Frontlines, the SLDN Blog

The Clock is Ticking . . .

. . . and CBS News has just released a sneak peek at Sunday's 60 Minutes story on Sergeant Darren Manzella, SLDN and the campaign to lift the ban. Click here for an excerpt that includes an interview with Sergeant Manzella and SLDN board member Cholene Espinoza; here for a segment profiling Manzella; and here for a reporters notebook about Sunday's story with correspondent Lesley Stahl. And for more information, visit the official 60 Minutes website. Then tune in on Sunday at 7/6c for Stahl's full report on "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." - Steve Ralls

Labels: in the news, SLDN on 60 Minutes, video

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12-14-07 Comment (0)

A Message from Cholene Espinoza

Tick Tick Tick Tick Tick Tick Tick . . . The unmistakable sound of the 60 Minutes stopwatch always makes me stop what I’m doing and listen to the evening line-up for America’s most watched news show. My eager attentiveness comes from the fact that over the course of the 25+ years I’ve been an avid watcher, I’ve noted that 60 Minutes is a catalyst for historic change. As a cadet at the Air Force Academy in the 80s, I watched 60 Minutes bring South African Apartied to America’s living rooms - and eventually Apartheid ended. I’ve also watched 60 Minutes highlight the unintended consequences of our actions, as was the case with Lesley Stahl’s award winning piece on the impact that United Nation sanctions had on the children of Iraq. This story was of special interest to me . . . the UN missions I flew in my United States Air Force U-2, marked especially for Iraq over-flights with a big, chalked "UN" on the tail, kept those sanctions in place. And if there is one common denominator I have seen throughout the history of 60 Minutes, it is that they seek, above all else, to know and show the truth. This Sunday night’s feature story will not disappoint those of us who want to know the truth about a topic that is more poignant to some of us than to others - the federally mandated discriminatory law affectionately known as "Don’t Ask Don’t Tell." CBS has covered this issue before, but this Sunday’s segment will shine new light on a more than decade-old topic. Will this Sunday evening’s news exposé inspire Congress to hold hearings on the failed policy of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell and pass the Military Readiness Enhancement Act sitting on their desks? Will the American people be outraged enough to call their Congressional Representatives and Senators and demand to know why Congress hasn’t acted sooner to relieve the burden on our military and strengthen our security? The verdict is still out . . . and we - those of us fortunate enough to be citizens of this country - can be "the deciders." I ask you to urge your friends and family to watch 60 Minutes this Sunday night. If you are inspired, angered, outraged, or motivated in any way, please engage with us at the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network to defend the defenders and change the course of our nation’s history. Thank you for watching! - Cholene Espinoza

Labels: in the news, SLDN on 60 Minutes

12-13-07 Comment (4)

Love and Pride

2. Titanium Money Clip

3. Photo of Reichen wearing Propeller Pendant

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12-12-07 Comment (0)

New Transgender Veterans Survey

A new survey has been created to achieve a more accurate picture of the state of the transgender American veteran population. Many of the issues facing transgender veterans are no different than those facing the rest of the transgender community. However negotiating healthcare thru the Veterans Administration and dealing with the Department of Defense poses its own unique set of challenges. This survey is also for those transgender people who are still serving in the military and those veterans who identify and are diagnosed as intersex. The detailed survey of 117 short questions only takes between ten and twenty minutes of your time and it is the first of its kind to be undertaken. Many of the questions have several choices to them, but just a few will take multiple answers. A large percentage of the questions are a simple “Yes/No.” Some require a written response. While transgender veterans who do not, or have not ever used the VA for their medical needs, can skip that entire section. The survey can be accessed here. TAVA would appreciate as many transgender/intersex veterans and active duty service members to take this survey as possible. If anyone knows of a transgender veteran who does not have access to a computer, then please help them log on at a local library or community center so TAVA can obtain their responses as well. The answers to this survey will not only help veterans’ organizations in providing assistance to their transgender members, but it will benefit other organizations from the answers not having to do with the military. Since there are no questions about personal contact information, this survey is completely confidential. For additional inquiries about this survey, please contact the Transgender American Veterans Association at: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) , or go to our web site at www.tavausa.org. - Monica Helms

Labels: transgender issues, veterans

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12-12-07 Comment (0)

Huckabee—In His Own Words

Labels: 2008, presidential candidates, YouTube Debates

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12-12-07 Comment (0)

Remembering Allan Berube

Windy City Times is reporting that gay historian Allan Berube, author of Coming Out Under Fire, has died. He was 61. Berube's history of lesbian and gay troops during World War II is considered one of the definitive works on gays in the military, and was made into a documentary film as well. From the Times: Berube was, for decades, an independent historian and community activist. He first came to progressive political activism in opposition to the Vietnam war, working with the American Friends Service Committee in Boston in the late 1960s, after dropping out of the University of Chicago. After coming out in 1969, he joined a "gay liberation collective household," and later moved to San Francisco to join a gay commune for craftspeople. He remained in San Francisco for many years, and was one of the founders of the San Francisco Lesbian and Gay History Project in 1978. His slide shows about women who dressed and passed as men -- and married other women -- were welcomed by enthusiastic audiences around the country. Berube is best remembered for his groundbreaking work of gay history, published in 1990: Coming Out Under Fire: The History of Gay Men and Women in World War II. The Lambda Literary Award-winning book, which was later adapted by Arthur Dong into a Peabody Award-winning documentary, was often cited in Senate hearings on the military's anti-gay policies in 1993. Martin Duberman, distinguished professor of history emeritus at the City University of New York, called Berube's book "superb ... not only in terms of his prose style, which was absolutely lucid and even elegant, but also in terms of the very fine-spun analysis. Allan was not one to create shallow generalizations about either a given individual or a series of events. He was utterly meticulous and utterly careful. No one will ever, I think, have to redo the book on World War II, and you can almost never say that about a historian or a given piece of historical research." In 1996, Berube received a "genius grant" from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation for his work. For the past several years, Berube lived in Liberty, N.Y., in the Catskills. There, he owned a bed & breakfast, and operated Intelligent Design, a store selling mid-century modern collectibles. Berube's partner, John Nelson, said, "Allan just loved it when people walked into the Liberty store, looked around, and were happy." In addition to Nelson, Berube is also survived by his mother and three sisters. All of us at SLDN send our deepest sympathies to Berube's partner and family. He will be greatly missed, but his contribution to our movement and community will always persevere. - Steve Ralls -----

12-12-07 Comment (0)

Tsongas Joins the Campaign for Repeal

Congresswoman Niki Tsongas (D-MA) became the 137th co-sponsor of legislation to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" yesterday. Tsongas signed on as a supporter of The Military Readiness Enhancement Act, which was originally introduced by Congressman Marty Meehan. Tsongas replaced Meehan as Representative for the 5th District when Meehan retired earlier this year. The addition of Congresswoman Tsongas (who is also a member of the Personnel Subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee) means that the entire Massachusetts House delegation now supports the legislation to allow lesbian, gay and bisexual Americans the opportunity to serve openly in our armed forces. Find out if your elected representative is a co-sponsor by clicking here. And, if they're not, send them a message asking that they sign on today. - Steve Ralls

Labels: Congress, Meehan, MREA

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12-11-07 Comment (0)

Huckabee’s Free Pass?

The Iowa Independent has an interesting op-ed column, posted online here, regarding the GOP presidential hopefuls' stances (or, maybe, stance since they essentially share the same view) on "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." On Duncan Hunter: Congressman Duncan Hunter (R-CA), in expressing why he supports excluding gay troops, recently said their straight co-workers "have conservative values, and they have Judeo-Christian values. To force those people to work in a small tight unit with somebody who is openly homosexual goes against what they believe to be their principles, and it is their principles, is I think a disservice to them." The Independent points out the obvious problem with Hunter's statement. "Is Hunter suggesting the military segregate soldiers based on ideology to maintain unit cohesion?," the Independent wonders. "The military has a history of being one of the first governmental institutions to implement desegregation policies, yet Hunter wants to reverse this trend, which his fellow Republican President Harry S. Truman initiated in 1950." "In an attempt to appeal to his conservative base, Hunter opened up a new vein of discrimination against moderates and liberals serving in the military," the paper says. "The big question is, if elected, would Hunter expand DADT to include anyone whose ideology isn't consistent with the conservatives?" On Mike Huckabee: "Huckabee did manage to undermine the premise of Hunter's argument about protecting conservative principles," the Independent writes. "The Uniform Code of Military Justice is probably the best rule, and it has to do with conduct. People have a right to have whatever feelings, whatever attitudes they wish," Huckabee said at the same debate where Hunter made his Judeo-Christian remarks. "But when their conduct could put at risk the morale, I think that's what is at issue. And that's why our policy is what it is." "Here, Huckabee argues that it's a homosexual's conduct that jeopardizes morale, and by conduct [we] assume he's referring to sexual conduct," the paper says. "However, no other soldier's sexual conduct is put under the morality microscope, so under a Huckabee administration, soldiers who indulge in pre-marital sex or adultery are given a free pass." Huckabee, who has been gaining significant attention in recent weeks as he also gains in polls, seems to be suggesting a "separate but equal" policy for LGBT troops. While he acknowledges that the UCMJ prohibits certain conduct, he neglects to point out that those rules & regulations apply to every service member, gay or straight. So, in fact, there are already rules about conduct that gay troops must follow. Huckabee and other GOP contenders have been fond of talking (un-necessarily, because of the UCMJ rules mentioned here) about the behavior of gay service members. But they haven't been called out, until now, on the fact that their remarks indicate they would, as the Independent notes, give a pass to all of our other uniformed personnel who violate the regulations, if they aren't lesbian or gay. We know that "separate but equal" has never worked in our country before, and it won't this time either. And, the argument Huckabee wants to make is about behavior, and that's not what the ban on gay troops is about. It never has been. And it's not about free passes, either. In reality, "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is about who you are, and not what you do. It's sheer discrimination applied to every LGBT service member regardless of how closely they adhere to UCMJ rules. That's a point Governor Huckabee missed in his remarks, and one he should be called out on. And we're glad The Iowa Independent has done just that. - Steve Ralls

Labels: 2008, Duncan Hunter, in the news, Mike Huckabee, republicans

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12-11-07 Comment (0)

‘On Duty’ Marches On

Well, when I suggested doing a podcast when I first came on to SLDN, I never would have thought that it would be as popular as it is continually becoming. With more than 275 sunscribers from the first two episodes, On Duty is quickly living up to its goal. Service members and supporters around the globe are able to view our podcast online through several websites, or download episodes directly from iTunes to catch up on all the latest news and developments. With the launch of Episode 3 on Friday, a day late - but worth the wait, we are excited to bring a fresh new look to the way we communicate with our supporters. Check out On Duty and tell us what you think. Subscribe today! -Jason Knight

Labels: on duty, podcast

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12-10-07 Comment (0)