Frontlines: The Latest from OutServe-SLDN
Time for Action
The time for polite and passive waiting has passed. Now it's action time. The signals coming out of the Obama camp have begun to dismay some of us. Eight weeks after the election the President-elect has not appointed one openly LGBT person to a high office in his Administration, which will be upon us in three short weeks. In an affront to the LGBT community, he asked the Rev. Rick Warren, pastor of a California megachurch, to give the invocation at his inauguration. The preacher fought hard for Proposition 8 in California, putting committed gay relationships in the same bag with incest, polygamy, and "an older guy marrying a child." Nonetheless, some of Rev. Warren's best friends are gay. He says he has "eaten dinner in gay homes" and he likes the lesbian singer Melissa Etheridge. Who is that supposed to please? ...Read More
12-29-08 By Aubrey Sarvis, SLDN Executive Director | Comment (6)
SLDN Plaintiff Remembers Sacrifice, Looks to Future in Season of Hope
Christmas is always a very special time of year for me. It's more than just another holiday. While people are shopping and decorating their houses for this special holiday, there are men and women who don't get that opportunity because they are protecting the freedom of people like you and me. I have had the pleasure and privilege of being one of those people. As a soldier, your definition of family changes from just the normal platonic family to a family made up of just random strangers from all over the country with one mission in mind: To serve this amazing, diverse country we call the USA. As one of those people who stepped forward to defend each of us, there was more than just the pain of not being able to see your family on such a family-oriented holiday, but the fact that I was unable to express my love for my partner over the phone. I was in fear that if I said I love you to another man that someone would overhear me talking to him and turn me in for being gay. ...Read More
12-23-08 By SLDN Plaintiff and former U.S. Army Specialist, Tommy Cook | Comment (4)
Holidays Underscore Painful Price of Serving in Silence
For most of us the holidays are a time for families and celebrations, a time of happiness. Hundreds of thousands of men and women serve our country around the globe, in places you see in the news every day, and others you’ve probably never heard of. The closest service members will get to family over the holidays is a morale call or an e-mail from their loved ones back home, or hopefully a care package from home. Hearing a loved one’s voice from half way around the world can lift one’s spirits with a little holiday cheer and brighten the monotony of a combat zone, if but for a moment. But many of our brave service members called into harm’s way will not have that luxury. Some of our service members will make morale calls this holiday season in secret. Not because they are embarrassed, but because they are forced to do so under the heavy yoke of the law we know as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” ...Read More
12-19-08 By Mike Almy, former Air Force Officer | Comment (2)
Changing Times Renew Hope for Equality
An SLDN supporter shares a moving story of courage as the partner of a service member who will soon be deployed to Iraq. The author also thanks Frontlines contributor and decorated combat veteran Tim Stalling for his inspirational guest editorial, submitted for Veterans Day last month. ...Read More
12-15-08 Comment (0)
Lambda Honors SLDN Ally Bridget Wilson
On Saturday, December 13, Lambda Archives of San Diego will honor attorney Bridget Wilson, along with 11 other “heroes, pioneers and trailblazers” at its annual gala event. Bridget and the other 11 honorees “have committed their lives to advancing rights for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people. Their advocacy has carried the movement to heights once unimaginable.” We couldn’t agree more. ...Read More
12-12-08 By Aaron Tax and Emily B. Hecht, SLDN Managing Attorneys | Comment (2)
Time for Repeal Sooner Rather Than Later
The news is wonderful. We have a new President-elect and with him, the promise of a new administration and change to come. As supporters of SLDN and Veterans of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," we also see the light at the end of a 233-year-old tunnel. Everyone in our community of organizers and supporters are abuzz with different ideas about how the repeal will happen. We can sense it in the air and the anticipation is killing us with the possibilities. We once again dare to hope. Some of us have wondered whether we would go back to the service. We've wondered whether our friends still in uniform will feel the relief we longed for at the moment it becomes law... and we wonder whether it's all asking too much too soon. ...Read More
12-12-08 By Jeremy Johnson, SLDN Supporter | Comment (2)
California Report
The global economy is in crisis. Here at home we're 12 months into the worst recession in 25 years, maybe more. Almost everyone has felt its effects up close and personal, as those Olympics profiles used to put it. We watch nervously as our savings take a serious pummeling. We see the numbers of real estate foreclosures soaring and our friends get pink slips. The Tribune Company, which owns two of the country's great newspapers, the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune, files for bankruptcy. Autoworkers fear for their jobs - and that includes the CEOs. A bank as large and powerful as Citicorp is in trouble. Yes, every day we go online, open the newspapers or turn on the radio or the television news, the economic news is grim or grimmer. Considering all that - and it's a lot to consider - when Darren Manzella and I brought our message to Los Angeles and San Diego last week, we were truly gratified and genuinely touched by the warm reception we received. Our comrades-in-arms on the West Coast continue not only to welcome us warmly but also to support us with great generosity, both financially and spiritually. They reached deep into their pockets and gave the cause we all support close to $100,000. What an inspiration! ...Read More
12-10-08 By Aubrey Sarvis, SLDN Executive Director | Comment (0)
Spotlight on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” Repeal at the Kennedy Center Honors
On Sunday night, I attended the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts' Kennedy Center Honors. Barbra Streisand was honored for her incredible achievements as an actor, singer, and director, but it was her work beyond the stage that really captured my attention. Actress Glenn Close, speaking to the audience in celebration of Streisand's many achievements, prominently highlighted Barbra's heroic efforts to expose the menace of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" law with her 1995 production of "Serving in Silence: The Margarethe Cammermeyer Story." ...Read More
12-09-08 By Scott Mackoul, SLDN Supporter | Comment (3)
Don’t Tell, but the Military is Now Recruiting Foreigners
Imagine my surprise when I came across this item from the Associated Press wire on Friday: "Struggling to find enough doctors, nurses and linguists for the war effort, the Pentagon will temporarily recruit foreigners who have been living in the United States on student and work visas, or with refugee or political asylum status." That can't be. So I went straight to the Pentagon's Armed Forces Press Service and found that yes, indeed, it's true. Bill Carr, deputy undersecretary of defense for military personnel policy, made the announcement. Isn't he afraid of Lou Dobbs? What's happening with the serious felons the armed forces have been admitting on "moral waivers?" They can't sign up enough of them? Well, I suppose most felons aren't doctors, nurses or linguists. And probably they've already got enough numbers crunchers so no need to recruit any former wizards of Wall Street now on holiday in the various Club Feds around the country. ...Read More
12-08-08 By Aubrey Sarvis, SLDN Executive Director | Comment (0)
Under Obama, “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” will Pass Away
It's all about change, and although many of the faces on the next president's national security team look familiar, it's not going to be the same old, same old when Mr. Obama assumes office on January 20th. There is one preeminent reason for that: the change, as Mr. Obama said the other day, "comes from me. The vision for change comes first and foremost from me. That's my job." That's called leadership, and that's why we elected him. I take Mr. Obama at his word, and I am confident that as president he will begin, as promised, an orderly, responsible withdrawal from Iraq. I am also confident that Mr. Obama will work to end the ban on lesbians and gays serving openly in the military and that the last discriminatory law on the federal books, the law we call "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," will be repealed in the next Congress and replaced by a bill that permits open service without regard to sexual orientation. Why am I so confident? Because Barack Obama said so. ...Read More
12-03-08 By Aubrey Sarvis, SLDN Executive Director | Comment (4)
