Florida Agenda

By CLIFF DUNN

SAN DIEGO — In a parade that included two retired colonels and was led by a Marine sergeant wearing dress blues and bearing the Stars and Stripes, hundreds of active-duty and retired service members marched on Saturday in San Diego’s LGBT Pride, an historic event that marks the first time armed forces personnel have been allowed to wear their military uniforms in a gay event.

The estimated crowd of 200,000 cheered, saluted, and applauded the gay service members who paraded through the city’s predominantly gay Hillcrest neighborhood. The soldiers, seamen, Marines, and airmen— representing all U.S. armed forces—were told “Thank you for your service!” by many who waved placards. Most wore T-shirts to indicate their branch of service, while about 50 wore their uniforms. “This is a truly historic event,” said retired Col. Tim McDermott (USMC), 55, whose service included two combat tours in Iraq.

“This is what we’ve been working for,” added retired Col. Stewart Bornhoft (USA), 65, a West Point graduate, former Army Ranger, and Vietnam veteran, adding, “It says, ‘It’s OK to be gay.’” Dozens of service members marched alongside an Army truck bearing a rainbow flag, and a banner that read “Freedom to Serve.” “Today is so important,” said Lt. Brian McKinney (USN), who marched with his civilian partner, Hunter Hammonds. “It’s about putting on my uniform and taking pride in my service, my fellow service-members, my family, and myself.

It’s something I’m incredibly thankful for.” Cmdr. Kent Blade (USN), 47, a 26-year veteran who will retire this year, said that marching in uniform at a Pride event was the perfect end to his career as a professional sailor. He said that after the repeal last year of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, his fellow officers gave him unconditional support. “We’ve all been able to talk more freely about our lives. Nobody’s leading a second life,” Blade said. “And now that I can march freely in uniform, I think it’s a great display for the Navy.”

The decision to allow active duty service members to march—and in uniform—came after several days of official discussion. Last Thursday, a Defense Department official authorized military personnel to wear their uniforms, provided they did nothing to bring “discredit” to the armed forces, or appear to be making a political statement. “I got an email from my admiral last night, supporting my decision to wear my uniform,” Senior Chief Dwayne Beebe (USN), 38, told reporters. “That’s a major change.”

Sgt. James Dunn, 24, a Marine reservist who was deployed for two tours in Iraq, went from Montana with his civilian partner to march. “Finally we can stand up and be counted,” said Dunn. Most of the armed service members knew that they were marching alongside history, and recognized the history-making role they had played. “I was just the messenger,” said Sgt. Bris Holland (USMC) about marching as the parade’s flag bearer. “It could have been anybody. It’s been a long time coming.”

CAMP PENDLETON, CA – History was made last week when a former U.S. Navy medical corpsman proposed to his U.S. Marine boyfriend at Southern California’s Camp Pendleton, home of the 1 Marine Expeditionary Force and other important military commands. As Marine Lance Corporal Avarice Guerrero returned from a 10-month deployment in Afghanistan on April 24, boyfriend Cory Huston—a San Diego resident who was discharged under the Pentagon’s now-defunct Don’t Ask,Don’t Tell (DADT) policy—popped the question in what is believed to be the first gay marriage proposal on a U.S. military base.

As Huston told San Diego LGBT Weekly, “This is a huge step for me,” acknowledging that the eyes of history—as well as thousands of LGBT servicemen and –women—were upon him and Guerrero (a name which, in Spanish, translates as “warrior”). Upon Guerrero’s appearance and following several minutes of reunion, Huston asked for Guerrero’s hand in marriage, producing an engagement ring and asking “Will you marry me?” as reported by LGBT Weekly. After Guerrero accepted with a simple “Yes,” he admitted that he was “blown away.” “I was shocked that after all we’d been through, he would honestly want to spend the rest of his life with someone like me,” Guerrero said.

Guerrero told CNN that he thought at first that Huston was breaking up with him because he had first asked the Marine to remove his “promise ring.” “Once he got down on one knee, I literally started thinking, like, ‘Is he serious? Is he really going to ask me to marry him after everything we’ve been through?’”

Huston—who was discharged from the Navy in 2006 under DADT—said their engagement sends a positive message to LGBT troops. “It’s important to us ’cause we got engaged,” he explained, “but it’s also important because there’s young gay people coming out of boot camp who, even though it’s okay to be gay in the military, there’s still a stigma and I want them to be like, ‘Okay, well other people have done it, so I don’t have to be ashamed of who I am.’” He added, “I spent too many years being ashamed of who I was and trying to be someone I wasn’t.”

LGBT advocates say that the proposal represents the most recent in a series of turning points for gay servicemembers and their partners. In December, Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Marissa Gaeta was photographed—in what came to be called the “kiss heard ’round the world”—in a loving embrace with her partner, Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Citlalic Snell after Gaeta’s ship returned its Virginia Beach base. The image was compared with the iconic picture by photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt depicting nurse Edith Shain locked in a kiss with an unknown sailor at the close of the Second World War. Gaeta had won in a charity raffle the honor of the service’s traditional “first kiss.” Also groundbreaking was the picture taken in February of a gay Marine sharing a kiss with his boyfriend at Marine Corps Base Hawaii with his boyfriend, also went viral.

By CLIFF DUNN

This weekend, Leonardo Di Caprio fans—not all of them teenage girls—and history buffs alike will mark the centennial anniversary of one of the most widely-known and depicted disasters in modern history, the sinking of RMS Titanic.

I enjoyed the 1997 James Cameron film: I thought that it succeeded in capturing the gargantuan size of the “unsinkable” ocean liner and was able to convey that sense of dread and insignificance that must have been experienced in their final minutes by those unfortunate 1,514 souls who lost their lives in the disaster. The movie also did an admirable job of depicting the Edwardian Era conspicuous consumption that was represented by the ship’s luxurious amenities (and by the presence on the passenger list of such Gilded Age titans as J.J. Astor, Benjamin Guggenheim, and Macy’s owner Isidor Straus, all of whom died in the tragedy).

Although he cast Academy Award winner Kathy Bates in the role of the “Unsinkable” Molly Brown, a millionaire women’s rights advocate and one of that era’s most colorful figures, Cameron did not fill the role of two of the most interesting period luminaries aboard the Titanic: One of these was Maj. Archibald Butt, who served as a presidential aide in a capacity that would roughly equate to National Security Advisor in the job’s modern sense. The other was Butt’s longtime partner, artist Francis (“Frank”) Millet.

Butt, who was 47 years old when the Titanic sank, had been a news correspondent before embarking upon a military career that took him to war zones in Cuba and the Philippines. His military service brought him to the attention of President Theodore Roosevelt, who promoted Butt to the Army rank of major and assigned him as military adviser and aide-de-camp, a position to which he was reappointed by Roosevelt’s successor, President William Howard Taft. Butt and Millet—who was 19 years older than his partner—had gone to Europe for some R&R after a bitter public political split between Roosevelt and Taft began to take its toll on the loyal aide.

As the ocean liner began its slow death in the early hours of April 15, 1912, Butt was witnessed escorting female passengers to the lifeboats and conducting himself— as described by one woman whose life he saved—with gentlemanly care and concern for the safety of all around him. When the final lifeboat was adrift, the Spanish American War veteran was seen standing on deck. No one recalled seeing Millet at the end (although it was Millet’s remains and not Butt’s that were recovered after the ship sank).

Millet, a Harvard graduate who had served as a surgical assistant for the Union during the Civil War and was an international war correspondent before becoming a painter, was described by his friend, novelist Henry James, as “magnificent,” “manly,” and “irradiating beautiful gallantry,” and by his partner, Butt, as “Millet, my artist friend who lives with me.” The couple lived together in a relationship that was more-or-less an open secret, holding famous Washington, DC parties that were attended by cabinet members, Supreme Court justices, military leaders, ambassadors, and President Taft himself. “People come early to my house and always stay late and seem merry while they are here,” wrote Butt after one successful party.

PRESIDENT TAFT (LEFT), ARCHIBALD BUTT (RIGHT)

This being just a few years after the sexual hypocrisy of the Victorian Age, Butt and Millet’s “friendship” was viewed through the prism of an early version of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, with Washington society accepting the men’s mutual affection while not digging too deeply into the details. The two men left together in March 1912, bound for Europe on board the steamship Berlin. They returned to America together, as well, and although the passenger list records that they had separate cabins on the Titanic, it probably had something to do with the luggage and volume of gifts and accessories they had acquired while overseas: Butt alone boarded the ship with seven steamer trunks filled with clothes and items he had purchased in Europe. 1912 or 2012: some things never change.

President Taft was said to weep when he learned of Butt’s death, and he joined most of official Washington in grieving for his adjutant. Wrote one period journalist: “The name of Maj. Archie Butt, once synonymous of laughter and jest, now symbolic of heroism, was repeated while eyes blurred and voices became queerly strained.”

Several monuments and memorials were built in memory of Maj. Archibald Butt. One is a plaque in the Washington National Cathedral (which, through a quirk of modern architecture, is located upon a wall in the gift shop). Another is a memorial fountain erected in the Ellipsis area of the President’s Park in Washington, DC named after both men, the Butt-Millet Fountain.

Because Butt’s remains were lost at sea, a cenotaph (or empty tomb) was built in Arlington National Cemetery to honor the late presidential aide. A memorial service was held in the Butt family home in Georgia on May 2, 1912. It was attended by 1,500 mourners, including President Taft, who said:

“If Archie could have selected a time to die, he would have chosen the one God gave him. His life was spent in self– sacrifice, serving others. His forgetfulness of self had become a part of his nature. Everybody who knew him called him ‘Archie.’ I couldn’t prepare anything in advance to say here. I tried, but couldn’t. He was too near me. He was loyal to my predecessor, Mr. Roosevelt, who selected him to be military aide, and to me he had become as a son or a brother.”

There’s a film I would love to watch.

ARLINGTON, VA – Marine Com-mandant General. James Amos, who strongly opposed the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” last year, told NPR’s “Morning Edition” last week that he is “very proud” of how the Marines have handled the repeal of the policy last month. “I’m very pleased now,” Amos said and explained that his previous statements in support of the ban were expressing the hesitancy for change within the Marine Corps.

Think Progress reported that Amos also came out in support of gay Marines bringing their same-sex partners to the Marine Corps Ball:

NPR: How comfortable are you with the idea of a gay couple showing up?

AMOS: I’m fine with it. I expect it to happen; I expect it to happen across the Marine Corps. And I mean, that’s part of the repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.’ You can’t go half way.

You can’t say we’re going to repeal it and you now can become public, but I’m going to restrict your behavior. We’re not going to do business that way.”

Country Music Star Comes Out in Favor of Gay Rights

NEW YORK, NY – In an interview on the cable television show “CMT Insider” last weekend, country music star Toby Keith spoke out in favor of the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” although he did question the safety of females who are sent to the front lines of battle.
“That whole gay issue thing, that’s never bothered me,” he told CMT Insider correspondent Allison DeMarcus. “I’ve never seen what that affects and [why] anybody should care — and they never do affect me.”

He then continued, “First of all, we’re going to stop somebody from getting a marriage license because they’re gay? You won’t stop them from living together, so what have you accomplished

? Wasting a lot of money here and a lot of time that could be spent working on this deficit that we’re under. I never saw the reasoning behind getting in people’s personal lives.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Former Vice President Dick Cheney said on CNN’s “State of the Union” last Sunday that he supports the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” Cheney has been a regular recently on the news talk shows promoting his new book “In My Time.”
Shortly after that, Cheney turned his attention to the recent Republican presidential candidate debate where the audience booed a gay service member. “I’m not sure that it was all focused on that particular issue,” Cheney told “State of the Union” hostess, Candy Crowley.

By Christian Alexander

The Elephant in the room is still there, sitting quietly in its corner, just waiting to be brought up. Trouble is, maybe someone will throw it a peanut now and again, but no one really wants to approach it. The Elephant of which I speak is, of course, HIV/AIDS.

The funny thing is that no matter how many of us throw peanuts at the poor thing, it just keeps getting bigger and bigger and still no one seems to notice. How do we miss such an obvious animal? Because we’ve been avoiding it for so very long now and we’ve gotten used to it just sitting there quietly … always quietly as not to disrupt our blissfully ignorant little lives.

As I said in my last installment, AIDS is a four-letter word, but it has become a more acceptable, less gloom-filled four letter word than it once was. Having grown up in the 1980’s, I recall a time before it was even called HIV or AIDS. I remember something called GRID, which for those of you too young to remember or whom have just chosen to forget was an abbreviation for “Gay Related Immune Deficiency.” Between AIDS and GRID, I am forced to go with AIDS, at the very least, it doesn’t single out a specific group of people. Time went on, names changed, Doctor’s were still clueless and the media began to catch wind of this new “Gay Plague” that was spreading like wildfire.

Throughout the 80’s, a few beloved Hollywood as well as musical stars fell victim, rallying the likes of Elizabeth Taylor, Doris Day, and others to the cause. Lest I forget the relevance of young AIDS patient Ryan White, who lost his fight against the disease but who continues to live on through his foundation.

The point here is that although HIV was still a taboo subject not to be brought up in mixed company, it had “Star Power.” Sure, it was still going to kill you and, if you listened to all the religious groups, we deserved what we got. If it weren’t for Hollywood pouring money into the cause and all the brave souls trying to change the disease’s image from a “Gay Man’s” problem to a national crisis, we might still be living in the ignorance of the time. There is still a great deal of that ignorance with us today. Shameful as it is to admit, there is still a part of me that wishes I were oblivious to the fact that, inside my body, in my blood and wherever else it travels, there’s a virus wrecking havoc on whatever is still left of my immune system (which, from what the doctors tell me, isn’t very much).

Fast forward a bit to today. HIV/AIDS has taken a backburner to terrorism and the economy. The drug companies peddle their wares on television for all to see.

By Christian Alexander

Look! The new advertising! It’s so exciting! We’re not dying anymore … NO! We now (and I’m not exactly sure when this happened) have a “manageable illness!” Oh, the joy! They are showing it on television, so it MUST be true.  Forget the miserable (I despise referring to myself this way) “old timers.” There’s a pill just for you! Side effects? What side effects? The last advertisement I saw for one of these meds featured several attractive, well-built men climbing rocks, hang gliding, running marathons and the like.

While I’m sure this is within reach of many of the HIV population and I wish them the best of health from here to come, I have a big a big problem with this. Whereas in the 80’s, AIDS=DEATH, now they are promoting it as no big deal.

Take a pill or two and you’ll be out climbing Everest in no time. As, for “old timers,” who have been surviving with this longer than that cute, 21-year-old twinkie you saw the other day has been alive, it has a much different meaning.

We watch as the cute little twinkie discovers the bars and all they entail. Will he/she/un-decided know the risks they are taking? Will they care? Or, will they just be as oblivious as I once was and wait until it’s too late to get educated. They think no matter what happens, it won’t happen to THEM and even if it does, there’s a magic f… pill to take!

When you were told you were POZ back in the middle ages or further back into the dark ages, you were basically told you had a big expiration date on your forehead.

Well, I may be expired in a lot of ways, but not the one that counts. Nor do I intend to be – at least not until I get my Botox.
Until my next rant, take your vitamins and stay healthy!

ORLANDO, FL – At the recent Fox News/YouTube Republican Debate held in Orlando, the audience booed a video submitted by Stephen Hill, a soldier serving in Iraq concerning the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

In the question directed at former Senator Rick Santorum, Hill asked: “Do you plan to circumvent the progress that has been made for gay and lesbian soldiers in the military?”

The audience at the debate then booed the military man.

Santorum answered: “Any type of sexual activity has absolutely no place in the military. And the fact that they are making it a point to include it as a provision within the military – that we are going to recognize a group of people and give them a special privilege, I think tries to inject social policy into the military and the military’s job is to defend our country. We need to give the military, which is all volunteer, the ability to do so in a way that is most efficient and protective of our men and women in uniform and I believe this undermines that ability.”

Debate panelist Megyn Kelly asked a followed up question: “So, what would you do with soldiers like Stephen Hill now he’s out?

What would you do as president?”

Santorum responded: “What we’re doing right now is playing social experimentation with our military right now, and that’s tragic. Going forward we would reinstitute that policy….”

Neither Santorum, any of the other candidates, nor the debate panel addressed the disrespect the audience gave to Hill.

The next day on Fox News, Santorum did say: “I condemn the people who booed that gay soldier. That soldier is serving our country.

I thank him for his service to our country. I’m sure he is doing an excellent job. I hope he is safe.

I hope he returns safely, and does his mission well. I have to admit I seriously did not hear those boos. Had I heard them, I certainly would have commented on them.”

FT. LAUDERDALE, FL – Ron Mills, president of the Dolphin Democrats, issued a statement on the repeal of the ban on openly-gay members serving in the military:

“Our nation was founded on the concept of equality for all, and yet equality for gay and lesbian Americans is still a work in progress. Today, with the end of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ those gay and lesbian Americans who wish to serve their country without hiding their true identities finely have equality.

“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,” President Obama said in July. “As of September 20, service members will no longer be forced to hide who they are in order to serve our country.“

All ten of Florida’s congressional Democrats in the House voted to repeal the ban late last year, joined by Republicans Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Lincoln Diaz-Balart. We thank them for recognizing that “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” had to go. We also thank Senator Bill Nelson for his vote against the ban.

“The Dolphin Democrats have been out front in fighting for repeal, working with the Florida GLBT Democratic Caucus and National Stonewall Democrats. But this should not be seen as a partisan victory – rather, it is a victory shared by all Americans that underscores our true values.

“There are still many more key pieces of legislation lingering in Washington guaranteeing the LGBT community is ensured equality, but today we will celebrate the repeal of the discriminatory ban on openly gay men and women serving in the military.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Outgoing Secretary of Defense Robert Gates is unlikely to certify the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” before leaving office this week, according to what a senior defense and military officer told the military newspaper Stars and Stripes.

Gates had said that he would like to be the one that finalized the repeal of the 18-year-old ban on openly gay troops if the service chiefs gave him their okay before he retires on June 30th.  Army leaders said assessments on the progress and impact of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal training, underway since February, were due last Friday, leaving open a slim possibility that certification could come before Gates steps down.

Gay rights groups have for weeks been pushing for Gates to wrap up the process, concerned that his replacement, former CIA director Leon Panetta, might wait several more months before moving forward. Now, with Gates’ retirement just days away, that’s becoming less realistic.

Nearly all active-duty soldiers will have completed the training by July 15. The sessions inform service members about changes in law and policies post-repeal, as well as instruction about how troops should act around gay colleagues and reminders about existing rules regarding public displays of affection.

Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps officials said they expect to have more than 95 percent of their forces trained before the end of the month.
Once the Secretary of Defense certifies that the services are ready for the repeal, the law will come off the books after an additional 60-day waiting period.