God bless Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James F. Amos. Despite incredible pressure from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Secretary of Defense, and the entire Washington-political-media complex, Amos is courageously standing up for his Marines. The man refuses to buckle and bow to the pressure. (more)
Liberal bloggers pressed President Obama on his opposition to gay marriage in a private White House meeting Wednesday, but the president refused to budge from his conviction that the government should not sanction marriages between same-sex couples. (more)
President Obama invited 5 liberal bloggers to the White House Wednesday to discuss issues ranging from the potential for bipartisanship moving forward to the status of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” The participating bloggers were Barbara Morrill of DailyKos, Joe Subday from Americablog, Jon Amato from Crooks and Liars, Duncan Black (a.k.a. Atrios) from Eschaton, and Oliver Willis. (more)
There have always been gay service members. Hell, we’ve had a least one gay president and possibly two. (I won’t waste space here explaining who, just look it up.) While I was serving at Fort Hood, we had at least three male soldiers in my unit who did not leave much to the imagination. They were openly mocked, which interfered with the spirit de corps of my company. (more)
Reporting from Washington — Acting on a request from the Obama administration, a federal appeals court in San Francisco on Wednesday lifted a judge’s order that had halted enforcement of the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy on gays, leaving the much-disputed law in legal limbo. (more)
An openly gay Iraq War veteran on Wednesday said he was “angry,” hurt and “disgusted” by President Obama’s decision to appeal a court ruling ending the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. (more)
The federal government had asked to delay enforcement of the ruling allowing gays to serve openly in the military. A final decision is expected Tuesday. (more)
Former President Bill Clinton said that Colin Powell, who served as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during his administration, misrepresented how Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell would work as the legislation was being passed into law in 1993. (more)
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) tweeted Monday afternoon that she had just spoken with Lady Gaga, who has been lobbying the Senate ahead of Tuesday’s vote on a defense authorization bill that includes a repeal provision for “Don’t ask, don’t tell” (DADT). (more)
Despite a last-minute appeal from pop icon Lady Gaga, two moderate Republican senators said Tuesday morning that they will not break with their party on a key vote that would set the stage for a repeal the Pentagon’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. (more)
Lady Gaga has always been passionate in the pursuit for gay rights – and the latest issue on her agenda is overturning the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy which restricts the United States military from efforts to discover or reveal closeted gay, lesbian, and bisexual service members or applicants, and prohibits those who are openly gay, lesbian, or bisexual from enrolling. (more)
Lady Gaga turned her red carpet arrival into a statement against the soon-to-be-sunk policy of discharging openly gay and lesbian members of the military. The eccentric pop-stress was flanked by four ex-servicemen who were all discharged or left the military as the result of the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy. (more)
A federal judge in Riverside on Thursday declared the U.S. military’s ban on openly gay service members unconstitutional, saying the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy violates the 1st Amendment and due process rights of lesbians and gay men. (more)
The Pentagon today strongly pushed back against an allegation from a prominent political blogger that the military could segregate gay and straight servicemembers if and when lawmakers repeal the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. (more)
After Jack Murtha, another Pennsylvania all-star, made an art form out of shoving our troops under the bus for his own career, I never thought I’d live to see what Rep. Patrick Murphy has just done: a neatly bundled vote wrapped in the flag with a camouflage bow on top. And a price tag. (more)
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, said this morning that he’d prefer that Congress not overturn the ban on allowing openly gay people to serve in the military until the Defense Department has finished studying how such a repeal would be implemented. (more)
This week, the United States Congress voted in the Senate and the House to strike out an arcane statute, 10 USC Section 654, commonly know as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT)” which bans gays and lesbians from openly serving in the military. DADT is the only remaining federal personnel policy which allows for third party hearsay as grounds for dismissal or discharge. Voting to repeal DADT removes the 1993 Congressional mandate imposed upon the Department of Defense. Repeal of DADT gets Congress out of the business of personnel management, and bolsters the current comprehensive and necessary review process ordered by Defense Secretary Robert Gates. Navy Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has once again confirmed he is comfortable with the proposed legislative fix to repeal the DADT law. (more)
Equal rights activists scored a major victory today, as the Senate Armed Services committee voted 16-12 to give the Pentagon the power to overturn Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell–a policy that bans openly gay people from serving in the military. (more)
House Republicans are preparing to mount a vigorous defense of the “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy President Bill Clinton implemented in 1993. (more)
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — For nearly a quarter-century, Harvard Law School refused to help the nation’s military recruit its students, because the armed services discriminated against openly gay soldiers. But in 2002, the school relented to pressure from the Bush administration and agreed to allow recruiters on campus. (more)
























