Captain's Log

U.S. Military Veterans March on the White House

Active-duty and retired members of the United States Military from around the globe, as well as family and friends, participated in today's March on the White House, organized by the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network. According to a press release issued earlier, SLDN said:

Service members, veterans, their families, loved ones and supporters will be marching to the White House at 2 p.m. to demand action against the DADT law passed by Congress in 1993 that makes gays and lesbians second-class citizens in the military of their own country

Seems a no-brainer to me. and my thoughts on this subject are very clear:

I'm sick and tired of politicians playing "kick the can" with the lives of gay and lesbian servicemembers, and it better stop soon. First off, the LGBTQ community is not a "can" and I for one am tired of being kicked - down the road or anywhere else.

As a former special operations officer, you bet I have an opinion on this, but I'll let others do the talking for me right now while I go punch a wall or two.

That's from an earlier article I wrote this year, and here we are - in the same place. Grrr...

Here are a few thoughts, and a few pictures, from today:

From a comment posted on SLDN's website:

Thank you everyone who is marching on Saturday. I would be there too, but I am currently deployed overseas. My partner of 4 years remains at home stateside, both of us silenced from DADT. If you're thinking about going, please do! Every person counts!

A Photo of the March:

Again, I am absolutely astounded at this travesty of justice - from a country that spouts every second that it can - that it is the "shining example of human rights."

We have men and women, braving their lives and their souls on battlefields every day - from Afghanistan, to Iraq, to their own military base. I can't say this enough, but ENOUGH already~!

From a guest editorial I wrote in the Washington Blade last year:

End the U.S. military's gay ban, because courage is what counts on the battlefield - not sexual orientation.

Thoughts from a dear friend that I had the distinct honor of lobbying Congress with to repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell earlier this year. A veteran, he's the one behind the camera in most of these photos.

For many years, I have supported the mission of SLDN to end the DADT regulations that prohibit Gays and Lesbians from serving openly in the military. Today, we joined with about 350 others to march to the White House and implore President Obama to take action to end DADT and the discharge of countless men and women who have been discharged from the military simply because they are Gay or Lesbian.

The march focused on the fact that an estimated 265 men and women have been discharged under DADT since the President took the oath of office on January 20th. While Obama has promised change, he has not taken any public action to demonstrate his support for the end of DADT.

77 members of Congress have called on President Obama to lead on this issue, not to play duck-and-cover by passing the ball back to legislators. It is time for Mr. Obama to come out of the closet on this.

Again, a comment from the SLDN site:

If the President doesn't take care of the situation, I'll be leaving the military as well and I'm currently on my second enlistment. Since that's what my partner and I agreed on.

This insanity has to stop. There are men and women serving our country bravely and honorably, only to wonder if their own country will turn their back on them when we need them most.

It's time we stopped defending injustice, and started defending our freedoms - and that includes the right of every brave servicemember in the United States Military to be free to do their job.

It's time for every American to take a stand on Don't Ask, Don't Tell. NOW. I'll leave you with a quote from one of today's veterans that marched on the White House to prompt them to make a solid statement that DADT will be repealed - THIS YEAR:

I just saw a great documentary ("Shouting Fire") about our First Amendment rights of free speech and realized as I stood on Pennsylvania Avenue that, as a Gay American, I have the right and privilege to exercise my right to protest.

It was empowering to join with others in this effort and to hear their stories of changed lives as a result of discharge under DADT. I also enjoyed watching spectators watch us either in avid support, thumbs up, or seeming bewilderment. I have a sense that many citizens (both Gay and straight) don't understand this issue or simply don't care.

The day was exciting and empowering for me, and yet I came away thinking that we must do more to get our message to Congress and the White House.

DNC Fundraiser? LGBTQ to boot? Really? I Didn't Hear a Thing...

OMG. There is sooo much news to talk about~! Where do I start?

Farrah Fawcett died yesterday ~ as did lots of people, legislative "things," and stuff just plain disappeared, without a trace.

Dammit~! She was the first 'poster' that hung above my bed when I was a kid. I wish I would have kept it, as it was cool. I loved her hair, her attitude, and her smile. And when she pulled that gun in Charlie's Angels, I was all over myself. And, yeah, I did want to date her when I was 13.

And then I found G.I. Joe - posters and all. And the Sears catalog, specifically the men and boys underwear section. That's what gave me my toaster...

But I digress. We were talking about the main gay and lesbian event for Thursday, right? The Democratic National Committee fundraiser, sponsored by the LGBTQ community, now weren't we?

Call me lazy, but I wake up around 9 a.m. Eastern Time. I try to catch up with all my emails, tweets, peeps, Facebook pals, the NY Times, WaPo and several blogs. All the while slurping down a cup of coffee.

Welcome to 9 a.m., my style. Not a good time to piss me off.

Just when I got settled into a nice, yet fast-paced, groove Thursday morning, news hit from the Twitterazzi that the Senate was taking up the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes bill - with the Democratically-controlled Senate intent on passing the legislation before that nasty, semi-blacklisted gay and lesbian Democratic National Party fundraiser in D.C. Thursday night.

Yes, the Dems riding to our rescue. And right before the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, no less~! I'm sensing a good day...

And so, I scrambled to catch the live web-cast of the Senate meeting - only to hear them ramble on, and on, and on. They do that rather well - it may be time for them to try to learn a new trick or two.

Speaking of tricks, we still had the South Carolina (ex?) Governor, Mark Sanford, also dominating the airwaves. I just love a good old-fashioned hoedown by the Grand Old Party, especially those from the south.

Meanwhile, my husband - recuperating from surgery - was intent on getting furniture moved before he left for upstate New York to finalize his mother's (and my mother-in-law's) move to D.C. A good thing, but I had to put him off just a bit while more news was breaking.

Busy morning? Yep. But it gets better, and we're not even up to the DNC *fun*draiser yet~! More news from nowhere.

Back to reality, namely the slow-as-a-snail Senate hearing on the hate crimes bill that should have been signed into law by now. That legislation - by the way - passed the House more than 2 months ago, but not before a Republican congresswoman from North Carolina took a sawed-off shotgun and figuratively aimed it at every member of our community. Don't even get me started, not a good time of the morning to piss me off.

And so, after adjusting the Bilerico-DC calendar for some very poignant and timely news by Cathy Renna regarding the United States government finally apologizing to Dr. Frank Kameny, I thought I could take a break for a few minutes to see my husband off as he headed off on his trip that I was supposed to be on also.

Not going to happen...

Before I could see him off, we had furniture to give to one of our favorite charities. And we had to move it first. Not one of my favorite times of day to move heavy furniture, but - hey - we had a schedule to keep.

And so we did, and then ~ poof ~ off in a flash was my husband, sans me, for his own adventure. Geez, I wish I would have been in our Jetta Diesel with him (50 miles per gallon, people~!), as the news just kept getting stranger by the minute.

Then, three recently-graduated college kids and I moved some more furniture. While I stopped traffic on Connecticut Avenue in Washington D.C., helping them back the van into our loading dock. That was fun, and yes, I did give them some Powerade and refreshments afterwards.

I can't imagine what it's like to graduate college today - not knowing if you have any possible chance at a job, have $100,000 in student loans, and do not know what to do. It simply boggles my mind, as I am sure it does theirs - as well as their families - and stops me in my tracks.

BACK TO REALITY, oops there goes gravity...

We're talking DNC gay and lesbian fundraiser here people~! Stay with me! Or not.

And so, we - being the non-MSM - are covering other things. Like how to donate to several LGBTQ causes, instead of the $1,000 a plate+ dinner at that semi-blacklisted DNC non-raiser down Connecticut Avenue.

In the midst of all this chaos, organized as it was, along comes Michael Jackson and a cardiac arrest. A "cardiac" arrest? Of all things...

Don't get me wrong, I love MJ. He practically invented MTV. But then he up and went dead. And the news cycle went wild.

The news of his passing sucked the air out of the entire frikkin' room~! I'm not going to hyperlink it, as it's all over the 24/7 cable news channels. I'm usually an Olbermann and Maddow fan, but watching the train wreck on ALL of the cable channels made me want to projectile vomit.

A "live camera shot'' from a helicopter above the scene at the hospital at UCLA, awaiting a "statement" from the Jackson family? For two hours?

As several of my friends said, he was a great singer, dancer and artist - but he was also an "alleged" child molester.

I, for one, love the Jacksons - from Michael and the Jackson 5 to Janet and her Pleasure Principles. And they know how to play the media. It still amazes me, however, that the media didn't know they were being "played."

Oh, and that LGBTQDNC fundraiser? It raked in about $900K, protesters and flashbulbs were about, some very prominent faces were not, a few "promises" were made by the vice-president ~ and absolutely no news coverage was to be had.

Access v. Progress

Many things have been said, spoken and written about whether the LGBTQ community should attend the "gay" fundraiser for the Democratic National Committee in Washington, D.C. this Thursday.

While President Obama's overtures - and non-overtures - to our community may be real or superficial, and his "celebration" (versus what should rightly be called a "commemoration") about the Stonewall Riots with gay and lesbian "leaders" at a reception at the White House this coming Monday are admirable, I still have my doubts. As do many.

I understand the difference between formal and informal lines of communication. I know the value of revolutions in the street, and I have participated in a few. Witness the power of the Rose Revolution in Georgia or the Green Revolution going on as we speak in Iran.

And I know that access to power doesn't make you powerful, nor a leader. I'm talking about a single reception - for a whole 10 or so minutes - with the president of the United States. And how that access, by a few hundred of our gay and lesbian leaders, is detrimental to LGBTQ progress on everything from hate crimes legislation to matters of adoption by gay and lesbian couples across the country.

Face Time Does Not Equal Progress. Oh, and for those of you going to either event - remember to have your "ticket" punched - as you're simply a photo-op. Meanwhile, I have laundry to do.

The Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Bill still hasn't been signed into law, and now is an amendment to a frikkin' Tourist Bill. Youhavegottobefukkinkiddingme.

Words matter. And this bill need to be passed, NOW. But it should have been passed months ago. As a stand-alone bill.

Symbols matter also.

Tell the gay kid that just got beaten-up, just because he "looked" gay, that he's an amendment.

Tell that to the lesbian couple that just got threatened with their lives because they dared to move into a middle-class neighborhood in Ohio, because they are tourists.

Tell that to the transgender that just got murdered in a back-alley in nowhere America, because they almost didn't make it into the hate-crimes bill.

Nowhere is Now Here.

This, of all bills, should have been passed long ago. And we're still waiting, and I'm not ready to make nice.

Yep. The video, like the Democratic National Committee and President Obama's promises, were cut at the end.

Sound familiar?

I sometimes feel like the internet was never a reality, that VHS is still battling it out with Beta, and former President Bill Clinton - our friend and ally in the White House - turned his back on the LGBTQ community for his own political expediency and signed into law both Don't Ask, Don't Tell and the Defense of Marriage Act.

Power versus Progress? This, from the NY Times:

Whether Mr. Obama will address the complaints at Monday's reception is unclear. One person who received the invitation said the White House was billing the event as a celebration, akin to the festive affairs the administration holds on St. Patrick's Day or Cinco de Mayo.

Oooh...and then it will be July 4th, and we'll all be Americans~! Except for those left out in the wilderness, tied to a fence, to die.

From the "gay" DNC fundraiser (watch for those flashbulbs outside) to the "reception" on Monday at the White House, let's see who is powerful and who represents progress.

I'm betting on a revolution. And I'm voting for a pink one.