Florida Agenda

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Servicemem-bers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) unveiled a comprehensive new legal guide for LGBT service members, veterans, future recruits and their families, creating a first-of-its-kind overview of laws and policies related to military service in the U.S. following the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT), as well

as practical information for advocates and friends of LGBT service members. “Freedom to Serve: The Definitive Guide to LGBT Military Service” is downloadable at www.sldn.org.

“The information contained in this legal guide will help service members, prospective service members, their families, and friends make informed decisions about how to serve successfully as we move beyond ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.’ It will also assist them in understanding how to protect themselves when necessary and how to respond if they are targeted in any way for their actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity,” said SLDN Legal Director David McKean.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The US Navy has revoked its guidance allowing chaplains to conduct same-sex marriages in some states following outrage from Republican lawmakers and social conservatives.

The suspension came late Tuesday after opponents of same-sex military marriages claimed the move would violate a law prohibiting federal recognition of gay marriage. A copy of a memo revoking the guidance was obtained Wednesday by FOX News Channel.

“My memorandum of 13 April 2011 is hereby suspended until further notice pending additional legal and policy review and inter-Departmental coordination,” the memo, issued by the Chief of Chaplains Rear Admiral Mark L. Tidd, read.

Despite the revocation, military officials said the US Defense Department might still permit gay troops to marry in military chapels in states that recognize homosexual marriages after US President Barack Obama lifts a ban on openly-gay service members known as “don’t ask, don’t tell,” the Washington Post reported.

As part of its DADT Repeal Training, the Navy had decided that facilities on U.S. Naval Bases may be used for same-sex marriages and that Naval Chaplains will be permitted, though not required, to perform such ceremonies. The ruling only applied to Naval bases located in states where same-sex marriage is permitted by law.

Citing “additional legal review” by Navy attorneys, the Chief of Navy Chaplains, Admiral Michael Tidd originally said the Navy “has concluded that, generally speaking, base facility use is sexual orientation neutral.”

The April 13 memo signed by Tidd said navy chaplains would have the option to officiate at a same-sex union if it agreed with their religious beliefs and the laws of the state.

But in the new memo dated May 10, Tidd reversed course and suspended his guidance.

Training programs about the end of “don’t ask, don’t tell” for US Navy chaplains and sailors would continue as scheduled, a navy spokeswoman said.

Details of the April 13 memo led to an immediate backlash in congress. Rep. Todd Akin (R-Mo.) released a letter signed by 62 other members of congress that called on the secretary of the navy to obey the Defense of Marriage Act.

“The law of the land is that the federal government defines marriage as between one man and one woman,” Akin wrote. “This new guidance from the navy clearly violates the law. While our President may not like this law, it is unbelievable that our navy would issue guidance that clearly violates this law.”

President Obama signs ‘DADT’ bill into law on Wednesday

New policy will take several months to implement

For Lt. Dan Choi, Capt.

Jim Pietrangelo, Cadet Mara Boyd, Petty Officer Autumn Sandeen and the 13,389 other people who have lost their jobs in the United States Armed Services, it’s too late, but no longer will a man or woman be kicked out of the Army, Navy, Air Force or Marines for being openly gay or lesbian.

The United States Senate voted Dec. 18 to repeal, “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” a 17- year policy that banned gays and lesbians from serving openly in the military. The same legislation had previously passed in the House of Representatives. With the help of eight Republicans, senators voted down the policy by a vote of 65-31.

“As a lesbian who left the U.S. Air Force Academy in the midst of anti-gay witch hunts in the mid-’80s, the repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ is particularly personal,” said Nadine Smith, executive director for Equality Florida. “We commend the US Senate and our own Sen. Bill Nelson for today’s passage of the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ repeal measure. I look forward to the not-too-distant day when open service is the law of our nation.”

Florida’s other senator, Republican George LeMieux, voted against the repeal. President Barack Obama had made it a campaign promise to repeal DADT, but many gay activists feared that he was dragging his feet this year and the repeal would not happen once a more conservative Congress took over next year. The president officially signed the bill into law on Wednesday.

“By ending ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ no longer will our nation be denied the service of thousands of patriotic Americans forced to leave the military, despite years of exemplary performance, because they happen to be gay,” Obama said. “And no longer will many thousands more be asked to live a lie in order to serve the country they love.”

Once the bill is signed into law, the president, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen will then need to certify that the repeal should be implemented. Even then, a 60-day waiting period will need to pass before DADT is truly repealed.

“I welcome today’s vote by the Senate clearing the way for a legislative repeal of the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ law,” Gates said. “Successful implementation will depend upon strong leadership, a clear message and proactive education throughout the force. With a continued and sustained commitment to core values of leadership, professionalism and respect for all, I am convinced that the U.S. military can successfully accommodate and implement this change, as it has others in history.”

While some elected officials and military personnel objected to repealing the policy while America is still in the middle of two wars, public opinion was high in favor of the LGBT community’s quest. According to a December 2010 Washington Post-ABC News poll, 77 percent of Americans say gays and lesbians who publicly disclose their sexual orientation should be able to serve in the military. Even a Defense Department study of more than 115,000 military personnel reported that 70 percent said ending the ban on gays serving openly would have a positive or neutral impact on troops.

Many local and national LGBT groups had recently ramped up efforts to draw attention to the issue in front of the media and all Americans. One group that took matters particularly into their own hands was GetEqual. They used civil disobedience, including dozens of arrests of many of their members all over the country, to try and get their repeal point across.

“We are thrilled today that the Senate has taken one more step toward full legal equality for all Americans,” said GetEqual Co-Founder Robin McGhee. “Today’s vote is one more step forward in not only retiring this discriminatory policy, but also in the larger march toward equality and justice for LGBT Americans. While today’s vote doesn’t yet finalize repeal, and while the legislation is far from perfect – leaving our transgender sisters and brothers in the grip of discrimination – we are happy to have finally moved past this hurdle. Though we have many other hurdles ahead of us to truly and fully end military discrimination for the entire LGBT community, we look forward to the fight ahead to repeal this policy once and for all.”

“Unfortunately, They are Serving “

On September 21, 2010, I attended a candidate’s forum hosted by the Pompano Beach Civic Association to listen to a friend running for the Florida State House. I showed up dressed in jeans and a polo shirt and upon entering the auditorium; I quickly realized that there was going to be more to the evening’s line up. I had then just learned that Allen West was going to be speaking, well it explained a lot, including the need to mentally prepare myself to brave the insanity and to sit through an evening in an auditorium with hate-filled fear-mongering homophobes and tea baggers.

While I can’t wait for this election season to end, until it’s over, I’m mustering up the energy to help pro-equality Congressman Ron Klein get re-elected to Florida’s 22nd Congressional District. His right-wing extremist challenger, who actually lives in Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz’s district and can not vote for himself, decided to try and carpetbag his way into the district. It’s been reported that West has been showered with Tea Party campaign funds from all over the country. The fight for this congressional district has the potential to serve as a barometer as to whether LGBTQI-Americans have any hopes to advance legislative efforts for equality in the next session of the United States Congress.

While Congressman Klein was in Washington, D.C. performing the job he was elected for, his opponent, disgraced Colonel Allen West, spoke to the civic association about his campaign for the U.S. House of Representatives. In my question [to West], I included Eric Alva’s name when I spoke about LGBT-men and women risking their lives, why should they not have the same right to serve? West’s response, as expected, just infuriated me and all I could think was “run fat boy, run.”

Below is a transcript of my question and West’s response:

Michael Rajner:

There are men and women risking their lives on a daily basis for this nation, just like you did. Why should they also not have the right to serve in our nation’s military?

Allen West:

Well unfortunately, they are serving, you just said that. But the thing I think you are looking at is, the military, the mission of the military is not to accommodate sexual behavior. Let me tell you something as a commander. I fined people for not having the proper haircut.

I kicked people out because they couldn’t run fast. I kicked people out because they couldn’t do push-ups. I kicked people out because they were overweight. So the thing is, there was a compromise, that was reached during the Clinton administration and I stand by that compromise and I think that is the best thing for the mission of the United States military.

And so I appreciate any American that goes in and serves, but let me tell you something about me as a heterosexual in the military. I couldn’t even walk in my uniform holding my wife’s hand unless it was an official formal ceremony. So there are some rules and restrictions.

You know how many years you can go to jail in the military for committing adultery? Do we have that in the civilian world? You can go to a military prison for 18 months for committing adultery. The United States military is a different society then the society we have here and I think the most important thing that we need to be focusing on, we have been in Afghanistan for 9 years and we are still fighting major combat operations, that is where the focus should be so that we don’t have double amputees, be it heterosexual or gay, coming back to the United States of America.

Please help me re-elect one of our proequality champions in the United States Congress. Congressman Klein has stepped up to the plate when it comes to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and HIV/AIDS-related issues. Now it’s time for the LGBTQIA-community to step up to the plate and make certain we send our pro-equality champions back to the Unites States Congress for our community to move forward.

Like you, I’m angry and I’m frustrated, but now is not the time for the pity party. Now is the time to channel all that anger into something constructive. Misdirected anger will only get us a Congress being strangled by the Tea Party right-wing extremists who would rather us be shunned from society to die unemployed, homeless and ill.

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By BOB KECSKEMETY

U.S. District Court Judge Virginia Phillips ordered an injunction on Tuesday ordering officials to no longer enforce “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” the controversial policy concerning gays serving in the U.S. Military. The landmark ruling effectively puts an end to the 17- year old ban on gays serving in the military. The Federal Government now has 60 days to appeal her ruling but has not announced whether or not it will do so.

In a written statement, Judge Phillips ordered: “Defendants United States of America and the Secretary of Defense 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’ Act, or pursuant to 10 U.S.C. §654 or its implementing regulations, on or prior to the date of this Judgment.”

The original case was filed in 2004 by the Log Cabin Republican Club, the nation’s largest LGBT Republican organization. The Log Cabin filed their case on behalf of several decorated officers including Air Force Major Michael Almy. Almy had been deployed to Iraq three times and accused his commanding officer of attempting to force him to admit that he was a homosexual after another service member searched Almy’s private email without his permission. Almy fought his discharge for 16 months prior to agreeing to an honorable discharge.

In September, Judge Phillips said that banning homosexuals from the military did not affect military readiness and that the ban on gays serving in the military had a “direct and deleterious” effect on the military. She further concluded that DADT violated the 1st Amendment.

President Obama, while campaigning for President, said he was opposed to ban on gays openly serving in the military and would work to do away with the policy.

While President, Obama has continued to contend that he opposes “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” but has said that Congress, not the courts, should lift the ban. On Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said that the court ruling demonstrated that “time is running out on the policy of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.’ This is a policy that is going to end.”

However, also on Wednesday, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said that abruptly ending “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” would have enormous consequences and that Congress should decide the law but only after the Department of Defense completes its study on the matter due out by the end of this year. He said that dropping the ban requires careful preparation and a lot of training, or it would have enormous consequences for the troops.

ATLANTA, GA: “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” supporters faced a big set back last week when Judge Ronald Leighton has ruled that the military violated Air Force Major Margaret Wills’ constitutional right s di

scharging her under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” The judge said that after serving 17 years in the Air Force, she would not adversely affect unit moral or cohesion. He also added that “good flight nurses are hard to find.” The resultant lawsuit led the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to rule in Witt’s favor in 2008, though this latest ruling impacts only Witt’s discharge, it has already resonated among gay groups throughout the country.

By DMITRY RASHNITSOV

Florida Governor Charlie Crist, a man who has had two marriages for a combined less than three years in his life and has no legitimate children that he acknowledges, has come out with an interesting opinion on exactly those two subjects: marriage and child rearing.

After spending most of his political career fighting to deny the GLBT community the right to marry or adopt children, Crist — the now independent candidate for United States Senate — has changed his mind about GLBT rights.

While Crist’s current Senate website, www.charliecrist.com does not mention his recent change of heart, a position paper with the governor’s letterhead states some of his new positions regarding the toughest situations that are facing the GLBT community including adopting children, marriage rights, hospital visitation rights and the repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’, the ban on gays and lesbians serving openly in the military.

“I believe that the government should not make it harder for people to take care of their loved ones,” Crist wrote in his position paper. “I believe civil unions that provide the full range of legal protections should be available to gay couples. That includes access to a loved one in the hospital, inheritance rights, the fundamental things people need to take care of their families.”

The one-page paper articulates ten different policy points related to gay rights.

The positions that Crist now supports for GLBT individuals include:

• Civil Unions
• Hospital visitation
• Inheritance rights
• Adoption rights
• Repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”
• Employment Non-Disimination Act
• The Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act
• Uniting American Families Act
• Appropriations for HIV/AIDS Programs
• Federal Safe Schools Improvement Act

Signs that the Crist campaign were thinking of targeting the GLBT vote came out this summer when the Governor mentioned a change of heart during a television appearance on CNN.

“I feel that marriage is a sacred institution, if you will.

But I do believe in tolerance. I’m a ‘live and let live’ kind of guy, and while I feel that way about marriage, I think if partners want to have the opportunity to live together, I don’t have a problem with that.

And I think that’s where most of America is. So I think that you know, you have to speak from the heart about these issues. They are very personal. They have a significant impact on an awful lot of people and the less the government is telling people what to do, the better off we’re all going to be. But when it comes to marriage, I think it is a sacred institution. I believe it is between a man and woman, but partners living together, I don’t have a problem with,” Crist said on TV, kind of playing both sides of the issue.

In 2008 Crist supported Amendment 2, a constitutional ban on gays and lesbians getting married in Florida that passed by less than 2 percent of the vote. Crist’s democratic opponent in the U.S. Senate Race, Kendrick Meek, immediately attacked his newfound position.

“Can anyone believe anything Charlie Crist says anymore?,” said Abe Dyk, Kendrick Meek’s campaign manager. “It’s obvious Charlie Crist is willing to say anything. The only thing Charlie Crist says today that you can believe tomorrow is that he wants to be elected. Kendrick, in contrast, has been a champion of LGBT rights. He co-sponsored multiple attempts to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and has been a leader in calling for the repeal of Florida’s gay adoption ban. Unlike Charlie Crist, Kendrick stood against Florida’s gay marriage ban, Amendment 2.”

A spokeswoman for one prominent Florida gay rights group praised Crist’s position paper. “This is the furthest a sitting Florida governor has ever gone in publicly supporting [gay rights] issues,” said Nadine Smith, executive director of Equality Florida. “There’s no position he’s taken that a majority of Floridians and Americans don’t already support.”

His whole political career, Crist has fought rumors that he himself is a gay man who has been in the closet. These rumors were fueled on by allegations from former interns, but Crist has never publicly acknowledged that he has engaged in homosexual behavior. Crist and Meek are also running against the Republican Senate nominee Marco Rubio in what’s amounting to be the most exciting political race in the midterm elections.

Election Day is November 2. The three candidates have agreed to participate in a series of debates on national television.

by MATTHEW TSIEN

President Barack Obama is chipping away at his long list of promises to gay voters but has yet to win the enthusiastic backing of the reliably Democratic voting bloc.

The Obama White House has accomplished more than any other on gay rights, yet has drawn sharp criticism from an unexpected constituency: the same gay activists who backed the president’s election campaign. Instead of the sweeping change gays and lesbians had sought, a piece-by-piece approach has been the administration’s favored strategy, drawing neither serious fire from conservatives nor lavish praise from activists.

Last week the Labor Department announced that it would order businesses to extend unpaid leave for gay workers to care for newborns or loved ones.

This move, coming less than five months before November’s congressional elections, seems likely to incite conservatives and Republicans who stood in lockstep against the Obama administration’s earlier efforts to repeal a ban on gays and lesbians serving openly in the military. It also appears likely to be popular with loyal Democrats and organized labor.

Nevertheless, some gay activists, who long ago stopped giving Obama the benefit of a doubt, will continue not to be satisfied.

Many Washington-based activists believe that gays need far more comprehensive and bolder legislation to achieve the goals these small, mostly symbolic

and marginal piecemeal efforts attempt to achieve.

The little things to which the White House pays attention and claims, “to be making so much progress” does not translate into a sense of progress outside of Washington.

Mr. Obama had a long list of accomplishments to tout during last week’s Pride Day meetings with gay and lesbian organizations at the White House, but their reach is limited.

For instance, Obama signed a hate crimes bill into law, expanded benefits for partners of State Department employees and ended the ban on HIV-positive persons from visiting the United States. He referenced families with “two fathers” in his Father’s Day proclamation in June and devoted 38 words of his State of the Union address to repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” the ban on gays serving openly in the military. But there remains reason for frustration.

Obama’s campaign pledged to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” yet that goal remains years away. His Justice Department invoked incest in a legal brief defending the traditional definition of marriage, prompting some gay donors last year to boycott the Democratic National Committee. And just last week, a committee at his Health and Human Services Department recommended the nation retain its policy barring gay men from donating blood.

Some of Obama’s gay allies say the small-bore changes are the best activists can hope for despite Democrats controlling the White House, the Senate and the House.

Perhaps the reason why these policy changes are important is because Gay Democrats do not have ironclad LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) majorities in either house of Congress. People wrongly assume that having large Democratic majorities in Congress means that gay-oriented legislative goals will be met. That’s not the case.

Gay constituents are hardly the only members of the Democratic bloc to come up disappointed with this White House . Environmental groups groan as a comprehensive climate bill has languished on the Hill. Organized labor saw its signature legislation, which would make it easier for workers to form unions, go nowhere without the White House’s backing. And women’s groups were in open revolt during the debate over the health care overhaul because of anti-abortion provisions.

It’s small consolation for gay rights activists.

A Gallup poll last month found 70 percent of American favor allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military. That same poll, however, included a reminder: 53 percent opposed legalizing gay marriage. Among that opposition to same-sex marriage are three out of five Black and Hispanic voters — minority groups that gays would like to consider their natural allies, but a voting bloc that is decisively against gay marriage.

Yuma Mayor, Al Krieger, denigrates gay troops during a Memorial Day speech by calling them “lacy-drawered, limp wristed” and then defending his comments by comparing himself to George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.  Watch it for yourself.