Frontlines: The Latest from OutServe-SLDN
Dispatch from Missouri
On May 14 I participated in a panel discussion after screening of the film "Ask Not" at the Missouri History Museum. The moving experiences shared by service members in the film, in addition to overwhelming empirical data, shows me why this law has to go. ...Read More
05-15-09 By A.J. Bockelman, Executive Director, PROMO | Comment (1)
VoteVets’ Brandon Friedman Shows Growing (Conservative) Support
Dan Choi is an effective advocate for the movement to repeal the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" law because he's not only an articulate West Point graduate and an Arabic linguist, but he's also walked the walk as an infantry officer in the streets of Iraq. ...Read More
05-11-09 By Kevin Nix, SLDN Communications Director | Comment (5)
2009 Pulitzer Prize Winner Nails It
The Washington Post's Eugene Robinson draws the historical parallel. ...Read More
05-11-09 By Kevin Nix, SLDN Communications Director | Comment (3)
Obama Caving on Gays in the Military
We've begun to change the culture of Washington," President Obama said in his boffo remarks at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner Saturday night. Sounds good. But the next morning on ABC's This Week, George Stephanopoulos asked the president's National Security Advisor retired Marine General James L. Jones if he thought DADT will be overturned. Jones replied, "I don't know," and then what is clearly one of the main talking points, "We have a lot on our plate right now." Sounds like the same old Beltway blab to me. ...Read More
05-10-09 By Aubrey Sarvis, SLDN Executive Director | Comment (14)
Huffington Post: Obama to Fire His First Gay Arabic Linguist
Dan Choi, a West Point graduate and officer in the Army National Guard who is fluent in Arabic and who returned recently from Iraq, received notice today that the military is about to fire him. Why? Because he came out of the closet as a gay man on national television. ...Read More
05-07-09 By Aaron Belkin, Associate Professor of Political Science and Director of the Palm Center at UCSB | Comment (24)
Rachel Maddow: Change vs. Repeal
Monday night Rachel Maddow called out the White House for replacing the word “repeal” with “changing” DADT on its website last week. The White House has since fixed the snafu (if that’s what it was), but we were reminded of recent White House press statements using the same language. ...Read More
05-06-09 By Paul DeMiglio, Senior Communications Manager | Comment (6)
Shattering Beltway Conventional Wisdom
Some political operatives and media pundits are adamant that "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is too much of a political hot potato for the White House this year. They come to this conclusion because historically the issue has been controversial-16 years ago. Much has changed politically and culturally since 1993, something some of the Beltway types seem to forget. ...Read More
05-05-09 By Kevin Nix, SLDN Communications Director | Comment (0)
That White House Web Page
Like many others in the LGBT and progressive blogosphere, we too were confused about the change in the White House website language from "repealing" "to "changing" "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." Words matter, and these two words on this particular subject have dramatically different implications for gay and lesbian service members. ...Read More
05-01-09 By Kevin Nix, SLDN Communications Director | Comment (3)
