Courtesy of Advocate.com:

In an act of civil disobedience, Lt. Dan Choi and Jim Pietrangelo have been arrested at the White House gates on Thursday while protesting the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.

Following a Human Rights Campaign rally for DADT repeal in Washington earlier today, Choi and Pietrangelo led about 100 protesters to the White House, where the two then proceeded to handcuff themselves to the gates.

Choi was speaking at the HRC rally at Freedom Plaza when he asked the group’s executive director, Joe Solmonese, if he would also march to the White House. Pietrangelo was discharged from the military under DADT, while Choi’s discharge is pending. Choi is the founder of Knights Out, a West Point alumni organization supporting LGBT soldiers.

“You’ve been told that the White House has a plan,” Choi told rally attendees. “But we learned this week that the president is still not fully committed. … Following this rally, I will be leading [the protest] to the White House to say ‘enough talk.’ … I am still standing, I am still fighting, I am still speaking out, and I am still gay.”

Read more at Advocate.com!

The above was reprinted with express permission from Advocate.com!

However, this doesn’t mean he supports repealing the ban on openly gay servicemembers. Earlier today, Petraeus stopped short of saying whether he supported or opposed “don’t ask, don’t tell”. Speaking to a a Senate panel he said he wants to see the results of an internal study that Defense Secretary Robert Gates ordered before any changes are made to the current policy. He stated his biggest concerns were whether or not allowing gays to serve openly might diminish recruiting and retention, and if repealing the law would hinder the military’s ability to fight.

Whether or not Petraeus supports the ban or repealing it remains somewhat of a mystery, but one thing is for sure, Petraeus has the political two-step down pat as he’s great at dancing around the issues without stepping on anyone’s toes.

Recently Jeff Hawkes of the Intelligencer Journal (see Army Times) wrote about Army National Guard chaplain Aris Fokas, one of the latest victims of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.

Surgeons went to work on five Marines mangled by a roadside bomb.

Multiple blasts near Ramadi, west of Baghdad, had torn off the legs of one soldier. Another Marine required amputation of both legs.

Though the time for prayers would come, Army National Guard chaplain Aris Fokas saw the immediate need in the operating room was for an extra set of hands.

He offered his as doctors and nurses labored late into the night in December 2005.

Fokas got busy retrieving medical supplies, hanging intravenous drips and hand pumping blood through a warmer.

When the need for those tasks waned, Fokas slipped back into the role of chaplain. He spoke and prayed with the wounded and with their buddies, who paced and waited for news.

Fokas, a United Church of Christ minister, joined the Pennsylvania Army National Guard in 2003. He was 39 years old and felt called to serve his country by pastoring to soldiers on the front lines.

Fokas warmed to the challenges, and many colleagues came to admire his professionalism and humanity.

But now that he’s home, Fokas, 46, is facing a challenge that threatens his future with the military.

An officer has accused Fokas of telling him he is gay.

Although Fokas denies any such disclosure, a commander at Fort Indiantown Gap has ordered an inquiry.

“It is the policy of the United States Army … that homosexuality is incompatible with military service,” Lt. Col. David W. Wood informed Fokas in a memorandum. “Therefore … an investigation is in process to determine if separation action is warranted.”

Fokas, for now, remains in the Guard, but his chaplain duties are suspended pending the investigation’s findings.

And so here we are yet again seeing another brave and dedicated member of the U.S. military caught up in what is tantamount to the Salem Witch Trials or Joe McCarthy’s paranoia about communists, reds and pinkos.

Men and women alike, from all branches of the U.S. military, have been caught in this tangled web ever since DADT was made policy. Thrown out like this morning’s garbage without even so much as a thank you for their service, often kicked out with no benefits or pay because of dishonorable discharges.

Of course we know how homophobic the military is, or at least seems. But not necessarily among the ranks, but the higher ups who of course are like any good solider only following and enforcing an idiotic and archaic doctrine and policy. It always seems funny to me when these stories appear that the fellow compatriots of the men or women brought down by DADT have no problem with the fact they are gay or lesbian.

No it’s always the ranking officers, duty bound to carry out an unjust policy, making one wonder if they question and have a problem with their own “closeted” identity. After all isn’t the old saying those who protest the most, are ?

So you can help save lives, aid in the fight against terrorism, be the bravest solider on the field of battle or the smartest tech on a sub, but it’s all for naught once you are found to be a faggot. Oh they say homosexual, but faggot is really what this policy and they mean.

We can’t have “them” sharing the same fox hole with another solider or God forbid what would happen if one of “them” was in the shower and someone dropped a bar of soap. We can’t have “them” in the same barracks when the lights go out nor one of “them” being a commander of a same sex unit. No we can’t have this, our military will become the laughing stock of the world if we have “them” in it.

Point is, our military at least as far as DADT policy, is the laughing stock of other countries which don’t bar gays of lesbians from serving.

Oh that’s right, neither does the United States.

You just can’t admit to or be found out that you’re a faggot.

Have a look!

Some Republicans are dismissing a planned nine-month Pentagon study on gays in the military as biased because it assumes Congress will eventually repeal the 1993 law known as “don’t ask, don’t tell.”

GOP lawmakers are likely to use the argument to try to chip away at the credibility of the assessment, which Defense Secretary Robert Gates envisions as the first comprehensive look at the policy in its 17-year lifetime.

Pentagon General Counsel Jeh Johnson and U.S. Army Forces Europe commander Gen. Carter Ham were expected to testify Wednesday before a House Armed Services subcommittee for the first time since being tapped to lead the study.

“Many of us on this committee have serious concerns with putting our men and women in uniform through such a divisive debate while they are fighting two wars,” said Rep. Buck McKeon of California, the full committee’s top Republican.

So, set aside GOProud and the Log Cabin Repubs, but what exactly is it about Republicans and Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. Do they realize being anti-gay, which has been a huge part of their platform is breaking apart? Do they realize once being gay is no longer viewed as a threat of terrorism they will have even less of a leg to stand on when voters exercise that right? Is it simply that yes, the religious right has hijacked the GOP?

On September 13, 2008, Belok attended a party at Beta Theta Pi, a fraternity which he later pledged, when two other midshipmen [MIDN], Dave Perry and Squad Leader Nick Trimis, said they saw Belok kiss another male on the lips.

More at: Focus On The Rainbow!

According to CMR’s website:

During a news conference in Washington, D.C. on February 18, the Center for Military Readiness changed the terms of the debate on the issue of gays in the military, focusing attention on the future consequences of repealing the current law stating that homosexuals are not eligible for military service. (Section 654, Title 10, U.S.C.).

A backdrop of large charts illustrated the complexities of the proposed new LGBT) Law, which would mandate acceptance of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered agenda for the military. As Elaine Donnelly explained in her statement, if Congress passes proposed legislation (HR 1283) to repeal current law, a wide array of inherently complicated social issues would impose heavy burdens on uniformed men and women, with serious negative impact on recruiting, retention, unit cohesion, and readiness.

Donnelly criticized the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, for trying to solicit comments from two dozen active-duty troops during a visit to Amman, Jordan, putting them on the spot in the presence of the media. She also noted that Defense Secretary William Gates’ February 2 pledge to follow President Obama’s orders to repeal current law predicted only problems for the troops with no benefits in return.

I find it amazingly interesting that Ms. Donnelly is criticizing decorated officers, discounting military leaders in other nations that have ended their ban on gays serving in the military and warning of a “homosexual agenda”
when in fact Ms. Donnelly has never served on single day in the military. Sounds as though we need to be more weary of Donnelly’s Biblical agenda.

As conservatives in the United States try to argue that repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT) would lead to all sorts of horrors like an increase in “body art,” natural disasters, and a reinstatement of the draft, British citizens are serving comfortably alongside openly gay men and women. Yesterday at a reception at Number 10 Downing Street to celebrate February’s LGBT History Month, UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown underscored the country’s more progressive position:

Brown singled out the lesbians, gays and bisexuals from the Army, Navy and Air Force who attended the event in uniform.

He told them: “You are the pride of our country and we thank you very much. We know this debate continues in America today. I would say to people who still favour ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’, look at our experience in Britain.”

More here!

Most blacks scoff at the idea of a post-racial nation — after all, the fingerprints of race are everywhere, from sports arenas to church sanctuaries. A growing number of blacks now feel that perhaps we were only deemed as useful for our votes; all but gone are campaign promises to address our specific needs, like more jobs, better education and important help with the mortgage crisis.

Many of my black brothers and sisters are now murmuring and beginning to feel that the President’s ascent to the most powerful station in the nation has done little to get them off their posts of despair. Many black folk walked on rice paper to keep from tearing into the fiber of the President’s disturbing avoidance of race in America. It may be that Obama’s presence in the White House has overshadowed the problems of a people who survived the “peculiar institution” of slavery. Although the President should keep all Americans in view, it appears that he has lost sight of the problems of most blacks. Other groups — GLBT, Latinos, Native Americans, even the sometimes amorphous “middle class” — have asked, and received, particular attention from the Obama administration. Black folk have largely lagged far behind.

More at: Huff Po!

Not surprisingly, Santorum turned up at the recent Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) and preached to the choir about the alleged dangers of allowing gays to openly serve in the military. Dismissing the support of military leaders for repealing Don’t Ask Don’t Tell (DADT), Santorum explained that they had been so “indoctrinated” with political correctness that they can no longer “see straight,” as Sam Stein reported in the Huffington Post. (Note: I have no idea whether “see straight” was an intentional pun, but I suspect it was not.)

Santorum told the CPAC crowd that repealing DADT would “sap the readiness and effectiveness of the armed forces,” paraphrased Stein. But this makes no sense.

Santorum’s claims are easily contradicted by the fact that a considerable majority of military personnel favor a repeal of DADT. According to a 2006 Zogby poll of military personnel who have served in Iraq or Afghanistan or related combat roles, 73 percent said they were comfortable interacting with gays and lesbians, and only 19 percent (less than 1 in 5) said they were uncomfortable. So, since Santorum never bothered to serve in the military himself, maybe we should give more credence to those who actually did.

So what motivates Santorum’s fear of gays? Does he believe that every homosexual is going to be leering at all his straight colleagues and trying to “convert” them to the “gay lifestyle”? Does he not realize that it doesn’t work that way?

More at: thepeoplesvoice.org!