Gryphmon's Grumbles

MEMORIAL DAY -- Remembering Alan Rogers

MEMORIAL DAY -- Remembering Alan Rogers

A Change in Pace

You can always tell someone is very, very prejudiced when they can't distinguish between someone who is gay and "homosexual acts". Mr. Pace does not believe that gay people exist, he thinks that we are just fucked up straight people behaving badly I guess.

I'm glad Mr. Pace thinks that the military needs moral standards. Perhaps then he would like to explain all the moral waivers he has been approving to let felons into the military while kicking gay people out. Perhaps he would also like to explain the vast disparity between the numbers of military personnel kicked out for Adultery as opposed to homosexuality or sodomy.

I'm also tired of people excusing their prejudice on their "upbringing". If you call black people niggers because thats the way you were raised it doesn't mean your not an asshole.

It is my decided "political" opinion that Mr. Pace should spend more time thinking about what his soldiers and Marines are doing on the battlefield instead of in the bedroom. I'm just not interested in his opinions on butt-fucking so he should keep damn mouth shut and find something more useful to occupy his time. Like say... winning the war in Iraq. But hey, I'm just a nub civilian, what do I know about waging war?
Pfft.

Reasonable Court Activism

Bruce over at Gay Patriot is (yawn) yet-again blasting the Log Cabin Club (LCR) for its filing of a court case seeking to overturn Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. That case recently had a set-back.

Although this is really just another anti-LCR Bruce tirade, (he has, like, WAY too many issues with them), Bruce and many others have long decried the filing of civil rights based court cases. 

In fact, I think he blames all the anti-gay DOMA’s that were passed in the last election on the ruckus raised after the MA Supreme Court  legally recognized that gays and lesbians are equal to Heterosexuals when both have decided to start families by getting married.

Of course, being the nonsensical git that I am, I would rather blame the people who actually created and voted for the DOMA’s, not the MA Supreme Court and the “Judicial Activism”  it has been often described as practicing. Or even the people that brought the court cases forward.

At any rate, his solution is always that we should be out there on foot convincing Americans, and in this case, the GOP controlled Congress to change the laws.  That’s all fine, but he is ignoring some basic fundamentals. (Besides the fact that the current majority of the leadership of the GOP is prejudiced toward gay and lesbian Americans.)-And planning on capitalizing on that prejudice to raise money and votes in the next elections. But I digress.

If we are NOT out there filing these court cases, someone else surely will be, and from the opposite side of the argument.  And if we do not vigorously defend ourselves and counter their lawsuits with ones of our own, then only that one side of the argument will be heard. It is a competitive world. And our legal system is deliberately set up as adversarial. The crucible of truth.

You can decry “Judicial Activism” all you want, but when you look at the cases, it’s clear that the majority of the “Activism” involved is coming from the plaintiffs and defendants, not the judges.

So if Lambda Legal, the ACLU, HRC, SLDN, and yes, LCR, are not out there filing court cases,  its not going to stop the Traditional Values Coalition, the American Family Association, the Center for Law and Justice (Sekulow’s group), the Liberty Counsel, The Pacific Justice Institute, The Center for Military Readiness, etc., from filing their own.

On any given topic of importance to the country, the court systems are a part of the national public discussion. You might not like that, but its a fact. And if we don’t speak up in those that venues, we are just giving up and ceding that particular field of battle to the other side. And that is a bad idea.

So while court cases such as the one from LCR can at times cause difficulties in terms of overall strategy, they are still vital and necessary and must continue. And LCR should be thanked and commended for taking this battle on. That would be the reasonable point of view.

-Gryph

Guest blog: One Marine's thoughts on DADT & Marriage

The following short essay was sent to me by a young Marine currenty on active duty. He has already done one tour of duty in Iraq, and is probably going back soon.

Me To: Veterans Day

My Dad served in the Army in between the Korean and Vietnam Wars.  He lost most of his hearing on his left side because of an accidental encounter with what they used to call an "atomic cannon".  Thank you Dad.

__________________________

Me To

Daddy was a solider in the Vietnam War,  she was proud to see her father in a fresh-pressed uniform. 

He came home on a stretcher in 1966, welcomed by fellow Americans throwing tomatoes and sticks.

He said,  Darlin don't you worry, there are two sides to everything,

and I did what I believed in, and I want you to do the same. 

I stood up for my country, and that's a solid bet.

And I'll stand for freedom, every chance I get.

'Cause America shines ,

In front of me,

All the world could see if they wanted to.

I raise this flag for you,

                              .....me too!

She grew up on the Bible, and she grew up on love. 

She grew up thinking she could change the world, if she only worked hard enough. 

So she became a lawyer, hoped to marry a good-looking man,

and then she fell in love with the girl next door, so that wasn't part of the plan.

But America shines ,

In front of me,

All the world could see if they wanted to.

I raise this flag for you,

                                       .....me too!

The years spin by while the corn grows high, for every train you catch, you miss one. 

Such much of life just races by,  it was time to tell Daddy this one.

She sat down in the corner, she could still see the door,

She said Daddy I got to tell you, something I never said before,

He said , Shhhhhhh.........

Everybody has a war.

You see its not about oil and its not about guns, 

and its not about rainbows, its about daughters and sons.

If you believe in tommorrow, then I have taught you well,

cause if you don't believe in yourself, then life's a living hell.

And you'll always shine ,

In front of me,

All the world could see if they wanted to.

I raise this flag for you,

                                       .....me too!

From Sonia

This is part of The Veteran's day carnival of blogs:

Another Gay Republican

Cake or Death

GayOrbit -- Michael, Ace, and Mary

GayPatriot

Gay and Right

While not apart of the Veteran's day carnival, Mudville Gazette is again providing an open post.

Don't Ask, Don't Tell: A Veteran's Day observance

If you ask most people what the military "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"(DADT) is, they will tell you that it's the policy that allows gays to serve in the military as long as they keep their orientation a secret.

The problem with that assumption is that its almost completely false.  There is no such policy. It's illegal for gays and lesbians to serve in the military, whether in or out of the closet. Period. We are not eligible to serve in any way. This is the law as passed by Congress, and it's very clear on the subject.

There is however an administrative policy that forbids asking what the sexual orientation of someone in the military is.  Unless you are suspicious that they might be homosexual.

In which case, it's perfectly acceptable to start an investigation on the subject.

So you see it's never been about whether gays in the military could be "discreet" or not "flaunting" it.  And note that as an administrative policy, even "not asking" can be revoked at any time by the DOD and White House.

Funniest Picture From Iraq I've Seen All Year....

Don't Ask, Don't Tell.

(pssst. They are straight. No, really!)

Storm the Beach! As much as I hate to do it.....

I'm going to whore my blog for money.

This weekend in Long Beach, there will be a fundraiser party/dance for the Service Members Legal Defense Network (SLDN)

Storm the Beach! (Buy Tickets here)

Don't let this beefcake picture fool you, this is serious stuff.

SLDN is an organization in DC that is leading most of the efforts to overturn "Don't Ask, Don't Tell".  That old "Chestnut" as a certain VP used to say.

They are different from other not-for-profit lobby groups such as HRC in that besides lobbying our Congressmen and filing lawsuits, they also provide legal representation and information to those members of the military who run afoul of DADT.  They have a network of attorneys that specialize in military law that take cases pro bono.  Remember that we don't pay our military people a whole lot so they often can't afford expensive attorney fees.  SLDN provides a lifeline to people who often have no one else they can turn to and safely trust.

So SLDN actually does real, honest to goodness work to directly help people, rather than just promoting the production of greenhouse gasses by blowing a lot of hot air around. I dropped my membership in HRC many years ago for this org and I haven't looked back since.

Supervisor Beven Dufty replies:

I've recieved a response from one of the Supervisor's I e-mailed, Supervisor Beven Dufty, who is one of the members of the Board that did vote against the Iowa.

In my original e-mail, I basically sent him a copy of one of my earlier posts, that you can find here.  Both his letter and my current reply are below.

First off however, Thanks, and kudos to Mr. Dufty for responding so quickly, and for being willing to wade into the murky waters where the pajamahudeen dwell.  ;-)

Boycott SF: Why it's not about Don't Ask, Don't Tell

The SF Board of supervisors is claiming that the military policy of Don't Ask, Don't Tell is the reason why they rejected the Iowa.

"Supervisor Bevan Dufty, who is gay, said the military's policy on gays and lesbians influenced his vote and that of Supervisor Tom Ammiano, who also is gay, against a battleship Iowa museum for San Francisco."

"For Tom and I it's very difficult to advocate for some military honor thing when people are being harassed and even killed and are unable to serve in the military because they are gay and lesbian,'' Dufty said.

And of course, the obligatory "we support the troops" line.

"People didn't cast votes based on their unwillingness to support the troops in Iraq,'' he added.

Nonsense. As Paul at Right Rainbow points out, they would have voted against the Iowa anyway.  They hate the military.

Those of us that are working to overturn DADT are not just trying to correct an injustice. We are fighting so that we can be a part of the military. We truly want the best for the military, and right now, DADT doesn't harm just gays and lesbians, it harms troop morale, discipline, and force readiness.  It does all the bad things it was claimed to avoid, and then some, when it was justified by its proponents at the time of its enactment.

We want gays and lesbians to be able to join the military.  The SF Board of Sups. doesn't want anyone to join the military.  It's just not an institution they value, unless as a convenient scapegoat for their own problems.  Therefore, the Board of Supervisors cannot both say that they don't want the Iowa, and that it's because they don't like DADT.  The two positions are mutually exclusive.

So the next time the SF Board of Supervisors wants to make a statement about Don't As, Don't Tell, tell them please don't.  That kind of help we don't need.