their families and allies) as confirming that your promise of a “Commonwealth of Opportunity” is a hollow one for them.
*
Repeating that you believe discrimination based on sexual orientation is wrong no longer carries any weight. The Attorney General’s and your legal opinion makes crystal clear you believe (rightly or wrongly) that neither you nor any other state officer has authority to hold anyone accountable when they practice such discrimination.
*
Very truly yours,
/s/
Jon Blair
Chief Executive Officer, Equality Virginia
*
Kudos to Jon for laying out the procedural root for McDonnell. If he fails to accept Equality Virginia's challenge, it will confirm that McDonnell's entire campaign as a "GOP moderate" was noting but a calculated lie and that he still believes the manifesto set forth in his CBN thesis. Bob, act now or let the world know that you are indeed a bigot and that no voter ANYWHERE should believe a Republican pretending to be a moderate in future elections..
The Honorable Robert F. McDonnell
Governor of Virginia
P.O. Box 1475
Richmond, VA 23218
*
Dear Governor McDonnell:
*
I write to ask you to end your silence, and to act on behalf of all Virginians.
*
Since taking office in January, you have chosen not to support efforts to amend Virginia law to codify a state “policy” against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. You have explained your inaction and your “no position” on pending legislation saying that you have a “policy” against such discrimination in your office, even though that “policy” does not, and according to the opinion you once issued as Attorney General, cannot apply to all state employees or even to the employees of your own Cabinet members.
*
Now, a letter, signed on March 4, 2010 by the current Attorney General and sent to the state’s colleges and universities, casts doubt, under your own legal analysis, about whether you can even enforce a “policy” of nondiscrimination within the Office of the Governor.
*
If yours and the Attorney General’s analysis of existing state law is correct (and we strongly question whether it is), this means that you would be acting without legal authority if, as Governor, you sought to enforce your “policy” against discrimination to protect any person in your office from adverse action based on his/her sexual orientation or gender identity. Thus, you cannot argue with any validity that you can, as Governor, protect anyone from discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity without a change in the law.
*
The good news is that it is not too late for you to exert leadership to change the law, as many Virginians, our academic and business leaders, and the Richmond Times Dispatch and other editorial writers have urged you to do. Under the Constitution of Virginia and the legislative procedural rules, you may send a bill down for consideration at any time before the legislature adjourns sine die on Saturday, March 13, 2010.
*
Accordingly, Equality Virginia respectfully requests that you write the House of Delegates or the Senate requesting the immediate introduction of either or both of the following:
*
1) a bill to amend the nondiscrimination policy in Section 2.2-3900 B.1. of the Virginia Human Rights Act to include sexual orientation and gender identity (such legislation would moot the Attorney General’s advice to the colleges); and
*
2) a bill identical to SB 66 governing nondiscrimination in the state workforce or HB 1116 governing nondiscrimination in state and local employment (such legislation would implement the nondiscrimination policy for public employees, including those in your office and at state universities and colleges).
*
Failure to take positive action during this legislative session to encourage enactment of a state policy against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity will be seen by the thousands of gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and transgender Virginians (and the many thousands more Virginians who count themselves among their families and allies) as confirming that your promise of a “Commonwealth of Opportunity” is a hollow one for them.
*
Repeating that you believe discrimination based on sexual orientation is wrong no longer carries any weight. The Attorney General’s and your legal opinion makes crystal clear you believe (rightly or wrongly) that neither you nor any other state officer has authority to hold anyone accountable when they practice such discrimination.
*
Very truly yours,
/s/
Jon Blair
Chief Executive Officer, Equality Virginia
*
Kudos to Jon for laying out the procedural root for McDonnell. If he fails to accept Equality Virginia's challenge, it will confirm that McDonnell's entire campaign as a "GOP moderate" was noting but a calculated lie and that he still believes the manifesto set forth in his CBN thesis. Bob, act now or let the world know that you are indeed a bigot and that no voter ANYWHERE should believe a Republican pretending to be a moderate in future elections..
Chris Stuart for Hampton City Council
All too often voters ignore local elections and focus instead on state and national elections. This approach over looks the fact that in many ways one's day to day life is impacted more immediately by decisions made in the local city hall. In May, 2010, the City of Hampton, Virginia, will hold elections for city council and the boyfriend and I are going to be actively supporting Chris Stuart in his campaign for council. Not only is Chris the nephew of some of our best friends, but he has made it clear that he intends to represent ALL residents - including members of the LGBT community. He has already attended a HRBOR networking event and plans on attending the Hispanic chamber event later this month. He is a business owner and knows the rigors of running a business and the need for diversity in attracting progressive businesses and creating jobs - something that is lost on Virginia's Governor and Attorney General. Chris' core message includes:*
Holding the line on spending in these tough economic times where municipalities are in a financial bind and keep taxes low.
*
Protect core services for Hampton citizens and retirees - including the arts which are so often subjected to the budget axe.
*
Focus on job creation and supporting small and existing businesses.
*
Chris will have his campaign kick off this coming week and I urge local readers to come out and meet him (the boyfriend and I will be involved in hosting an event for him in April). Here are details on the Kick Off Event:
*
March 11, 2010, 5:15 PM
131 Kings Way
Hampton, Virginia
RSVP: 757-224-0796
Virginia is Asking for a Brain Drain
My blogger friend Pam Spaulding has a great post up at Huffington Post that looks at some of the likely fallout from the latest directive from utterly insane Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli. As I have recounted a number of times, I frequently receive calls for LGBT individuals who have received job offers in Virginia concerning the status of employment non-discrimination laws in the state. Up until now, one of the few bright spots has been the non-discrimination policies adopted by Virginia's leading colleges and universities which have put in place non-discrimination policies that include sexual orientation. In addition to these colleges and universities, a number of municipalities have adopted similar policies (nearby Virginia Beach is one such municipality). Will the next shoe to drop be Cuccinelli directing these municipalities to likewise cease in decist in protection gay employees? Taken even further, does this mean that public schools cannot have policies to protect students from bullying based on sexual orientation? Cuccinelli has opened a Pandora's Box and I can easily see extremists - e.g., the haters at The Family Foundation - using his action to challenge non-discrimination all around the Commonwealth. Here are highlights from Pam's piece:*
The swing voters in Virginia that placed Bob McDonnell into the Governor's mansion have definitely given the green light to institutionalized homophobia. Now emboldened, even more anti-gay Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II has made a sweeping declaration that all anti-discrimination policies at the Commonwealth's campuses that protect LGBT people must now be rescinded. Buh-bye recruiting goals for top talent Virginia!
*
The blog of Queer & Allied Activism at the University of Virginia is worth a click to read its open letter to AG Cuccinelli and Gov. McDonnell. A snippet:
*
It is unbelievable that our "jobs governor" and his attorney general want state employees to be able to fired, or never hired to begin with because of who they are. This move sets the tone for the state and university and sends the message that LGBTQ individuals are not welcome in Virginia and is a clear flip flop on his campaign promise not to promote a social agenda. As students, we need to be worrying about our class work, not contemplating how our daily lives are going to change or whether our jobs, or even our lives are safe because of the negative attitude our government is taking.
*
In a time when steps should be taken to bar discrimination in all forms, embrace diversity, and provide equal benefits for all people, we feel like the leadership in Virginia has taken a huge step backwards with these actions. And these actions are being watched closely by those in Virginia and beyond. Such blatant targeting of a minority group has no place in Virginia, or anywhere for that matter. Virginia is already an unfriendly place for LGBTQ individuals, with McDonnell's removal of sexual orientation protections with his executive order (reversing the order made by former governors Kaine and Warner) to the controversial Marshall-Newman Amendment, which defines marriage in the state of Virginia as being between a man and a woman. This act by Attorney General Cuccinelli makes Virginia an even more hostile place to live and work.
What does it say to all of the employees who came out of the closet during the tenures of Govs. Kaine and Warner, knowing it was safe to do so on the job, free of fear of a superior targeting them because of their sexual orientation? You cannot unring the bell. The closet door cannot be fixed once it's kicked off of hinges. Virginia's AG has just told the homophobes to get out the torches and pitchforks.
*
Who else is to blame when the guillotine falls? The independent and progressive voters who chose to stay home when it was clear McDonnell was ahead. The independents lured by McDonnell's "jobs" messaging, when it was clear he had a grade A wingnut social conservative background. . . . Virginia is for lovers. I predict these "lovers" in government will be seen in court soon.
*
In reality, the issue is already in court with the case of Moore v. Virginia Museum of Natural History pending before the Virginia Supreme Court. The Virginia Supreme Court could end this witch hunt for gays once and for all by relying on U.S. Constitutional protects to cut Cuccinelli off at the knees. Time will tell whether or not the justices have the courage to do the right thing.
Sex Abuse Alleged in Choir Run By Pope Benedict's Brother
The sex abuse scandal in the German Catholic Church continues to grow and has spread to the Regensburger Domspatzen, Germany's leading Roman Catholic boy' choir that was led for 30 years by the brother of Pope Benedict XVI. Georg Ratzinger (pictured at left) says he is totally unaware of sexual improprieties during the 30 years that he headed up the choir. I am currently finishing reading a book that involves priestly sexual abuse and the sexual dissonance prevalent among priests due to the Church's teaching that all sex is basically dirty and sinful which conflicts with normal sexual impulses. Yes, sexual abuse of minors is not limited to Catholic priests, but I do believe that sick obsession with all things sexual makes for very psychologically damaged individuals. It took literally years for me to get over the damage I experienced growing up Catholic. Obviously, it will be interesting to see where the scandal involving the Regensburger Domspatzen leads. Here are some highlights from Google News:*
VATICAN CITY — The Vatican says it supports efforts in a German diocese to shed light on a sexual abuse scandal in a choir once led by Pope Benedict XVI's brother.
*
The Regensburg Diocese said this week that a former member claims he was abused while singing with Germany's leading Roman Catholic boys' choir. The choir was led for 30 years by the Rev. Georg Ratzinger, the pope's brother. Ratzinger told a German public radio (radio Bayerischer Rundfunk) he did not know of any abuse cases at the choir.
VATICAN CITY — The Vatican says it supports efforts in a German diocese to shed light on a sexual abuse scandal in a choir once led by Pope Benedict XVI's brother.
*
The Regensburg Diocese said this week that a former member claims he was abused while singing with Germany's leading Roman Catholic boys' choir. The choir was led for 30 years by the Rev. Georg Ratzinger, the pope's brother. Ratzinger told a German public radio (radio Bayerischer Rundfunk) he did not know of any abuse cases at the choir.
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