Pentagon Lifts Trans Ban

Defense Secretary Ashton Carter yesterday announced the immediate lifting of the ban on open military service by trangender people, five years after the ban on gays and lesbians ended with the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell.

NBC News reports:

"We're Just Living the Constitution": Uniformed Troops in Pride Parade

For the first time ever, gay servicemembers marched in uniform at San Diego Gay Pride today, with the specific blessing of the Defense Department.



The Associated Press reports:

In a memorandum sent to all its branches this year, the Defense Department said it was making the allowance for the San Diego event even though its policy generally bars troops from marching in uniform in parades.

The Defense Department said Thursday it did so because organizers had encouraged military personnel to march in their uniform and the parade was getting national attention.

Cmdr. Kent Blade, who will retire this fall after 26 years in the Navy, said being able to march in uniform was a perfect culmination of his career. The 47-year-old said that since last year's repeal of the "don't ask, don't tell" law, he has received unconditional support from his fellow officers.

"We've all been able to talk more freely about our lives. Nobody's leading a second life," he said. "And now that I can march freely in uniform, I think it's a great display for the Navy."

About 200 active-duty troops participated in last year's San Diego gay pride parade, but they wore T-shirts with their branch's name, not military dress.

Marines Now Recruiting Gays

I am not making this up.  And in Tulsa, Oklafuckinghoma.  Believe it or not.  The NYT reports:

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.

Still, judging by the traffic at the gay rights center on Tuesday, there will not be an immediate flood of gay and lesbian Marine applicants. By 3 p.m., more than four hours after the Marines had set up their booth opposite the center’s AIDS quilt, only three women had wandered in, none ideal recruits. The local television crews who had come to watch the action — or inaction, as it turned out — easily outnumbered them. . . .

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.”

Lord have mercy, sometimes it makes your Head Trucker's head spin with all these amazing changes going on in the world. But I admire the Marines. Every one of them I've, um, known has been a perfect gentleman, and that's a fact.

Click here for a map and list of countries that now admit gay troops to their militaries.

Rachel covers the end of DADT with some newly-out troops.  Keep a hanky handy while you watch.





And MSNBC interviewed several former and currrent gay servicemembers on their reactions to repeal:

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DADT Is History

I have lived to see this day. Thank you, Mr. President.




Associated Press:  As ban ends, Navy officer, partner wed in Vt.:

Just as the formal repeal of the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy took effect, Navy Lt. Gary Ross and his partner were married before a small group of family and friends.

The two men, who'd been together 11 years, decided to marry in Vermont in part because the state is in the Eastern time zone. That way, they were able to recite their vows at the stroke of midnight — at the first possible moment after the ban ended. "I think it was a beautiful ceremony. The emotions really hit me...but it's finally official," Ross said early Tuesday.

Hours before the change, the American military was also making final preparations for the historic policy shift. The Pentagon announced that it was already accepting applications from openly gay candidates, although officials said they would wait a day before reviewing them.

Ross, 33, and Dan Swezy, a 49-year-old civilian, traveled from their home in Tucson, Ariz., so they could get married in Vermont, the first state to allow gays to enter into civil unions and one of six that have legalized same-sex marriage.

Ross wore his dress uniform for the double-ring ceremony that began at 11:45 p.m. Monday at Duxbury's Moose Meadow Lodge, a log cabin bed-and-breakfast perched on a hillside about 15 miles northwest of Montpelier. The lodge says it hosted the state's first gay wedding in 2009.

Justice of the Peace Greg Trulson proclaimed the marriage at exactly midnight.

Congratulations to the happy couple.

But just to remind you that there are still some folks who would gleefully kick your gay, married, military ass right back into the closet and nail the door shut, if only they got the chance:

Obama Certifies End of Don't Ask, Don't Tell

DADT ENDS. News just broke. 

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release July 22, 2011
Statement by the President on Certification of Repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell

Today, we have taken the final major step toward ending the discriminatory ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ law that undermines our military readiness and violates American principles of fairness and equality. In accordance with the legislation that I signed into law last December, I have certified and notified Congress that the requirements for repeal have been met. ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ will end, once and for all, in 60 days—on September 20, 2011.

As Commander in Chief, I have always been confident that our dedicated men and women in uniform would transition to a new policy in an orderly manner that preserves unit cohesion, recruitment, retention and military effectiveness. Today’s action follows extensive training of our military personnel and certification by Secretary Panetta and Admiral Mullen that our military is ready for repeal. As of September 20th, service members will no longer be forced to hide who they are in order to serve our country. Our military will no longer be deprived of the talents and skills of patriotic Americans just because they happen to be gay or lesbian.

I want to commend our civilian and military leadership for moving forward in the careful and deliberate manner that this change requires, especially with our nation at war. I want to thank all our men and women in uniform, including those who are gay or lesbian, for their professionalism and patriotism during this transition. Every American can be proud that our extraordinary troops and their families, like earlier generations that have adapted to other changes, will only grow stronger and remain the best fighting force in the world and a reflection of the values of justice and equality that the define us as Americans.

Accompanying documents here.


Great news. Thank you very much, Mr. President, for promoting and finishing the repeal of this hateful, hurtful, unncessary law.

The only downside is: Gay and lesbian spouses of military personnel will not be able to use family housing or obtain medical care, travel, and other benefits that straight couples get because the federal government - due to DOMA - does not recognize same-sex marriages. So that's the next big hurdle.

Still - what an historic change for our country. And I have lived to see this day.


DADTCert


Further reading:  For the record, Mike Signorile gives his recap of DADT repeal efforts since the President's State of the Union address in January 2010.

Gay Troops March at San Diego Pride

About 200 gay active-duty troops from every branch of the military said to hell with it and marched in the San Diego Pride parade today - probably the first time this has ever happened. Your Head Trucker admits that he couldn't help losing it over this little cellphone video. USA! USA! USA!



Update: Veteran gay reporter Rex Wockner counted more like 300 gay troops, and has another video of the march:



See still pictures of various non-military contingents over at his blog.

Marines Get Gay Training

Los Angeles Times:

WASHINGTON – Training for the repeal of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy that prohibits gays from serving openly in the military is going better than expected, military leaders told Congress on Thursday.

Top officials from the Army, Navy, Marines and Air Force testified before the House Armed Services Committee, with several telling committee members that training would be done as early as June.

"I'm looking specifically for issues that might arise coming out of the training, and the reality is that we've not seen them," said Gen. James Amos, the commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps. "I've asked for feedback . . . the clear majority of it is very positive."

This attitude is a turnaround for several of the generals who vocally opposed the repeal when it was being debated during last year's lame-duck session. Last November, Amos said he was concerned about a possible loss of unit cohesion and combat readiness in the case of a repeal. . . .

The repeal will take effect 60 days after President Obama, the secretary of defense and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff certify that it will not be harmful to military operations to reverse the ban.

"Your Country Wants You": Obama Signs DADT Repeal into Law

I say to all Americans, gay or straight, who want nothing more than to defend this country in uniform: Your country needs you, your country wants you, and we will be honored to welcome you into the ranks of the finest military the world has ever known. . . . 

For we are not a nation that says, “don’t ask, don’t tell.” We are a nation that says, “Out of many, we are one.” We are a nation that welcomes the service of every patriot. We are a nation that believes that all men and women are created equal. Those are the ideals that generations have fought for. Those are the ideals that we uphold today. And now, it is my honor to sign this bill into law.

--President Barack Obama

To be wanted, not scorned - what a breathtaking change.  And I have lived to see this day.

Full text of the President's remarks here.

Enlarging the Circle

Andrew Sullivan on today's historic vote:

It's been more than three decades since Leonard Matlovich appeared on the cover of Time magazine. It's been more than two decades since this struggle began to reach the realm of political possibility. From the painful non-compromise of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell", through the big increase in discharges under president Clinton, via the wars and civil marriage breakthroughs of the first decade of the 21st Century to the calm and reasoned Pentagon report of December 2010, the path has been uneven. We need to remember this. We need to remember constantly that any civil rights movement will be beset with reversals, with dark periods, with moments when the intensity of the despair breaks the hardiest of souls.

But we should also note that what won in the end was facts and testimony and truth. There is no rational basis to keep qualified and dedicated gays from serving in the military. It was confidence in this truth - not assertion of any special identity or special rights - that carried us forward. And the revelation of the actual lives and records of gay servicemembers - all of whom came out of the closet and risked their livelihoods to testify to the truth - has sunk in widely and deeply. These men and women had the courage to serve their country and then the courage to risk their careers, promotions, pensions, salaries and, in some cases, lives to bring this day about. They represent an often silent majority of gay men and women who simply want to belong to the families and country and churches and communities they love, and to contribute to them without having to lie about themselves. This, in the end, was not about the right to be gay, but the right to serve America. Like all great civil rights movements, it is in the end about giving, not taking. . . .

And this points to a deeper truth. What the gay rights movement should, in my view, be about is not the creation of a separate, protected class of victims. It should be about enlarging the circle of human freedom so that there are no excuses left, no classes of pre-ordained victims, just individual citizens living different lives with no group-based discrimination.

This does not deny the uniqueness of different cultures, the value of a distinct minority, the differentness of race and gender and orientation and religion and geography. It merely says that politics should be indifferent to this cacophony of voices and carnival of color. Politics should merely address those core civil inequalities that keep groups separate, alien and mutually suspicious. By removing the bar on military service and the bar on marriage, the gay rights movement is, slowly, increasingly, making America more whole and the gay rights movement obsolete.

I long for that day. But I will always cherish this one.

DADT Is Repealed

Menelaus supporting the body of his fellow warrior Patroclus,
the lover of Achilles in The Iliad

The final vote began at 3:02 p.m., Washington time, and the result was declared at 3:30:  the Senate voted to repeal DADT by 65 to 31.  Eight Republicans voted with the Democrats; all the nay votes were by Republicans; one Democrat did not vote.  So the measure passed by more than two to one.

Thanks be to God.

Whether you are in the military or out of it, or want to be in it or not, this is an historic moment, one for great rejoicing - because this action by our elected representatives secures our equality, our civil rights, much more firmly in American law and culture. Now it will be much harder to argue that gay men and women who have openly fought and bled and died for their country should be denied any of the rights and freedoms common to all Americans.

Today we are all a little more equal, a little more free, a little more normal, as the world conceives that to be.  And I have lived to see this day. Joy.


Wounded American troops in Afghanistan, 2007.
Which is the gay one?
Who cares?

Caution:  Before anybody gets too exuberant, keep in mind that today's vote, while tremendously significant for the future, does not accomplish all that is needed at one stroke, but begins the process. The Wall Street Journal explains:

Passage of the repeal does not does not immediately revoke the policy. Before "Don't Ask" is officially ended, the president, the secretary of defense and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff must sign a letter certifying that the necessary policies and procedures are in place within the military for gays to openly serve.  [note from Russ:  this means the Pentagon will have to work up all those things first, and in quadruplicate, natch, which will take some time to do; and they may stagger implementation across the services.]  Full repeal would take effect 60 days after that certification letter is transmitted to the congressional armed services committees.

Advocacy groups warned that gay service members may still be discharged during that interim period. Aubrey Sarvis, an Army veteran who is executive director for Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, a group that provides legal advice for service members affected by the ban, said, "Gay, lesbian and bisexual service members posted around the world are standing a little taller today, but they're still very much at risk because repeal is not final."

"We All Bleed Red"

About 1:25 p.m., EST:  Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., speaking in favor of DADT repeal, held up a large version of this editorial cartoon to illustrate his remarks on the floor of the Senate.  Your Head Trucker lost it for a moment.

While we are waiting on the historic vote to repeal DADT, here are a couple of excellent things that have been written this week on the subject - which, please God, in just a couple of hours we may consign to the history books. But for the record, these are well worth reading and remembering.

Jonathan Capehart, openly gay Washington Post columnist:

Look, I know the Marines consider themselves the bad-ass branch of the armed forces. But the obsession of Gen. James F. Amos, commandant of the Marine Corps, with the presumed negative impacts of allowing gay men and lesbians to serve openly in the military is getting out of hand. The Post's Craig Whitlock reports that Amos suggested that dropping don't ask don't tell could result in more casualties because their presence on the battlefield would pose "a distraction."

To listen to Amos, you'd think letting gay men and lesbians serve openly would turn his barracks into the set for the third season of RuPaul's Drag Race. Ridiculous, right? Marines who can't handle serving alongside someone who was closeted on Monday and then comes out on Tuesday are the one Amos should be worried about. They are the ones who will lack discipline. They are the ones who will wreck unit cohesion. They are the ones who will harm morale.

Perhaps Amos didn't read Patrick Pexton's excellent Dec. 1 op-ed in The Post on why gay men -- like all men -- join the military.

Straight soldiers and Marines who have a few years under their belts, and have done a combat tour or two, will more readily talk about this. They often say they enlisted in part because they wanted to prove to someone - maybe a father, their family or a sweetheart, but most often to themselves - that they were brave men willing to suffer the consequences of their adult decisions, even if that included death. That is one of the essences of masculinity, they have said in interviews.

But the scores of gay servicemen I have interviewed over the years express an identical desire to prove their strength, courage and masculinity. It isn't about proving sexual prowess, both straight and gay troops say, but about adulthood and, ultimately, male virtue.

Or maybe Amos would rather cling to outdated and bigoted views than follow his commander in chief, the defense secretary, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the American people, whose safety and liberty his able Marines are sworn to protect.

And a column by Nathan Cox, infantry captain in the Marine Corps, writing in the Washington Post:

I am an active-duty U.S. Marne Corps infantry officer. I have deployed twice to Iraq and once to Afghanistan and have commanded infantry Marines in combat. On Tuesday, Gen. James Amos, commandant of the Marine Corps, said he believes repealing "don't ask, don't tell" and allowing gay and lesbian Marines to serve openly could "cost Marines' lives" because of the "mistakes and inattention or distractions" that might ensue. I am not homosexual. And in this instance, I must respectfully disagree with my commandant. . . .

The commandant cites the importance of cohesion within small combat units and warns against its disruption by allowing homosexuals to stop concealing their identities. In my experience, the things that separate Marines in civilian life fade into obscurity on the battlefield. There, only one thing matters: Can you do your job? People care much more about whom you voted for or what city you're from while on the huge airbase with five Burger Kings, or back in the States, than they do when they're walking down a dusty road full of improvised explosive devices in Haditha or Sangin.

In the end, Marines in combat will treat sexual orientation the same way they treat race, religion and one's stance on the likelihood of the Patriots winning another Super Bowl. I do not believe the intense desire we all feel as Marines to accomplish the mission and protect each other will be affected in the slightest by knowing the sexual orientation of the man or woman next to us. . . .

I believe the reluctance many Marines feel about repeal is based on the false stereotype, borne out of ignorance, that homosexuals don't do things like pull other Marines from burning vehicles. The truth is, they do it all the time. We simply don't know it because they can't tell us.

It is time for "don't ask, don't tell" to join our other mistakes in the dog-eared chapters of history textbooks. We all bleed red, we all love our country, we are all Marines. In the end, that's all that matters.

Live Coverage: Senate Vote on DADT

Watch history being made while you eat breakfast, or nurse that hangover:

Senate Works into the Weekend on Last-Minute Legislation C-SPAN

You can read the 6-page PDF text of H.B. 2965 ("Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010") here. Look up more info about the bill at Thomas.loc.gov (Library of Congress).


Live blog from your Head Trucker - times are EST:

12:31 - The final vote on DADT repeal will be at 3 p.m. today, Washington time. Between now and then, the floor is open to senators who want to speak on that or on the START treaty, or who knows what. I'm listening to them drone on - even the senators who get up to speak in favor of repeal seem to me to be wasting their breath, there's no point in bring up more examples and indignant reactions pro or con now: it all comes down to the yeas and nays. I'll report back later on how it all turns out at 3 o'clock.

12:20 - Whups, not over yet. Reid is asking for a vote today at 3 p.m., apparently. McCain is bickering over debate time and technicalities.

12:12 - I guess that's all for today on DADT. But what a relief. The Washington Post says:

Senators voted 63 to 33 go proceed to debate on the bill. Fifty-seven members of the Senate Democratic caucus and six Republicans -- Sens. Scott Brown (Mass.), Susan Collins (Maine), Mark Kirk (Ill.), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Olympia Snowe (Maine) and George Voinovich (Ohio) -- voted yes. Four senators -- Jim Bunning (R-Ky.), Judd Gregg (R-N.H.), Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Joe Manchin III (D-W. Va.) -- did not vote.  [note from Russ:  Minich voted against repeal last week, but stayed home today.]

A final vote on the bill is expected Sunday; a simple majority is required for final passage.

New York Times:

“I don’t care who you love,” Senator Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon, said as debate opened. “If you love this country enough to risk your life for it, you shouldn’t have to hide who you are.”

Mr. Wyden showed up for the Senate vote despite saying on Friday that he would be unable to do so because he would be undergoing final tests before his scheduled surgery on Monday for prostate cancer.

12:01 - The first vote, for a North Carolina judge, sailed through with a voice vote only. But now the second vote is being done by roll call, so it's another dragged-out process. BTW, McCain keeps talking about maimed soldiers but conveniently overlooks gay vets like Eric Alva, first Marine wounded in Iraq, who lost a leg and was given a medical discharge.

11:49 - Cloture on DADT repeal passes, 63-33. Hooray! So there can be no filibuster against it. Now they can move on to an actual vote on the bill itself. But inexplicably, they are now going to vote on a couple of judicial nominations - WTF??

11:46 - Clerk just read out, rather rapidly, a tally of yeas and nays by name, and I think I counted 60+ in favor - but some senators are still ambling up to the clerk's desk to vote, as the mood strikes them it seems.

11:35 - McCain, invoking the image of "Marines in Bethesda with no legs" says this is a sad day, putting lives at risk by letting all the queers ruin the military. Voting begins again, but this time the clerk is apparently calling the roll to start with - but again, some senators are up out of their seats, lounging around and chatting as before, so I don't know exactly how the vote works here. But crossing all my fingers and toes. Some senators are replying to the roll call from their seats, but I can't hear them via TV, so can't tell how it's going.

11:34 - Lieberman asks his colleagues to vote for fairness and support repeal of DADT.

11:31 - Cloture on the DREAM Act fails, 55-41, not having gotten 60 votes. What does this portend for DADT repeal?

11:30 - The cloture vote to limit debate on the DREAM Act (H.R. 5281) is underway. The voting procedure in the Senate is not at all like in the movies. There is no drama, no sense of moment. Instead of a momentous roll call, with each senator declaiming his aye or nay from his desk, everyone is up out of their seats, ambling around the chamber, chitchatting in small groups as you would at a church social. When somebody gets damn good and ready to vote, he or she sidles up to the clerk's desk and lets her know how to mark their vote. This has gone on for 25 minutes.

11:05 - Reid remembers a young woman who spoke to him and said, "My parents aren't citizens, so I can't go to college; what am I supposed to do with my life?" That and other such stories have haunted him, which is why the DREAM Act must be passed.

11:01 - Reid quotes Barry Goldwater: "You don't have to be straight to shoot straight." SNAP!

10:59 - Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., Majority Leader, says McConnell's fake concern about the democratic process "brings a big yawn to the American people." Snap, snap, SNAP! "To suggest there haven't been enough hearings on this is simply nonsensical."

10:56 - Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Minority Leader, says not allowing amendments on these two bills is denying Americans the democratic process, yada yada yada.

10:53 - Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., Majority Whip, speaks in favor of the DREAM Act, a "monumental" issue of fairness he has been working on for ten years. Showing pictures of young immigrants who will benefit from the DREAM Act. Says "the cause of justice is worth the politcal risk" of voting for this bill." All of which is well and good, but I wish they would just stick to DADT, which I'm focused on, and not mix the two topics up together; but maybe that's all to the good.

10:42 - McCain says "I'm aware this bill will probably pass today" - and liberals will rejoice tomorrow but "we are doing great damage" and probably "harm the battle effectiveness so vital to the survival of our young men and women." Yields the balance of his time.

10:36 - Here we go. Sen. McCain, R-Ariz., gets 10 minutes to rant. Starts by asking if it's true that no amendments can be offered on either bill before the Senate; the chair says that's true. Then he starts in on how the Senate is defying the will of the American people as expressed in the recent election. And the will of the military leaders and the troops themselves, which will "cost Marines' lives" - and yada, yada, yada. "It isn't broke, don't fix it."

10:35 - Sen. Charles Shumer, D-N.Y., quotes de Tocqueville: "What makes America different from all other nations is that equality always prevails."

10:33 - Sen. Gillibrand, D-N.Y., in a short but impassioned speech says both DADT repeal and the DREAM Act are about letting people who want to be part of the American fabric, do so.

10:28 - Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., Minority Whip, is maundering on with ten reasons why the Senate should not pass the DREAM act and let the barbarian hordes overwhelm our borders.

10:22 - Sen. Feinstein, D-Calif., says the criteria for military service should be "courage, competence, and a willingness to serve." Also speaks in favor of the DREAM Act.

10:15 - Sen. Lieberman, I-Conn., in a somewhat rambling response says the bottom line is, repeal will make our best-in-the-world military even better.

10:04 - Sen. Saxby, D-Ga., says now is not the time to repeal the law, in the middle of a war. If we do, "250,000 soldiers and Marines will leave the service in short order" because they can't bear to fight alongside all them nasty queerz.

Keep Your Fingers Crossed, Fellas

Tomorrow the Senate votes on the standalone bill to repeal DADT, which the House has already passed.  Barney Frank says it's "overwhelmingly likely" to pass in the Senate too . . . and about damn time.



Joe Lieberman:



Sen. Gillibrand and Rep. Polis:

Will the Ghost of DADT Repeal Pass?

As you all no doubt know, the Senate scuttled the defense bill yesterday, along with a provision repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell, 57-40.  Major fucking bummer.

But a few Senators have bright hopes for passing a standalone DADT repeal bill before the Senate adjourns for the holidays.  I can't imagine it will pass either, but Rachel explains all the machinations now underway:

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Andrew Sullivan:

I have no idea whether this is viable as a way to save repeal. But one does note that repeal has passed the House, is supported by the military chiefs and defense secretary, has the backing of two-thirds of the American public, and has a 57 - 40 majority in the Senate.

This really means that John McCain's filibuster is what is killing repeal. Astonishing what one man's bitter soul can do to American democracy.

Bizarre, Absurd, Contemptible

Kilroy is still here

Openly gay Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.) on the DADT debate led by "old, white, straight male" bigots in Congress:



Rachel Maddow hears from former Secretary of the Army Clifford Alexander about "the point of absurdity" this debate has gotten to:



Andrew Sullivan:

I wish I understood McCain. I thought I did once, but it seems increasingly clear that he is a man of near-suicidal vanity and misjudgment (remember suspending his entire campaign to deal with Lehman Brothers, or the insanely reckless selection of an unvetted Palin) and defined by grudges. Much of his shift to the center in 2000 and after was, it now seems obvious, an attempt to sabotage the man who defeated him, George W. Bush. His conduct in the last two years seems very similar with respect to Obama, despite Obama's early attempts to persuade and coopt him.

He's not homophobic. Very close members of his staff have been gay. His longtime chief-of-staff, Mark Buse, was and is openly gay. But perhaps buried in this psyche is something generational. McCain grew up in a world where homosexuality was never spoken of, and subsequently tolerated with radioactive discretion. Gays were objects of pity and sometimes personal affection - but never seen as full equals. And the notion of a core American icon - the American soldier - being equated with gayness - in the open - is something perhaps beyond his amygdala to process.

The alternative explanation for his recent behavior is fathomless cynicism and hollowness. It's important to remember how this torture victim, in 2006, agreed to acquiesce to the CIA using the same torture techniques once used on him on other prisoners. . . .

I don't know how a torture victim can subsequently support the same thing being done to others. I don't know he sleeps at night knowing that he is responsible for tying human beings up for hours on end in excruciating stress positions - especially when he knows firsthand how horrifying this is. But I do know that such a man has lost his soul in the process.

And that is why this week is not the first time that I have felt a great deal of contempt for him. But it's also personal this time - because I know so many servicemembers who serve and have served with great honor, even with the knife of DADT stuck firmly in their backs. By possibly being the one man insisting on keeping that knife in them and twisting it, he has gone from being contemptible to being despicable, an enemy of the American soldier he is so proud publicly to support.

Pentagon Report Asks for Repeal of DADT

The long-awaited report is out, and it's a good one. Full 267-page PDF report here, which your Head Trucker has read and highly recommends.

David Wood summarizes at Politics Daily:

Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Tuesday urged the Senate to speedily repeal the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell'' law banning gays from serving openly in the military, as the Pentagon released a year-long internal study that found repeal would cause only ''limited and isolated'' short-term disruptions to military readiness and esprit.

Seventeen years to the day after President Clinton signed into law the 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy, the Pentagon formally asked that the law be abolished and set out both the rationale and the procedure to implement what would be a broad social change among the nation's 2.5 million active-duty, reserve and National Guard soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines. . . .

Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, also concurred with the report's findings, and noted that whatever the personal feelings of individual service members about repeal of the law, existing military regulations on personal behavior would continue to govern."We in uniform have an obligation to follow orders,'' he said. "We treat people with dignity and respect in the armed forces -- or we don't last long.''

Gates and Mullen had previously declared themselves in favor of repeal of the gay ban, arguing that it required gay and lesbian service members to lie, violating the military's highest value of honor. The service chiefs, who head the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps, have expressed greater doubts about repeal, with Gen. James Amos, Marine commandant, expressing outright opposition.

Nonetheless, about two-thirds of active-duty, reserve and National Guard personnel would be comfortable serving alongside openly gay or lesbian service members or felt indifferent about the change, the study found.

More resistance was found within the largely male Marine Corps and Army combat troops and special operations units, where the Pentagon study found 40 to 60 percent either were opposed to repeal of the gay ban or said it would harm the critical camaraderie of their units.

But across the military services, the study also found that about 69 percent of troops have served with a gay or lesbian service member. Of those, 92 percent said they either favored repeal or did not oppose it.

Even among combat units with the greatest doubt about changing the law, 84 percent of the Marines and 89 percent of Army soldiers who said they had served with gays or lesbians said they did not oppose repeal.

Asked at a Pentagon briefing Tuesday about doubts and reservations among troops about repeal of the law, Gates said, "Part of this is a question of unfamiliarity, part of it is stereotypes, and part of it is just inherent resistance to change when you don't know what's on the other side.''

It's perhaps the largest survey of military personnel ever undertaken, involving direct survey responses from 115,000 active-duty personnel and their spouses, and about that many more responses via other channels.

And when all is said and reviewed - and my Stetson is off to the military, they did it all up good and proper - the bottom line is:  having the gays in the military just ain't no big deal.

So suck it, McCain.

Veterans Day

Tombstone of Sgt. Leonard Matlovich, USAF

From Servicemembers Legal Defense Fund:

DADT: Sense and Nonsense

I've not commented recently on the whole DADT thing because it's all such a muddle, and now it's tossed salad between the courts and a lame-duck Congress and a dithering President.  Who knows how or when it will ever get repealed.

I will say, and some of you may disagree, that it seems to me very improper for one District Court judge in California - who is very low on the totem pole, as federal judges go - to resolve the whole big debate by a singlehanded "worldwide" ruling.  The reason being, guys, that the military is a special case for several very good reasons.  And the Constitution makes the President the Commander-in-Chief, while Congress holds the purse strings.  The Supreme Court, it seems to me, is the only body that can possibly have a say in the matter, so for constitutional reasons, I'm glad the appeals are headed that way.

Similarly, my love for my country requires me to sharply disagree with the notion proposed today by Adam Serwer today in the Washington Post blog The Plum Line, in an article entitled "On DADT, it's imperial presidency time," where he argues:

If Republicans continue to block DADT repeal from even coming to a vote, the president should take a page from Truman and end the policy through an executive order advising the military not to enforce the policy and cease defending it from challenges in court. The military's own empirical studies show allowing gays and lesbians to serve does not hurt military effectiveness, and the military's own policy of occasionally delaying DADT investigations of deployed troops confirms that finding. The military in Truman's time was deeply opposed to integration, and if he had waited for a favorable political climate to act desegregation might not have occurred for decades.

During the Bush years, liberals complained about his "imperial presidency," and so the idea that Obama should simply end the policy by fiat would seem hypocritical. But the use of an executive order to end a policy a majority of Americans, including conservatives, want to end, is no more undemocratic than Republicans' use of procedural maneuvers to thwart an up or down vote. Republicans holding the legislative process, and the fundamental rights of gay and lesbian servicemembers, hostage to their own homophobic prejudices, would still be the greater act of tyranny.

This is an extremely short-sighted view, and a very, very dangerous one.  Guys - think about it.  No matter how hurt, disappointed, or outraged we may feel at this moment over the delay in repealing DADT, you really don't want to live in a banana republic where the Congress passes laws that the President of the day simply ignores at will.

Nor do you want government-by-opinion-poll.  Just think about that.  Serwer's proposal would throw the entire Consitutional system of checks and balances into the toilet, and set an incredibly dangerous precedent for future presidents.  Some of whom will be Republican.  Or worse.  We do not want a system where the President just does whatever the hell he pleases, when he pleases.  Do you understand?

The glory of our nation is that we live under the rule of law, not of men.  That rule was already stretched nearly to the breaking point by the last President.  Let's not go backwards, fellas.  You want to make rules for others to live by?  Well then, knucklehead, you have to live by the rules and play by the rules yourself.  Didn't you learn that on the playground in first grade?

Also, you need to understand, as I've blogged about before, that Truman did not wave a magic wand and zap! integrate the military overnight, with everybody loving up on everybody else and saying ain't it wonderful.   It took more than ten years, from the first surveys of troop attitudes during World War II to the removal of all segregated facilities on military bases.  If you want to be truly informed - and therefore, worth listening to on this subject - go read the timeline of military desegregation at the Truman Presidential Library website.

Also, you should understand that when Truman issued his executive order, Congress had never passed a law requiring the armed forces to be segregated; it was merely longstanding policy.  The difference today is that Congress did pass a law, DADT, which makes it a different ballgame.  Yes, the Supreme Court ought to rule that DADT is totally unconstitutional - but we just aren't there yet.

Dr. Gregory Herek, psychology professor at UC-Davis, has an excellent web site with many valuable links pertaining to DADT.  Also, after noting the somewhat reluctant use of black troops from the Revolutionary War to World War I, Herek explains (emphasis mine):

At the beginning of World War II, as in the past, personnel needs dictated that Black recruits be accepted for military service. Once again, Black enlisted personnel were segregated from Whites – usually led by Black officers – and placed in support roles. As the war effort progressed, however, the Navy experimented with integration of enlisted personnel, which was less expensive than maintaining combat-ready segregated units. By the War’s end, more than one million African-Americans served efficiently in various service branches. Inter-racial conflict did not appear to be a problem in combat zones, although some tensions were reported in rear areas. As Stouffer and his colleagues concluded in their social scientific study of the American soldier, events in World War II demonstrated that Blacks were effective fighters and that racial integration in the military would not compromise unit effectiveness.

Nevertheless, racial segregation remained official government policy until President Harry Truman's historic Executive Order 9981, issued a few months before the 1948 election, which "declared to be the policy of the President that there shall be equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion, or national origin." Following this order, the armed forces began to institute a policy of racial desegregation. Desegregation proceeded slowly, however, and met with resistance.

Most civilians and military personnel opposed racial integration. One month before President Truman's Executive Order, a Gallup poll showed that 63% of American adults endorsed the separation of Blacks and Whites in the military; only 26% supported integration. A 1949 survey of white Army personnel revealed that 32% completely opposed racial integration in any form, and 61% opposed integration if it meant that Whites and Blacks would share sleeping quarters and mess halls. However, 68% of white soldiers were willing to have Blacks and Whites work together, provided they didn't share barracks or mess facilities.

As the 1993 RAND report noted,

"Many white Americans (especially Southerners) responded with visceral revulsion to the idea of close physical contact with blacks. Many also perceived racial integration as a profound affront to their sense of social order. Blacks, for their part, often harbored deep mistrust of whites and great sensitivity to any language or actions that might be construed as racial discrimination" (National Defense Research Institute, 1993, p. 160).

As in past wars, the Korean conflict created a shortage of personnel and Black Americans helped to fill this need. Because of troop shortages and the high costs of maintaining racially segregated facilities, integration rapidly became a reality. In 1951, integration of the Army was boosted by the findings from a study of the impact of desegregation on unit effectiveness of troops deployed in Korea. The researchers concluded that racial integration had not impaired task performance or unit effectiveness, that cooperation in integrated units was equal or superior to that of all-White units, and that serving with Blacks appeared to make White soldiers more accepting of integration. By the end of the Korean conflict [1953], the Department of Defense (DOD) had eliminated all racially segregated units and living quarters.

Igor Volsky at the Wonk Room has transcribed some surveys done by the American military from 1942 to 1945, which reveal how widespread and unpopular the idea of racial integration was among enlisted men and officers:

These surveys show that the same attitude pervaded the military: 3/4 Air Force men favored separate training schools, combat, and ground crews and 85% of white soldiers thought it was a good idea to have separate service clubs in army camps . . .

While smaller, these racial polls share some common questions with the DADT survey. In fact, in some instances one can even replace “negro” for “gay” and end up with today’s questionnaire. Both polls ask servicemembers if they objected to working alongside minorities, how they felt serving with minorities, how effective minorities are in combat and if their feelings have changed about the minority after serving with them. (Interestingly, 77% of respondents said they had more favorable opinion).

Truman integrated the forces despite the objections of the troops and it remains to be seen if Gates, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mike Mullen and President Obama (who have to sign off on the DOD study) are willing to do the same for Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.

The surveys make interesting reading; good stuff to know if you get into a conversation about DADT.  Here's the transcript of what Volsky found:

Final Race Wonk Room


Bottom line:  Fight hard, fight fair, but it's important to play by the rules, and to expect a period of adjustment even after DADT is repealed - which it will be one day, please God.  But nobody and nothing is going to make it all happen peachy-keen overnight. 

And you absolutely do not want a fucking dictatorship where that could happen.  Think it over, guys.  The rule of law, checks and balances, constitutional government:  gay or straight, white or black, male or female, our first allegiance must be to all those those things that make our country what it is, and will in time make it what it should be.

Without them, America would not be worth living in.  Without them, we would be the Evil Empire of the world.  I don't want to go there, do you?


Update:  Kevin Drum at Mother Jones via Andrew Sullivan:

Let's face it: if you pick your jurisdiction right you can probably find a district court judge to rule just about anything unconstitutional. It would be easy, for example, to find a district court judge somewhere to say that the healthcare reform law was unconstitutional. If this happened in 2013 and President Palin decided not to appeal the ruling, thus overturning the law, what would we think of this? Not much, and rightfully so. A district court judgment is just flatly not sufficient reason to overturn an act of Congress.

Unwanted and Unmentionable

The willful refusal to see any worth in human beings outside one's own kind is a species of that evil I wrote about the other day.

Two cases in point:  first, the mayor of Yuma, Arizona - figures - uses a Memorial Day speech to condemn the worthless "lacey-drawered, limp-wristed" fags who would ruin our military:



Yesterday, in a telephone interview with the local newspaper, the mayor said:  "As mayor I must respect the lifestyle choices of others, no matter how disagreeable they are with my personal beliefs or my personal moral standards.  I apologize for my comments at the Memorial Day service at Desert Lawn cemetery on Memorial Day."

Notice that the translation into plain English is:  It's a choice, a filthy nasty perverted choice, and I ain't changed my mind one bit.  So bite me,  faggots.

The Yuma Sun article, picking up on the mayor's reference to George Washington, correctly notes that Washington's chief of staff in the Revolutionary War was Baron von Steuben - who brought his French lover with him to the battlefields.  And did a helluva great job of warfare too.

Oh, you didn't hear about that in history class?  Really?  No wonder - teh gayz have always been erased from history - wiped off the page.  Repeatedly.  Deliberately.

Why?  For this simple reason:  you are just too shocking to explain to a 7-year-old.  As Congressdouche Ike Skelton, R-MO, House Armed Services Committee Chairman, makes so clear:

Don't even mention the gays - the kids might ask questions!

Okay, so now do you get the picture:  not only are you a worthless fag that everybody, including God, hates with a passion - but also your very existence is unmentionable in front of children. In fact, you have no right to exist, period, you disgusting creep.

That's evil.

Sunday Drive: Letter to a G. I.

As we commemorate the service and sacrifice of our nation's veterans, straight and gay, this post from Servicemembers Legal Defense Network seems especially fitting today:

May 28, 2010

President Barack H. Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest
Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President,

For the past month, we have sent you personal letters from those harmed by “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” With the votes in the House and the Senate Armed Services Committee, we are bringing our series to a close. The final letter we are sharing with you was written by a World War II soldier to another service member. It is a love letter penned on the occasion of their anniversary.

The letter, which follows below, was published in September 1961 by ONE Magazine – an early gay magazine based out of Los Angeles. In 2000, Bob Connelly, an adjunct professor of LGBT studies at American University, found a copy of the letter in the Library of Congress. He brought the letter to the attention of Servicemembers Legal Defense Network last month.

We sincerely thank Mr. Connelly for his research and the ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives for granting permission for the letter to be republished.

Please accept this letter on the behalf of all lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender service members on active-duty, in the reserve and in the National Guard; those who have been discharged; and those who didn’t enlist because of the discriminatory law now being dismantled.

With great respect,
Former Specialist 4th Class Aubrey Sarvis
United States Army

The letter as published by ONE Magazine:

Dear Dave,

This is in memory of an anniversary – the anniversary of October 27th, 1943, when I first heard you singing in North Africa. That song brings memories of the happiest times I’ve ever known. Memories of a GI show troop – curtains made from barrage balloons – spotlights made from cocoa cans – rehearsals that ran late into the evenings – and a handsome boy with a wonderful tenor voice. Opening night at a theatre in Canastel – perhaps a bit too much muscatel, and someone who understood. Exciting days playing in the beautiful and stately Municipal Opera House in Oran – a misunderstanding – an understanding in the wings just before opening chorus.

Drinks at “Coq d’or” – dinner at the “Auberge” – a ring and promise given. The show 1st Armoured – muscatel, scotch, wine – someone who had to be carried from the truck and put to bed in his tent. A night of pouring rain and two very soaked GIs beneath a solitary tree on an African plain. A borrowed French convertible – a warm sulphur spring, the cool Mediterranean, and a picnic of “rations” and hot cokes. Two lieutenants who were smart enough to know the score, but not smart enough to realize that we wanted to be alone. A screwball piano player – competition – miserable days and lonely nights. The cold, windy night we crawled through the window of a GI theatre and fell asleep on a cot backstage, locked in each other’s arms – the shock when we awoke and realized that miraculously we hadn’t been discovered. A fast drive to a cliff above the sea – pictures taken, and a stop amid the purple grapes and cool leaves of a vineyard.

The happiness when told we were going home – and the misery when we learned that we would not be going together. Fond goodbyes on a secluded beach beneath the star-studded velvet of an African night, and the tears that would not be stopped as I stood atop the sea-wall and watched your convoy disappear over the horizon.

We vowed we’d be together again “back home,” but fate knew better – you never got there. And so, Dave, I hope that where ever you are these memories are as precious to you as they are to me.

Goodnight, sleep well my love.

Brian Keith