Bent News, 6/2/11: a new White House LGBT site as we learn of a new DADT discharge
KTVA talks with ICOAA, Anchorage’s “rural” Pride events, a White House website on LGBT issues, a DADT discharge, antigay pastor Lou Engle visits Wasilla, and more in this edition of Bent News.
Alaska
Gay Soldiers, Family and Friends Celebrate Memorial Day (KTVA Channel 11 News, 5/31/11). KTVA visited ICOAA’s Memorial Day picnic last Monday at Kincaid Park and talked about DADT. Here’s the video:
Pride
Why you should attend a rural gay pride event this year (LGBTQNation, 5/29/11). Anchorage isn’t exactly “rural,” but they tell people to come to our Pride events, so we’ll forgive the error.
Gay Pride Flag Whips Up Controversy in Virginia (Unicorn Booty, 6/3/11). Conservative politicians, preachers and “pro-family” advocates are in heat over a gay pride flag at the Federal Reserve Bank building in Richmond, Virginia. Oh, the horror!
Harvey Milk’s nephew to kick-off Pride Rally (Post Gazette, 6/1). Stuart Milk, Harvey’s nephew, will kick off Pittsburgh Pride this year. Happy Pride to Brian & Michael & Justin & all the other Queer As Folk! More at Pink News.
Winning the Future: President Obama and the LGBT Community. A new microsite from the White House: “In honor of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) History Month, The White House launched our first ever LGBT specific constituency webpage…. This webpage is designed to keep you updated on how the President and the Administration are Winning the Future for LGBT Americans.”
But in that case, Mr. President….
DADT
Gay servicemembers still being discharged under DADT. There was one on April 29, 2011. (Gay America Blog, 6/2/11). Okay, first a presidential declaration of LGBT Pride Month… then a White House website about Obama’s efforts for LGBT Americans… and now we learn a gay airman was discharged under DADT in April, with certification of DADT repeal still months away? Mr. President: explain please.
Update 6/4/11: Bent reader TX SMR has made us aware of two stories which provide pertinent details on this case from Igor Volsky at Think Progress (6/2/11) and from Stars and Stripes (6/3/11). According to the Stars and Stripes story, the airman in question outed himself and — before his commander initiated any procedures — wrote to the secretary of the Air Force asked to be expeditiously separated from the military. See comments below the post for TX SMR’s opinion and Bent contributor Mel Green’s opinion in response.
Right wing hate watch
Kingdom Come Alaska (June 3-4 in Wasilla) Ugh. Antigay pastor Lou Engle endorsed Uganda’s “stand for righteousness” with regard to its proposed “kill the gays” bill at a rally in Kampala in May 2010. This weekend he’s in Wasilla for an antichoice rally at the Curtis D Menard Sports Center, and his son Jesse Engle will speak at Wasilla Assembly of God’s Sunday service on June 5. We did not put these events on Bent’s events calendar! More on Lou Engle and his prevarications (that is, lies) about what he said in Kampala from Box Turtle Bulletin (6/23/11), Soul Force (2/11/11), and Right Wing Watch (4/13/11).
Ugandan Lesbian Branded By Hot Iron Has To Come Back In Uganda (Lezbelib, 6/3/11). Betty Tibikawa, 22 years old, looked for asylum in the United Kingdom, but instead they’re deporting her back to Uganda, where she’s already been “punished” for her sexuality by being branded with a hot iron. She was also outed by the Ugandan magazine Red Pepper — putting her at increased risk for death in the nation that is still dangerously close to enacting a “kill the gays” bill. We’d like to ask Lou Engle, currently in Wasilla: do you also endorse this as representing Uganda’s “stand for righteousness”?
Marriage equality
Civil Unions Commence in Ill. (Advocate.com, 6/2/11) “More than 30 same-sex couples marked the first day of civil unions in Illinois by taking vows in downtown Chicago’s Millennium Park Thursday morning.”
40 United Methodist Clergy Pledge To Marry Gay Couples (WJON AM 1240, 6/2/11). This too place in St. Cloud, Minnesota, site of a recent gay bashing. Yes, good can happen there too — the America we believe in!
Arts
The Stunning Sheetal Sheth (The Hump Day Crew with Ginni & Bish, 6/1/11). A couple of Aussies with a recent audio interview with Sheetal Sheth, whose film “Three Veils” will be screened at Out North on June 11.
What more of the world needs to look like
Commentary: Together for 55 years, they could be your grandfathers or mine (masslive.com, 6/3/11). Our mission? Bring the Northampton attitude to the rest of the country.
Tags: Don't Ask Don't Tell (DADT), Imperial Court of Alll Alaska (ICOAA), Lou Engle, marriage equality, Sheetal Sheth, Uganda
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Re: the DADT discharge — that soldier (airman) asked to be discharged.
http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2011/06/02/235332/servicemember-discharged-under-dont-ask-dont-tell-in-april/
and more importantly, with more very relevant information:
http://www.stripes.com/news/air-force-airman-dismissed-under-dadt-outed-himself-asked-for-separation-1.145530
I am all for DADT going away, but really, asking the POTUS to provide more information about this, or an explanation about this?
Reflexive blame-the-president attitudes should remain the property of the right-wingers unless the president is directly responsible for something. We all know that he is not responsible for DADT and appears to be taking steps to end it in a way that cannot be undone by the next R president, R senate majority or legal challenges.
TX SMR: Thanks for telling us about these two stories. I’ve just updated the post to add links to them, and adding the info from them that
I’m glad to have those additional facts, but I’m also responding here because I find that I still agree with what we originally wrote. We now have the facts that the airman sought discharge under DADT, but those facts raise more questions. Why did he seek discharge? Maybe he was being harassed for being gay. Maybe he wasn’t, and just wanted to use DADT to get out because he didn’t want to fulfill his service obligation. I’m sure there are other possible reasons, too.
But none of them justify the discharge. Not, at least, if the military was nondiscriminatory. From the Stars and Stripes story:
And if he was being harassed for being gay? Then the appropriate response of an equitable military would be to investigate and discipline the perpetrators of the harassment — not to discharge the person being harassed. But of course we know the military is less than scrupulous about that kind of thing — which is why sexual assault of female soldiers, for instance, is still quite common in the armed forces.
Re: President Obama’s responsibility in the matter — I appreciate what Pres. Obama has done to further LGBT equality — I’ve even been taken to task for my appreciation of it, just a couple of day’s ago on Bent’s facebook wall — because of what he’s failed to do. (Herman, are you reading this?) I see your point, but I see Herman’s point too: DADT is still in place, and its actual end is still some months away. As this case proves. Do we deserve explanation? Yes. Maybe the Stars and Stripes story provides enough explanation for some, but it doesn’t for me: did this airman bag it because he just wanted to bag it, or did he bag it because he was in an unlivable situation that military authorities didn’t bother to check into?
Do I need that explanation to come from the President himself? Probably not, so long as someone with proper authority could do it. The President’s a busy guy — I reckon he knows how to delegate. We do, however, reserve the right to use the occasional rhetorical flourish — even if the occasional reader decides to take it much more literally than it was intended.