Frontlines Feed: The Latest from SLDN

The Log Cabin Republicans have put the best face on the Republican Party's 2008 platform, which won't leave many American gays and lesbians smiling.

They write on their blog, " . . . rather than squabble over the platform (which we could have done), we decided to go to Minneapolis-St. Paul at the Republican National Convention and show LGBT Americans in a positive light. We’re going there to engage in conversations with delegates and Republicans of all stripes. Some will agree with us. Others won’t. One thing we know for sure is that we’re going to the RNC with a positive message about gay and lesbian Americans. We think that’s important.”

I think that’s important, too. Very important. But however “symbolic” platform language may be, and even though every candidate need not support every plank in it, a party’s platform is still a statement on where a party stands on the issues of our time. The Republican Party Platform, which convention delegates approved unanimously on Monday, certainly does not advance the position Servicemembers Legal Defense Network advocates: the repeal of the statute known as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and the passage of H.R. 1246. When that inevitably happens – and it is inevitable – our country will finally acknowledge what is already a fact – that 65,000 gays and lesbians are now fighting in the armed forces of the United States – and allow them to serve openly without fear of discovery, discharge, and the loss of their benefits. We support this language in the Republican Party Platform: “Military priorities and mission must determine personnel policies.” You can’t have a man or woman in the infantry piloting a plane over Afghanistan, or a medic working as a navigator, etc., etc. And we strongly agree with the next sentence: “Esprit and cohesion are necessary for military effectiveness and success on the battlefield.“

It’s the sentence that follows that saddens and angers me: “To protect our servicemen and women and ensure that America’s Armed Forces remain the best in the world, we affirm the timelessness of those values, the benefits of traditional military culture, and the incompatibility of homosexuality with military service.”

Our servicemembers need “protection” from roving bands of gays and lesbians? Let’s get real, people. Our servicemembers need protection from hostile fire, not from the 65,000 gays and lesbians that every soldier, sailor, and airman knows are serving by their sides now with no apparent damage to esprit de corps and unit cohesion.

And homosexuality incompatible with military service? Ask Israel, whose military generally gets pretty high ratings. Ask our NATO allies who’ve managed to find homosexuality compatible enough. Many of them are actively recruiting gays and lesbian to help fill their ranks. This kind of language, in the platform of any political party in 2008, is offensive, insulting, and out of sync with what polls show most Americans, military and civilian, believe: that sexual orientation is not a factor when evaluating a person’s qualifications to serve in the military. Fortunately for gays and lesbians everywhere, for Americans in general and for SLDN in particular, the majority of Republicans do not go along with the language of their own platform. A July Washington Post/ABC News poll showed that 64 percent of Republicans support allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military. I wish I could say that the party’s candidate for president was among that 64 percent, but I can’t.

John McCain’s currently beleaguered choice for vice president, Governor Sarah Palin, has taken no public stand on DADT that I know of, but it’s hard to be optimistic. She supported the 1998 Alaska constitutional amendment barring marriage equality. She has been governor less than two years but has already supported stripping away domestic partner benefits for state workers. From that record, it doesn’t sound as if she’ll be advocating the repeal of DADT – unlike her fellow Republicans who are co-sponsors of H.R. 1246, notably Christopher Shays of Connecticut, Maryland’s Wayne Gilchrest, and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida. Like my friends in the Log Cabin Republicans, I’m not giving up on the Republicans in Congress. I’m not giving up on the Republicans at all. It’s clear from the Washington Post/ABC News poll that the language in the platform does not represent the views of the majority of Republicans – or the majority of Americans, for that matter. Party leaders just have to catch up with party members.

“Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” is not an issue of one party versus another. It’s a matter of military readiness and what’s best for the country. The armed forces need all the qualified men and women they can get. It’s a matter of fairness. Bigotry is bipartisan, but so are civil rights. It comes down finally to military readiness and fairness. What’s fair for me is fair for you. Most of us, Republicans as well as Democrats, gays as well as straights, see that.

--Aubrey Sarvis

One of the most important things that came out of the Democratic Convention in Denver this week for me was the convention’s formal adoption of the platform committee’s language on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”. The hard work, of course, had already been done behind the scenes by the committees in Cleveland and Pittsburgh, and by many of you. To that end, let me again thank Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin and all members of the two committees involved, especially Diego Sanchez who was so vocal and eloquent in his advocacy of this language. We owe all of them a big thank you. Now, at long last, the Democratic Party and their presidential nominee have a formal position calling for the repeal of DADT and urging open service without regard to sexual orientation. I am told that Barrack Obama and Joe Biden will run on the platform language and embrace it, not run away from it. (As some of you already know, Joe Biden was one of the few senators in ’93 who voted no on DADT.) This is hugely important. The policy SLDN has been advocating for years is now the official policy of one of the major political parties. Now, we work with the Republican Party to see if we can get similar language in their platform document. Unfortunately, the prospects are not promising right now. The Republican National Convention platform committee did meet recently and it looks like more of the same ’04 platform language; gays and lesbians are to be excluded from serving in the military. I am going to be talking to my Republican friends in the next few days to see if there is any possibility of offering a favorable and friendly DADT amendment in the Twin Cities when the RNC meets. More on this front later. It is critical that both parties call for the repeal of DADT. This change in the law can only happen with a majority vote and we need both parties to make this policy change. It cannot happen without bipartisan support. In the interim, raise a glass and cheer the good Democratic platform language below. It is so good, I thought you should see it in its entirely. Progress is being made. “Allow All Americans to Serve We will also put national security above divisive politics. More than 12,500 service men and women have been discharged on the basis of sexual orientation since the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy was implemented, at a cost of over $360 million. Many of those forced out had special skills in high demand, such as translators, engineers, and pilots. At a time when the military is having a tough time recruiting and retaining troops, it is wrong to deny our country the service of brave, qualified people. We support the repeal of “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” and the implementation of policies to allow qualified men and women to serve openly regardless of sexual orientation” --Aubrey Sarvis

As the surprise speaker, Michelle Obama was a big hit at the big GLBT luncheon Tuesday in Denver, sponsored by the HRC and the Victory Fund. Aubrey Sarvis blogs about it on the Huffington Post today. A lot of big Democratic names were there -- Barney Frank, Steny Hoyer, Tammy Baldwin, and more -- and all of them favor repeal of DADT.

We've come a long way in four years. Aubrey didn't miss Hillary's speech either, or Maureen Down's response to it.

The Democratic National Convention keeps our man in Denver moving. From Google's tent (get a massage while your phone is charging) to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee's reception to the hymn-singing ladies on the street, SLDN's Aubrey Sarvis is a busy man -- and everywhere he's pushing for the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell and the passage of H.R. 1246. Read about it in his latest blog on the Huffington Post.

SLDN's executive director Aubrey Sarvis blogs on the Huffington Post from the Democratic National Convention in Denver that Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden can help Obama or they can hurt him, but it's still up to Obama to seal the deal. That will determine the next leader of the most powerful country in the world. Whether that man is Obama or McCain, he will carry a heavy, heavy responsibility.

Aubrey Sarvis is blogging this week for the Huffington Post from the Democratic National Convention in Denver. He reports that the party faithful are full of hopeful anticipation mixed with a dash of apprehension. Why the apprehension? Look towards the Clintons. How much weight to give the Hillary factor? Will her most ardent supporters get on the Obama bandwagon, however reluctantly? Or are they so disaffected that they’ll climb aboard the McCain Express and elect the Republicans' man in November?