Eideard

Today marks the end of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell“. The law is repealed. From this day forward Gay and Lesbian soldiers may serve in our Army with the dignity and respect they deserve. Our rules, regulations and policies reflect the repeal guidance issues by the Department of Defense and will apply uniformly without regard to sexual orientation, which is a personal and private matter.

Click on the link above for the whole statement.

Overdue.

They are crap spilling over the rim of the overstuffed garbage can of history.

Secretary Gates answering questions on the flight back from Afghanistan
Daylife/AP Photo used by permission

Failing to repeal the law prohibiting openly gay and lesbian people from serving in the military leaves the services vulnerable to the possibility the courts will order an immediate and likely chaotic end to the policy, Defense Secretary Robert Gates told reporters Friday.

Gates, speaking aboard an aircraft as he traveled in the Middle East, said that “my greatest worry will be that we are at the mercy of the courts and all of the lack of predictability that that entails.”

The Senate on Thursday rejected a Democratic bid to open debate on a defense authorization bill that includes a repeal of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. The House has already passed the repeal measure, but with time running out in the current lame-duck session of Congress, Democrats were uncertain they could overcome Republican opposition and approve the proposal.

Democrats were pushing for action now because the new Congress in January brings a Republican-controlled House and a diminished Democratic majority in the Senate, which will make repealing “don’t ask, don’t tell” more difficult.

On Friday, about 100 people gathered near the U.S. Capitol to urge legislators to pass the repeal. One of them, retired U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Dennis Laich, said Republican opponents of the repeal measure were “absent without leave” in their legislative responsibility, while the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network called for the Senate to put off its holiday recess until “the task is finished.”

Gay rights advocacy groups, including those comprising military personnel, immediately condemned the Senate vote.

“Today leaders of both parties let down the U.S. military and the American people,” said Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign.

And it’s only going to get worse, folks.

Civil rights, education, support for small business, healthcare, regulatory reform of Wall Street? Republicans and Blue Dog Dems will have lobbyists, nutballs and bigots sitting on their laps every day in the next Congress.

Handcuffed Gay members of the military protest President Obama’s inaction
Daylife/AP PHoto used by permission

A federal judge on Tuesday ordered the U.S. military to stop enforcing the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, effectively ending the ban on openly gay troops.

U.S. District Judge Virginia Phillips’ permanent injunction orders the military “immediately to suspend and discontinue any investigation, or discharge, separation, or other proceeding, that may have been commenced” under the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.

The judge, a Clinton appointee based in the Central District of California, previously ruled that the policy regarding gays serving in the military violated service members’ Fifth Amendment rights to due process and freedom of speech, but had delayed issuing the injunction.

The military was sued by Log Cabin Republicans, a gay rights group.

Justice Department spokesperson Tracy Shmaler would only say the department is “reviewing the ruling.” The department has 60 days to appeal, but is not required to do so…

More than 12,500 people have been booted from the military since “don’t ask, don’t tell” went into effect. Along with barring openly gay, lesbian and bisexual individuals from serving, the policy prevents the military from asking them about it.

Log Cabin Republicans praised the ruling but urged “caution by servicemembers considering coming out at this time, as the Obama administration still has the option to appeal.”

And, I’m sad to say I’d have to agree with the caution. Already appears that the DOJ is filing an appeal.

There simply are too many issues, too many times, that Obama has backed down before conservative homophobia – whether it’s coming from Republicans, teabaggers and religious nutballs – or Blue Dog Democrats. Bipartisan backwardness.

Handcuffed Gay members of the military protest President Obama’s inaction
Daylife/AP PHoto used by permission

The “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy toward gay members of the military is unconstitutional, a federal judge in California has ruled.

Judge Virginia A. Phillips of Federal District Court struck down the rule in an opinion [.pdf] issued late in the day. The policy was signed into law in 1993 as a compromise that would allow gay and lesbian soldiers to serve in the military…

The plaintiffs challenged the law under the Fifth and First Amendments to the Constitution, and Judge Phillips agreed.

“The ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ act infringes the fundamental rights of United States service members in many ways,” she wrote. “In order to justify the encroachment on these rights, defendants faced the burden at trial of showing the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ act was necessary to significantly further the government’s important interests in military readiness and unit cohesion. Defendants failed to meet that burden…”

The decision is among a number of recent rulings that suggest a growing judicial skepticism about measures that discriminate against homosexuals, including rulings against California’s ban on same-sex marriage and a Massachusetts decision striking down a federal law forbidding the federal government to recognize same-sex marriage…

The suit was brought by the Log Cabin Republicans, a gay organization. The group’s executive director, R. Clarke Cooper, pronounced himself “delighted” with the ruling, which he called “not just a win for Log Cabin Republican service members but all American service members…”

Richard Socarides, a lawyer who served as an adviser to the Clinton administration on gay issues when the policy was passed into law, said the legal action was long overdue. “The president has said he opposes the policy, yet he has defended it in court. Now that he’s lost, and resoundingly so, he must stop enforcing it.”

Our president will probably dump responsibility into the collective Congressional lap – whose members will sort themselves out along traditional American political lines: The bigots will assemble their collection of code words and hold press conferences defending their bigotry. The cowards will assemble their collection of do-nothing code words and decry bigotry – and fail to do a damned thing about it.

I don’t know of very many principled members of Congress who will actually stand up for the extension of civil rights to all Americans just because it’s their constitutional right. Do you?

In early 2008, just eight days before he was to deploy in support of the war in Afghanistan, Lt. Col. Victor Fehrenbach, a decorated Air Force flight officer, was told he was under investigation on charges of sexually assaulting a civilian and of violating the military’s ban on homosexuality.

He was placed on desk duty at Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho. Within three weeks, the sexual assault allegation was dismissed for lack of evidence. But the Air Force investigation into his sexuality continued. Now, just a year from completing his 20th year in the military, Colonel Fehrenbach, 40, believes he is about to be discharged under the policy known as “don’t ask, don’t tell.” He would be among the highest-ranking service members discharged under the policy.

On Wednesday, Colonel Fehrenbach’s lawyers filed papers in Idaho federal court requesting a temporary order blocking his discharge. The petition contends that a discharge would violate Colonel Fehrenbach’s rights, cause him irreparable harm and fail to meet standards established in a 2008 federal court ruling on don’t ask, don’t tell.

For advocates of abolishing the ban against gay men, lesbians and bisexuals serving openly, Colonel Fehrenbach’s case has become something of a line in the sand. Though President Obama has called for ending the ban and Congress has begun moving in that direction, gay service members continue to face investigations and discharge, albeit at a lower rate than in past years.

Lawyers for Colonel Fehrenbach assert that his case is among the most egregious applications of the policy in their experience. The Air Force investigation into his sexuality began with a complaint from a civilian that was eventually dismissed by the Idaho police and the local prosecutor as unfounded, according to court papers. Colonel Fehrenbach has never publicly said that he is gay.

However, during an interview with an Idaho law enforcement official, he acknowledged having consensual sex with his accuser. Colonel Fehrenbach’s lawyers say he did not realize Air Force investigators were observing that interview; his admission led the Air Force to open its “don’t ask” investigation.

RTFA. Lots of backwards bureaucratic behavior by the Air Force.

I have a strong affinity for my friends in the American military and I haven’t yet heard one of them say that being gay made someone a lousy pilot.