It's Congress, Bitches

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Okay so thanks to Americablog Gay, for the benefit of the many who seem not to have actually read the thing, here is the actual goddamn text of the amendment that was passed by the House yesterday, 234-194, and which assorted I'm-too-fucking-liberal-for-my-shirt bloggers are losing their shit about, and Dan Choi - who I've admired up till now - is going on a hunger strike to protest:

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It's awful late here in Texas and I'm late for the bed as it is, so I'll keep my rant short.  But the thing is, guys, this is like totally major fucking progress.  And anybody who doesn't think so needs their silly ass kicked hard by a great big army boot.

The military needs to do their study and will do their study before any fucking thing changes.  Hell, babies, the military doesn't send out for morning coffee without doing a 10-page Needs Assessment.  In quadruplicate.  Anal retentive?  Constipated as hell?  Sure, but that's the reality of the military, and nobody in this universe is ever going to wave a magic wand and have it happen any differently.

When Truman - a man with great big balls and not afraid to make tough decisions - ordered the Armed Forces to desegregate in 1948, the last desegregated units were not phased out until 1954 - six years later.

So I say, patience all around is what the world needs now, not tantrums.  It's not immediate repeal, but if the Senate passes the measure and the President signs it into law, it will make repeal the officially stated goal and policy of the United States Government.  Is that so bad?  Really?

So be happy, bitches, and get over your right-now-this-minute mad.  It's not helping.

And BTW have you really and truly forgotten that just a year and a half ago we were all living in the dark, stinking night of the Bush regime?  Have you forgotten how utterly hopeless today's vote was in that long eight years of Republican rule?  Do you also understand there's a midterm election in November, and the Republicans may well regain control of one or both houses of Congress?  And just what in the hell do you think will happen to all the gay-rights legislation then, hmm? 

Wake up and smell the latte before history runs right over your heads, people.

Dan Choi Arrested at the White House - Again

Lt. Dan Choi, Capt. Jim Pietrangelo, Petty Officer Larry Whitt, Cadet Mara Boyd, Airman Victor Price, and Petty Officer Autumn Sandeen - a transgender woman who regularly blogs on Pam's House Blend - were arrested at the White House today after chaining themselves to the fence.  Newsweek's Human Condition blog has short profiles on the group here.  Choi and Pietrangello, you remember, were already arrested for doing the same thing just last month.  Raw video of today's arrests from CBS:



And in an unprecedented move, White House Police cleared reporters from the area and barred them from covering the story:  this from "the most transparent Administration in history":



The President was heckled during a speech yesterday by protesters demanding an end to DADT, to which the President responded, "I agree"; both this and the White House protest were organized by GetEqual:



An apt quote from Rep. Barney Frank, speaking over the weekend to the Victory Fund about the passage of ENDA:

Here's my radical homosexual agenda:  Let us get married, join the military and hold down a job. Very few radicals in history would have thought much of that.

Dan Choi: Not Guilty, Not Ashamed, Not Finished

From Newsweek's interview with Dan Choi on his arrest with Capt. Jim Pietrangelo after handcuffing themselves to the White House gates last week:

Why not now? Within the gay community so many leaders want acceptance from polite society. I think there's been a betrayal of what is down inside of us in order to achieve what looks popular, what look enviable. The movement seems to be centered around how to become an elite. There is a deep schism [in the gay-rights movement], everyone knows this. But this shouldn't be about which group has better branding. There is a tremor right now in every gay and transgender youth that these groups are not grasping. I would say to them—you do not represent us if all you are looking for is a ladder into elite society.

When I get messages from people who want to be a part of this I ask back: what are you willing to sacrifice? We are tired of being stereotyped as privileged, bourgeois elites. Is someone willing to give up their career, their relationships with powerful people, their Rolodex, or their parents' love to stand up for who they are? I'm giving up my military rank, my unit—which to me is a family—my veterans' benefits, my health care, so what are you willing to sacrifice?

They say freedom is not free, but it doesn't have to cost anything either. Jesus up on the cross did not have a party with all his major donors to raise money for his cause, his cross was free. Ghandi did not need three-course dinners and a cocktail party to get his message out. These are people who sacrificed their lives. For them it was hemlock, a cross, the bullet that shot Harvey Milk . . . it was not the size of their distribution list, but their message that endured. . . .

When I was handcuffed to the gate someone else asked me what's next. I'm standing there with hands lifted skyward and I just told him, "This is." I have fully committed my life and all the sacrifices necessary to manifest equality and America's promises. Like I said at court, "I'm not guilty, I'm not ashamed, and I'm not finished."

A trial date is set for April 26.  They will also likely face courts-martial by the military.  Below, the two men after being released on bail last Saturday at the D. C. Courthouse:

Lt. Dan Choi Arrested at White House Protest

Catch the video posts at Joe.My.God.

Also:  GetEQUAL activists have staged a sit-in at House Speaker Pelosi's offices in Washington and San Francisco, saying they will not leave till ENDA is passed.  Story and videos at Towleroad.

Motion and Intertia

In an interview on NBC, General Petraeus said he has served in combat with gay and lesbian fellow soldiers.  He also said "I'm not sure" that today's troops give a fuck about their comrades' sexuality.

Interesting comments.  We'll see how all that goes down when he and other top commanders testify before Congress.  Just don't expect this to be a short process:  the military is totally anal retentive methodical about everything it does, from ordering paper clips to building battleships.

But at least the process has started - finally.  And about damn time.

I didn't blog this last week, but guess you guys know that Lt. Dan Choi was called back to duty with his National Guard outfit; an unexpected and highly indicative turn of events, I think.

Now if only we could get some motion going on healthcare reform.  Why, with a Democrat majority in both houses of Congress, and a Democrat president, nothing - just nothing - can be accomplished on that is beyond my ability to comprehend.

You know if it were a Republican idea, and they had the majorities, you'd already have your Medicare ID card in your hand by now, don't you guys?

Camp Courage: "This is the Time for Telling"

Lt. Dan Choi, speaking about his work with Camp Courage, a travelling workshop in California run by the Courage Campaign to teach community organizing and communication skills to LGBT rights supporters around the state:

I would liken a lot of the things Camp Courage has taught to a lot of the values that the Army tries to inculcate, and I think Camp Courage does that brilliantly. It really just says, “You have to stand up for who you are,” and, “Your fears and your human tendency to hide and to be comfortable are the things that make our movement and our society absolutely weak.”

A lot of people have a sense of worthlessness, particularly within the LGBT community just because of the way society has set up judgment against us. Camp Courage really turned that on its head, and says that the sense of worthlessness and that hiding is what makes you worthless. When we break through that, even with all the consequences — particularly with me, the consequence of getting kicked out of the military — some of us feel like we’ve been stripped of our dignity. But us just standing and sharing that story, that is our dignity in itself. And so that’s really the message that I’ve tried to portray to a lot of people as much as possible — there is so much strength in that very simple value of honesty and integrity. I’ve realized that parts of my identity help me to spread that message in different ways, and they build a platform, in a way, so that I can communicate to a wide array of people. But the basics of it all, the foundation, is the fact that when you stand up, you confer that dignity upon yourself. . . .

We can have all this legislation and we can have all these successes in the courtroom or in Congress or even in the executive branch or the bureaucratic level, and those are measureable. But the true measure for me, when I think about my work and this activism, is are we capable as individual gay people in the world to live honestly, and how have we progressed in the ability for people to come to terms with themselves. So when you look at that very noble end state, then every single thing we do, even if we seem disunited, is working toward that.

If you think just in terms of if the activism is going to the end of having legislation, then, sure, you can think of it in terms of lobbying. You can look at the other lobbies and see other constructs and the constraints of our particular political system. But my goal from the very beginning is to tell every soldier—and of course that’s applicable to every Southern Baptist, or every Asian-American, or every gay person in America and the world — that you are honorable. When we can make that message very clear to all these people, I think, in the end, that is much more important for us as a community, to have that dignity. Are we there yet? I think we’ve come a long way in that goal.

Sign the Petition: Don't Fire Dan

Hey guys, take 10 seconds and go sign this petition to President Obama on behalf of Lt. Dan Choi and all the other thousands of gay and lesbian troops fighting for this country but in danger of being fired from the military under DADT.

Over 200 have been discharged just since Obama took office- and he's not lifting a finger to stop that.

If you care, sign the petition. You say you want Change? Do something about it.

The petition is being run by the Courage Campaign, in California. Here's one of the great equality videos they've produced recently; see more at their website.

Please Do Not Fire Me

So just how fucking long is this stupid shit going to continue? Lt. Dan Choi has written an open letter to the President, as Rachel Maddow reports:

Compare the current President's silence on DADT with Truman's executive order ending segregation in the U.S. military.

How strange that we now have a black man as President, whose parents' marriage at the time he was born was strictly illegal in Texas and all the other Southern states; and who, had he been around during World War II, could never have served alongside white soldiers in our military; and yet he sure seems to be dragging his feet on equality for gay soldiers. WTF?

When Southerners in Congress questioned his civil-rights stand, Truman told them:

Whatever my inclination as a native of Missouri might have been, as President, I know this is bad. I shall fight to end evil like this.

Another time, Truman said:

You know that being an American is more than a matter of where your parents came from. It is a belief that all men are created free and equal and that everyone deserves an even break.

Mr. Obama, are you listening?