The Stupefying Idiocy Of DADT
March 13, 2010 by Gay Agenda News Team · Leave a Comment
Contributed by Lyndon Evans and cross-posted at: Focus On The Rainbow – Opine -
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.
Let’s Talk About Prop 8 – Really, Let’s Talk!
February 25, 2010 by James Hipps · Leave a Comment
What’s your agenda? Wednesday nights a great night to let it be known! Join yours truly along with Lyndon Evans of Focus On The Rainbow and special guest on gayagenda.com’s Blog Talk Radio show which airs live from 8-9 pm Eastern time!
This week’s guest was Mr. Chris Fowler, a California attorney who was married to his partner during the short window of opportunity when lesbian and gay couples were allowed to wed in California.
According to TWIT.com:
Gay, newlywed and a new father, Christopher C. Fowler—attorney at Los Angeles-based business law firm Rutter Hobbs & Davidoff Incorporated—is personally and deeply invested in the current case’s outcome. Fowler and his husband were one of 18,000 couples to wed within the six-month window when same-sex marriage was legal in California. Then, on Nov. 4, 2008—the same day Proposition 8 passed—while out campaigning against the ballot measure, Fowler learned that they’d been matched with the birthparents of their future son.
“I am cautiously optimistic that Judge Walker will decide that Proposition 8 was unconstitutional, that its creators sponsored the ballot measure out of animus to the LGBT community. Under several important United States Supreme Court cases, Prop. 8 is in violation of U.S. constitutional law, withholding a basic, fundamental, legal right to which every American is entitled—gay or straight.”
- Christopher C. Fowler, attorney, Rutter Hobbs & Davidoff
Chris gave us a great inside perspective on Prop 8 and the challenges is presents for gay & lesbian couples. Missed the show? No worries, listen on the player below…but make sure you listen live next Wednesday night at 8 pm EST…Let your agenda be known!
Mr. Chris Fowler
Superbowler Tackles Gay Marriage!
February 7, 2010 by Jason Shaw · 3 Comments
It’s not the first time the Saints linebacker has turned head and raised eyebrows for more than his playing ability. Back in October last year he publicly supported fellow NFL star Brendan Ayanbadejo’s support of gay marriage. In an interview with The Advocate this week he remained modest of his brave standpoint. ” I thought what Brendan wrote was incredibly insightful, thought-provoking, and completely on point. And many people would call it courageous. But if Brendan’s like me, I don’t know if he’d consider what we’ve done all that courageous. We have strong feelings about equal rights, and to me, expressing those feelings isn’t courageous, it’s the right thing to do.
By and large, the business of football is still pretty 1950s, where the status quo and conformity to the principles of “just shut up and play football” are intact. But the athletes themselves are more than that. We’re more than just football players, and many of us are much more open and tolerant than we get credit for. The reality, however, is that the locker room just isn’t the place where these issues are discussed, and your everyday beat writer for the local sports page doesn’t get paid to ask “
Packing Heat: The Pink Pistols
February 3, 2010 by Gay Agenda News Team · Leave a Comment
The other night I was flipping through the channels and saw Current TV was featuring some documentaries on gays and lesbians. Just as I was going to flip off the channel a documentary was coming up which kept my finger off the channel change button.
It was a documentary about a group of gays and lesbians called The Pink Pistols with several chapters across the United States where men and women learn to use firearms to protect themselves against anti-gay violence.
More at: Focus On The Rainbow!
CBS Refuses to Pull Ad by Anti-Gay Group
January 28, 2010 by James Hipps · 4 Comments
Contributed by Lyndon Evans:
On January 16 this writer was one of the first in the media to voice opposition to CBS Television’s decision to sell ad time during this year’s Super Bowl to the anti-gay hate group Focus On The Family.
Yesterday CBS stood behind it’s decision to sell ad time and that it will not drop Focus On The Family as a Super Bowl advertiser. In an article at Broadcasting and Cable (B&C) reporter John Eggerton wrote in part, The network said it does not reject advocacy ads out of hand, and added that it would consider “responsibly produced ads from all groups” for the “few” remaining spots in the broadcast.
“We have for some time moderated our approach to advocacy submissions after it became apparent that our stance did not reflect public sentiment or industry norms on the issue,” CBS said in an e-mailed statement Tuesday. “In fact, most media outlets have accepted advocacy ads for some time. At CBS, our standards and practices process continues to adhere to a process that ensures all ads — on all sides of an issue — are appropriate for air.
“We will continue to consider responsibly produced ads from all groups for the few remaining spots in Super Bowl XLIV,” the network said.
A CBS spokesperson had told B&C Claire Atkinson last week that the network had vetted the spot’s script and did not expect to have any trouble with the video.
“It is not inflammatory or divisive,” a CBS exec told Atkinson last week.
The ad in question may not be inflammatory or divisive but Focus On The Family certainly is.
The following is an open letter directed to Les Moonves, President and CEO of the CBS Corporation.
Dear Mr. Moonves,
As a former and once proud employee of CBS Broadcasting I find your decision as head of CBS Broadcasting to allow Focus On The Family to buy ad time during this year’s Super Bowl broadcast, putting corporate profit above the fight against discrimination and to allow a group such as Focus On The Family to dictate what should be the moral conscience and decency for Americans, to be unconscionable.
When I was the commercial continuity manager at the CBS Radio Group in Hartford, CT and managed barter ads for program distributors such as Westwood One, I was not allowed to schedule certain radio spots.
I was not allowed to schedule ads from XM Satellite Radio as it was deemed a competitor. I was not allowed to schedule ads for Trojan prophylactics as the ad subject matter was deemed inappropriate for our four stations in the radio group.
And there were times I was not allowed to schedule ads from Radio Shack because the ad co-oped with XM Satellite Radio.
Part of my job was to bring to the attention of the Director of Operations and the General Manager of the Radio Group ads which may have “underlying political messages”, inappropriate content matter for the radio stations and ads which may be of a competitive nature to the radio broadcast industry (with the exception of TV or Cable Networks).
Should I be remiss in my duties and neglect to become “suspicious” of ad content, as I did once with Radio Shack co-oping with XM, my ass was handed to me on a platter, to put it in blunt terms.
So while the content of the upcoming ad from Focus On The Family may not be “inflammatory or decisive”, the same can not be said about the organization behind the ad.
Not only is your descision to accept advertising dollars from Focus On The Family an affront to LGBTs, women and those who believe in reproductive choice, it is a major disappointment I am sure for a great many loyal employees of the CBS Corporation and it’s divisions, this a Corporation which in its employee policy does not tolerate intolerance among the CBS Corporation and its various division’s employees.
Were I still working at CBS I would not write this communication to you for fear of losing my job.
Now that I no longer have to worry about that scenario, I can write this to be a voice for the thousands of fellow CBS employees I left behind and who may be afraid to express the like-minded view of this communication.
I use to say CBS was like a second family to me.
Today and until such time as you make the decision not to air the Focus On The Family ad, I am ashamed to have been part of the CBS family.
Sincerely,
Lyndon Evans
