Dan Choi To Attend Rally Outside Obama Fundraiser

"President Barack Obama will be at the Beverly Hilton the evening of Wednesday, May 27th, for a DNC fundraiser. Let's take this opportunity, just one day after the CA Supreme Court makes its decision on Proposition 8, to show our President our support for his daring promise to our community and to highlight the growing movement towards FULL FEDERAL EQUALITY.
Join us at a rally at 6PM in front of the Beverly Hilton on Wednesday, May 27th.
At 7PM we will be joined by Lt. Dan Choi and other LGBT servicemen & women in opposition to Don't Ask Don't Tell. They will ask for response from President Obama to the letter signed by 136,000 people asking the president not to fire Lt. Choi by ending DADT.
Regardless of what decision comes down regarding Prop 8 it is time for us all to demand equality on all fronts for all people!
Sponsored by the Courage Campaign, Equality Network, Equal Roots Coalition, FAIR, Stonewall Democratic Club, White Knot."
6PM - Meet to rally
7PM - Program begins
(CC)

British Naval Codebreaker Castrated By Government For Being Gay

Alan Turing was the inspirational mathematician at the heart of Bletchley Park's codebreaking successes during World War II. Historians agree that the work of the codebreakers at Bletchley Park effectively helped to shorten the war by two years and saved tens of thousands of lives.
Alan Turing arrived at Bletchley Park, the site of secret British codebreaking activities during WWII and birthplace of the modern computer, in September 1939 and was soon pursuing his idea of building a machine that would break the Enigma key. He became head of the small Naval Enigma team in Hut 8 and contributed greatly to the breaking of the German Naval Enigma. By August 1940, Turing, together with his friend and colleague, Gordon Welchman, had brought the idea of an Enigma codebreaking machine to fruition with the construction of the Turing-Welchman Bombe, which speeded up the process of breaking into the daily Enigma keys.
In 1952, Turing was convicted of having a sexual relationship with another man, to which he made no defence other than to say he saw nothing wrong in his actions. Turing was sentenced to chemical castration. The conviction robbed him of his security clearance for GCHQ (Government Communications Headquarters, a British intelligence agency
(wik)

Openly Gay Personal Served In WWII With Ikes Approval

General Dwight D. Eisenhower received some unsettling news while he was in occupied Germany after World War II. There were, he was told, a significant number of lesbians in his Women's Army Corps (WAC) command. He called in Sgt. Johnnie Phelps and ordered her to get a list of all the lesbians in the battalion. "We've got to get rid of them," he barked. Phelps said she'd check into it. But, she told the general, "when you get the list back, my name's going to be first." Eisenhower's secretary then interrupted. "Sir, if the general pleases, Sergeant Phelps will have to be second on the list, because mine will be first." Dumbfounded, Ike realized he'd lose many of his key personnel if he persisted. "Forget that order," he told Phelps.
(Lesbian Choices)

Mini Documentary on DATA

This documentary was an entry in National History Day 2008 by Tucker Jepson. The topic was Conflict and Compromise in History.
"I was lucky to meet and interview so many great sources who were generous with their time. I made it to States, but did not get picked to go to the Nationals. My teacher says I was "robbed"! I think the judges may have been biased about my subject matter. What do you think? All comments welcome."

PBS To Air ASK NOT

Johnny Symons' ASK NOT, a documentary that explores the effects of the United States military's "Don't ask, Don't tell" policy on gay and lesbian soldiers and service members as well as its effects on the military and national security, will air nationally on the PBS series INDEPENDENT LENS on: Tuesday, June 16, 2009 at 10PM
(check local listings)

(MT)

Memorial Day Salute

Alan Greg Rogers (September 21, 1967 – January 27, 2008) was an ordained pastor, a U.S. Army Major and Intelligence Officer, a civil rights activist in the gay, lesbian and bisexual military community and the first known gay combat fatality of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The subsequent coverage of his death in the media sparked a debate over the effect of the military's "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" (DADT) policy and what information should be included in the biography of a gay military person killed in action.
(Wik)

Obama To Military Hero: You're Fired!

Remember when Backtrack Barack Obama's press secretary made clear the president wouldn't intervene in military dismissals based on Don't Ask Don't Tell? And how Obama's military spokesperson made clear the president has no plans to actually repeal the policy? And how Obama's Pentagon spokes man Geoff Morrell just today made explicitly clear there are NO PLANS to end DADT? Well it looks like Obama is getting his wish. Lt. Colonel Victor Fehrenbach has served Kuwait, attacked Taliban targets, and flew in Iraq, racking up a total of 88 combat missions over 4000hours. He's received a number of medals, including one that recognizes his heroism. And now?
He's being fired.
(Does no one know that our troops already serve with gays, we are in the UN and many countries that are members let gays serve)
(MSNBC)

Obama Tells Gays He Won't Help

The White House says it won't stop gays and lesbians from being dismissed from the military while the Obama administration works to repeal a decade-old policy banning openly gay people from serving in uniform.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said in his daily press conference that President Barack Obama does not plan to intervene in current cases against men and women who announce their homosexuality. (Yes we can??? Hey, Mr. President your promises are fading faster than my Obama bumper sticker. WTF?) C-Span live feed.

President Barack Obama Seems To Back Down On Repeal Of DADT

While campaigning for President, Barack Obama told gays that he would repeal the Don't Ask Don't Tell law.
The majority of us threw our support behind a candidate we expected would move the government to treat us equally.
When asked on the transition teams web site if the president would repeal DADT, the Press Secretary Robert Gibbs wrote. "Yes."
Now, 110 days into the new presidency we hear this about DADT from Defense Secretary Robert Gates went asked about DADT: We are looking "down the road" because "that dialogue (to repeal DADT) though has not progressed very far."
On This Week With George Stephanopoulos Obama's National Security Adviser General James Jones said "I don't know." As in: I don't know if DADT will be repealed.
What the hell? Can anyone think of anything this president has done for our community since taking office? Hey Mr. President, now that you got the dog you think you might throw us a bone?

Iraq Still Murdering Gays

This is part of an article from The National:
"Abu Muslim likens his work to that of a surgeon, cutting out diseased parts of a body to save it from cancer. But unlike a doctor, he does not save lives, he takes them. Specifically, Abu Muslim and a small group of colleagues claim to have been killing homosexual men in Baghdad."
“We see this [homosexuality] as a serious illness in the community that has been spreading rapidly among the youth after it was brought in from the outside by American soldiers,” he said, in an interview in the Iraqi capital. Abu Muslim is not his real name. “These are not the habits of Iraq or our community and we must eliminate them.”
This article by Nizar Latif is a must read.
Do our troops try to stop this? Guess Iraq has its own form of DADT. Knock, knock State Department, Hillary are you home?