Statement by SLDN Executive Director Aubrey Sarvis on DNC EventSLDN will be outside boycotting the Democratic National Committee (DNC) LGBT event in Washington this Thursday. SLDN will be calling upon the President to end his silence on "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." We will be wearing and handing out buttons with the number 265, representing the number of service members who will have been discharged this week since President Obama was sworn in. We do not, nor would we want to, dictate how members of our board or our Military Advisory Council make their political views known. However, I understand that two board members are attending the DNC event. I also understand they will be making their own spirited and creative statements once inside the room.
Seventy-seven Congressional members led by Democratic Representative Alcee Hastings of Florida sent a letter to President Barack Obama Monday urging him to take immediate action to stop the investigations of "don't ask, don't tell" violations. The letter does not call for an executive order halting discharges but rather a change in how the policy is implemented within the Department of Defense.This now places squarely in the White House's court a need to give a response other than the feeble "Congress has to do it through legislative action.""It is aIt is a presidential moratorium, it is a significant presidential action, but it's not an executive order," said Christopher Neff, political director at the Palm Center, a research institute at University of California, Santa Barbara. "They basically want the military to disregard anyone who 'tells' [of someone's sexuality] as long as there isn't a [Uniform Code of Military Justice] violation or something criminal."
The Palm Center, in an emailed press release, received this comment:
Lt. Dan Choi, an Arabic translator whose discharge under "don't ask, don't tell" is imminent, stated that, "I am delighted that so many members of Congress are calling on the White House to allow me to do my job in Iraq, and to allow all other loyal gay service members to do their jobs as well." Today's Congressional letter cites Choi's impending discharge as an example of why swift presidential action is needed.Below the fold is the letter with all of the signatories. Make note of who isn't on that list.
The letter, from the web site of Florida U.S. Congressman Alcee Hastings:
June 22, 2009Well, Mel Watt is there, but it looks like I have a few Congresspeeps in NC to ask why their names aren't on this list -- my own Congressman, Rep. David Price, and Rep. Brad Miller; surely they believe that our national security is compromised by this policy. Certainly both have counted on donations from the LGBT community.The Honorable Barack H. Obama
President of the United States
The White House
Washington, D.C. 20500Dear President Obama:
The United States of America prides itself on having the finest military in the world because of the hard work, dedication, and sacrifices of our brave servicemen and women. And yet, under 10 U.S.C. ? 654 (Policy Concerning Homosexuality in the Armed Forces), better known as "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," the talents and contributions of our openly gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) service members continue to be ignored simply because of who they are. Every day, we lose approximately two service members to this misguided, unjust, and flat-out discriminatory policy. Don't Ask, Don't Tell is not only an injustice to them, but a disservice to the U.S. military and our country as a whole.
As you know, Don't Ask, Don't Tell was signed into law in 1993 by former President Bill Clinton as a compromise to allow gay and lesbian service members to serve in the military -- so long as they did not disclose their sexual orientations. Fifteen years later, Don't Ask Don't Tell is instead negatively impacting the lives and livelihoods of these military professionals and depriving our Armed Forces of their honorable service. Since you took office on January 20, 2009, more than 250 gay and lesbian service members have been discharged under this law, which continues to undermine and demoralize the more than 65,000 gay and lesbian Americans currently serving on active duty.
Although we are confident that you will remain true to your campaign promise to end Don't Ask, Don't Tell, our LGBT service members and our country's national security will continue to suffer if initial action is delayed until 2010 or 2011. We urge you to exercise the maximum discretion legally possible in administering Don't Ask, Don't Tell until Congress repeals the law. To this end, we ask that you direct the Armed Services not to initiate any investigation of service personnel to determine their sexual orientation, and that you instruct them to disregard third party accusations that do not allege violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. That is, we request that you impose that no one is asked and that you ignore, as the law requires, third parties who tell. Under your leadership, Congress must then repeal and replace Don't Ask, Don't Tell with a policy of inclusion and non-discrimination. This bilateral strategy would allow our openly gay and lesbia lesbian service members to continue serving our country and demonstrate our nation's lasting commitment to justice and equality for all.
As the United States continues to work towards responsibly ending the War in Iraq and refocus on the threat from al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan, our LGBT service members offer invaluable skills that enhance our country's military competence and readiness. Despite the great strain on our military's human resources, the Armed Forces have discharged almost 800 mission-critical troops and at least 59 Arabic and nine Farsi linguists under Don't Ask, Don't Tell in the last five years. This is indefensible. The financial cost alone of implementing Don't Ask, Don't Tell from Fiscal Year 1994-2003 was more than $363.8 million. Our nation's military has always held itself to the highest standards, and we must recruit and retain the greatest number of our best and brightest. To do anything less only hurts our country's military readiness and our service members.
We also want to bring to your attention the most recent examples of the failed Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy in action. New York National Guard First Lieutenant Dan Choi and Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Victor Fehrenbach are two exceptional servicemen who have dedicated their lives to defending our country and protecting the American people. Their bravery and abilities have been tested in combat, and now they face impending discharge under Don't Ask, Don't Tell.
First Lieutenant Choi, a current National Guardsman with the 1st Battalion of the 69th Infantry in Manhattan, is a West Point graduate, Arabic language specialist, and Iraq War veteran who is under investigation for refusing to lie about his identity.
Lieutenant Colonel Fehrenbach, Assistant Director of Operations for the 366th Operations Support Squadron at Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho, has honorably served his country for 18 years as an F-15E pilot. He has received nine air medals, including a Medal for Heroism during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and was hand-picked to protect the airspace over Washington, D.C. after the Pentagon was attacked on September 11, 2001. Lieutenant Colonel Fehrenbach, who has flown combat missions in Iraq and Afghanistan against the Taliban and al Qaeda, continues to serve while the recommendation for his honorable discharge moves forward to a review board, and eventually to the Secretary of the Air Force. Just two years away from his 20-year retirement, he stands to lose $46,000 a year in retirement and medical benefits for the rest of his life if discharged.
The American people and service members of the Armed Forces overwhelmingly support the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell. According to a national Gallup poll conducted in May 2009, 69% of Americans, including 58% of Republicans, favor allowing openly gay men and lesbian women to serve in the military. Furthermore, a 2006 poll of 545 troops who served in Iraq and Afghanistan by Zogby International and the Michael D. Palm Center at the University of California, Santa Barbara, revealed that 73% are personally comfortable with gay men and lesbian women. John Shalikashvili, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the Clinton administration, and more than 100 retired admirals and generals support this repeal, in addition to the Human Rights Campaign, the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, and Knights Out, an organization of LGBT West Point alumni cofounded by First Lieutenant Choi.
Mr. President, we cannot afford to lose any more of our dedicated and talented service members to Don't Ask, Don't Tell. On behalf of First Lieutenant Choi, Lieutenant Colonel Fehrenbach, and the more than 12,500 gay and lesbian service members who have been discharged since Don't Ask, Don't Tell was implemented in 1994, we stand ready to assist you in repealing this dishonorable and debilitating law as soon as possible, and in restoring justice and equality in our Armed Forces.
Please know that we wil we will continue to monitor this situation and are hopeful that, together, we can address this urgent issue soon. Thank you for your consideration and we look forward to your response.
Sincerely,
The letter was authored by Rep. Hastings and signed by Representatives Barney Frank (D-MA), John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI), Fortney "Pete" Stark (D-CA), Edward J. Markey (D-MA), Gary Ackerman (D-NY), Louise Slaughter (D-NY), Eliot Engel (D-NY), Jim McDermott (D-WA), Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Jos? Serrano (D-NY), James Moran (D-VA), Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Ed Pastor (D-AZ), James Clyburn (D-SC), Anna Eshoo (D-CA), Bob Filner (D-CA), Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX), Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), Robert "Bobby" Scott (D-VA), Bennie Thompson (D-MS), Nydia Vel?zquez (D-NY), Melvin Watt (D-NC), Lynn Woolsey (D-CA), Lloyd Doggett (D-TX), Chaka Fattah (D-PA), Jane Harman (D-CA), Lois Capps (D-CA), Donna M. Christensen (D-VI), Diana DeGette (D-CO), Bill Delahunt (D-MA), Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick (D-MI), Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), Barbara Lee (D-CA), James McGovern (D-MA), Brad Sherman (D-CA), Robert Wexler (D-FL), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Shelley Berkley (D-NV), Michael Capuano (D-MA), Joseph Crowley (D-NY), Rush Holt (D-NJ), John Larson (D-CT), Grace Napolitano (D-CA), Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), Anthony Weiner (D-NY), David Wu (D-OR), William Lacy Clay (D-MO), Mike Honda (D-CA), James Langevin (D-RI), Betty McCollum (D-MN), Diane Watson (D-CA), Tim Bishop (D-NY), Ra?l Grijalva (D-AZ), Linda S?nchez (D-CA), Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO), Doris Matsui (D-CA), Gwen Moore (D-WI), Debbie Wasserman Schulz (D-FL), Andr? Carson (D-IN), Kathy Castor (D-FL), Yvette Clarke (D-NY), Donna F. Edwards (D-MD), Keith Ellison (D-MN), Marcia L. Fudge (D-OH), Phil Hare (D-IL), Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI), Laura Richardson (D-CA), Joe Sestak (D-PA), Niki Tsongas (D-MA), Peter Welch (D-VT), Alan Grayson (D-FL), Jared Polis (D-CO), Mike Quigley (D-IL), and Gregorio Sablan (D-MP).
I was just contacted by Adam Wells of Sen. Chris Dodd's (D-CT) office who wanted to let Blenders know that the Senator has changed his mind about marriage equality and sent on an op-ed written for the The Meriden Record-Journal explaining his evolution on the matter. It's odd, isn't it, that our President has moved in the opposite direction since his days running for the U.S. Senate. The constitutional law prof supported marriage equality then, but now "God is in the mix." Sen. Dodd and Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA, who voted for DOMA) have moved in the direction of equality. Why can't our "fierce advocate"?
Rights, Responsibilities and LoveUPDATE: HRC's Michael Cole passed on a link to an entry on Back Story by Brian Rice of HRC's Board of Governors. Rice met with Dodd and and other CT activists. Dodd has a 100% HRC Scorecard rating. A snippet.June 21, 2009
Public officials aren't supposed to change their minds. But I firmly believe that it's important to keep learning. Last week, while I was iI was in Connecticut meeting with members of the gay and lesbian community from across the state, I had the opportunity to tell them what I've learned about marriage, and about equality.
While I've long been for extending every benefit of marriage to same-sex couples, I have in the past drawn a distinction between a marriage-like status ("civil unions") and full marriage rights.
The reason was simple: I was raised to believe that marriage is between a man and a woman. And as many other Americans have realized as they've struggled to reconcile the principle of fairness with the lessons they learned early in life, that's not an easy thing to overcome.
But the fact that I was raised a certain way just isn't a good enough reason to stand in the way of fairness anymore.
The Connecticut Supreme Court, of course, has ruled that such a distinction holds no merit under the law. And the Court is right.
I believe that effective leaders must be able and willing to grow and change over their service. I certainly have during mine - and so has the world. Thirty-five years ago, who could have imagined that we'd have an African-American President of the United States?
My young daughters are growing up in a different reality than I did. Our family knows many same-sex couples - our neighbors in Connecticut, members of my staff, parents of their schoolmates. Some are now married because the Connecticut Supreme Court and our state legislature have made same-sex marriage legal in our state.
But to my daughters, these couples are married simply because they love each other and want to build a life together. That's what we've taught them. The things that make those families different from their own pale in comparison to the commitments that bind those couples together.
And, really, that's what marriage should be. It's about rights and responsibilities and, most of all, love.
I believe that, when my daughters grow up, barriers to marriage equality for same-sex couples will seem as archaic, and as unfair, as the laws we once had against inter-racial marriage.
And I want them to know that, even if he was a little late, their dad came down on the right side of history.
I have always been proud of my long record fighting for the civil rights of the LGBT community. I've co-sponsored legislation to strengthen hate crime laws and end discrimination in the workplace. I've spoken out against "don't ask, don't tell" and always supported equal rights for domestic partnerships.
But I am also proud to now count myself among the many elected officials, advocates, and ordinary citizens who support full marriage equality for same-sex couples.
I understand that even those who oppose discrimination might continue to find it hard to re-think the definition of marriage they grew up with. I know it was for me.
But many of the things we must do to make our union more perfect - whether it's fighting for decades to reform our health care system or struggling with a difficult moral question - are hard. They take time. And they require that, when you come to realize that something is right, you be unafraid to stand up and say it.
That's the only way our history will progress along that long arc towards justice.
Senator Dodd also let us know that he was committed to ensuring that federal rights were portable, so that a same-sex couple married in Connecticut would receive the federal benefits of marriage even if they relocated to a state without marriage equality. He also said that he was committed to finding a vehicle in the Senate to advance hate crimes legislation and hoped that the bill would be passed soon. Finally, he agreed to look into adding sexual orientation and gender identity to a bill called the Affordable Health Choices Act, a move that would provide for research regarding trding the health concerns of the LGBT community.
The legacy of Cesar Chavez endures today. When his granddaughter, Christine Chavez, joined Basic Rights Oregon for our 2007 Day of Action she made it clear that the LGBT and immigrant communities share a common goal: ensuring that no one lives under laws that say they are less human. To the 11% of Oregon’s population who are Latino, Chavez is a symbol of their struggle for justice. To every other Oregonian, he is a symbol of courage and commitment to the dignity of all people. Currently, there are no public monuments to American Latino leaders in Portland. It is time to remedy this inequity. The Chavez Committee has won the support of a historian panel, the planning commission, and will have the final hearing before the Portland City Council on Tuesday, June 23rd. As a member of Portland’s LGBT community and an ally to all who struggle for acceptance, for dignity, and for an honored place at the community table, I will be there to stand in support of renaming 39th Avenue as “Cesar E. Chavez Boulevard.†I hope to see you there! The Portland City Council meeting will be held on Tuesday, June 23rd, at 6pm at City Hall, 1221 S.W. Fourth Ave.So, how have your conversations gone so far? What went well? What kind of responses have you gotten? What have you learned? Share your stories, comments and questions here! over 1,000 of you have signed up to speak to 20 friends, family, neighbors and coworkers about marriage equality in 20 days. That means that this summer, we'll reach over 20,000 voters and tell them why the freedom to marry matters to each of us.
So, how have your conversations gone so far? What went well? What kind of responses have you gotten? What have you learned? Share your stories, comments and questions here!
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