A long-overdue Bent Alaska update — October 2013

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1) Judge: Reinstate Witt to Air Force

Advocate, September 24, 2010

2) Gay Reps Urge Obama to Halt DADT

Washington, Advocate, September 22, 2010

3) WATCH: NBJC’s Sharon Lettman Hicks on State of Black Gay America

Atlanta, National Black Justice Coalition, September 2010

4) Withers: NAACP head talks at NYC gay center

New York City, 365Gay.com, September 23, 2010

5) [Irish] President Mary McAleese declines St. Patrick’s Day NYC Grand Marshal invite

New York, Irish Central, September 22, 2010

6) Transgender woman named interim dean

San Francisco, Bay Area Reporter, September 23, 2010

7) Portia DeGeneres Makes it Official

Los Angeles, Advocate, September 23, 2010

8) Anti-gay pastor, accused of seducing young men, cancels media appearances and calls for prayers

Atlanta, Yahoo News, September 23, 2010

9) The Black Church, Homophobia, and Pastor Eddie Long

Atlanta, Newsweek, September 23, 2010

10) Making History, Twice, at Grace Cathedral

San Francisco, New York Times, September 23, 2010

11) Transgender turn into GOP´s newest political football

Michigan, City Pulse, September 22, 2010

12) Pole equality chief claims church is right to ban gay teachers

Poland, News Scotsman, September 26, 2010

13) New transgender policy Maris Beck

Washington, The Age, September 19, 2010

14) Kennedy Can, Can’t He?

Washington, Advocate October 2010

While Congress plays politics with DADT, the courts move steadily toward overturning the ban.

On Friday afternoon, U.S. District Judge Ronald Leighton ruled that the Air Force violated the constitutional rights of Maj. Margaret Witt, and ordered that the highly decorated flight nurse be reinstated. During the six-day trial, the military failed to prove that firing her helped to achieve its goals, including unit morale. In fact, the evidence showed that morale suffered only because of her suspension and discharge.

This is the second court ruling this month declaring Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell unconstitutional. On Sept 9, another federal judge ruled that DADT is unconstitutional because it violates the 1st and 5th Amendment rights of gay and lesbian soldiers.

Major Witt was on The Rachel Maddow Show discussing her case a few hours after the ruling:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Scott McAdams, Mayor of Sitka, former school board member and Alaska’s Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, confirmed that he opposes Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, and would have voted for the repeal. In addition, he sent this statement:

“At a time when the U.S. has 50,000 troops on the ground and is still fighting a war in Afghanistan, it’s irresponsible to exclude any skilled, combat-ready troops from service. Individuals who are willing to sacrifice their lives for their country don’t deserve to be discriminated against.” – SCOTT McADAMS

It’s a mild statement, but not bad for a democrat running in an independent/red state. Now we have a real choice for senate. Instead of waiting for the magic opinion polls to tell us who has the best chance of beating Joe Miller – and hoping they’re right – we can unite behind a candidate who will actually vote for equality and fairness.

UPDATE: Check out the newer, stronger McAdams statement on DADT, answer #3 on his questionnaire for Daily Kos, where he is a highlighted Orange to Blue candidate. Guess his campaign got the message that DADT is an easy one.

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When Lisa didn’t show up for the big senate vote on Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell this week, her campaign manager confirmed that she would have voted against the repeal if she’d been there. The GOP voted as a block to prevent DADT from even being debated, just like they’re blocking the other changes we voted for: no honesty for gays and lesbians in the military, no gay families included in immigration reform, no fairness at work, no marriage, no healthcare, no rights.

We called Lisa, filled her voicemail box with messages for the repeal of DADT, gave her a chance to be Alaska’s moderate candidate. She choose partisan politics – for the party that rejected her – over doing what 75% of Americans know is right and fair.

DADT is likely to come up for another vote in the U.S. Senate, either in December or next year.

Scott McAdams knows what is fair, and will vote to protect our troops from discrimination. Please get to know him and spread the word.

First, Rachel Maddow rips apart the GOP excuses for Tuesday’s epic fail senate vote against the “don’t ask, don’t tell” repeal:

Later, Maddow outlines the three best options for moving forward on DADT:

1. another Senate attempt during the “lame duck” session after the mid-term election,
2. an executive order from the president ending the policy (or at least stopping the discharges until the Pentagon removes the policy), and/or
3. The Department of Justice can choose not to appeal the recent court decision that DADT is unconstitutional.

The “don’t appeal” strategy is gaining more support now that the senate repeal is on hold. A New York Times editorial on DADT notes:

U.S. district court judge Virginia Phillips ruled the 17-year-old law unconstitutional on September 9. The plaintiffs, the Log Cabin Republicans, filed for an end to the enforcement of DADT, and the Department of Justice is scheduled to respond with their own proposal on Thursday.

Democrats in the U.S. House, led by the three openly gay members – Barney Frank (D-MA), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), and Jared Polis (D-CO) – wrote a letter to Pres. Obama urging him not to appeal the federal court decision:

We consider this matter a top priority to our service members, the American people and the security of the United States. We acknowledge and appreciate your support and hope that together we can end this dishonorable policy once and for all. We hope that you, as the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Services, will take this opportunity to restore integrity to our military and decline to appeal Judge Phillips’ ruling.

Americablog also points out:

If DOJ pursues an appeal, Obama’s administration will be defending the constitutionality of DADT and DOMA in court — right smack in the middle of his reelection campaign.

And they think the approval ratings are low now! Stay tuned for the DOJ’s response.

The cloture vote on DADT was rejected 56-43 today. We needed 60 votes to end Sen. McCain’s filibuster. Senator Murkowski was busy with her write-in campaign and didn’t bother to vote. The two Democratic senators from Arkansas voted against their party. Seeing that cloture would not pass, Sen. Harry Reid had to vote “no” as well, so that he can reintroduce the bill another time.

UPDATE: The Dispatch reports that Lisa would have voted against the DADT repeal:

Mike Brumas, Murkowski’s Senate spokesman, confirmed that Murkowski would have voted “nay” on the cloture motion… if she had been in D.C.

The next chance to consider the National Defense Authorization Act, with both the DREAM Act and the DADT repeal amendments, will likely be in December after the mid-term elections.

“Today’s vote is a failure of leadership on the part of those who have been duly elected to serve this nation and to put the best interests of the country ahead of partisan politics,” said Alexander Nicholson of Servicemembers United. “It is simply inexcusable that this vote failed today.”

In Alaska, we gave Senator Murkowski a chance to show her support for our troops and for fairness, to establish herself as the moderate candidate before the November election. Instead, she showed her loyalty to the GOP and gave in to the social conservatives who voted her out of office a few weeks ago.

She made her choice, now we will make our choice.

The word from DC is that Senator Murkowski is considering voting for the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, the military ban against openly serving gays and lesbians. LGR wrote that Murkowski is listening:

Our DC staffer is on the Hill right now, and according to Senator Murkowski’s staff, the Senator is more than willing to listen to the calls. Her official phone number is (202) 224-6665, though the Senate can be reached via (202) 224-3121. LGBT Alaskans should call her and ask for her to vote for the repeal and to start and end debate over this.

By 9 p.m. on Monday, Lisa’s DC voicemail box was full for the day. If it’s full on Tuesday, call her Anchorage office at 907-271-3735, Fairbanks at 907-456-0233 or toll free in Alaska at 1-877-829-6030. Her email contact form is HERE.

Lisa announced a write-in campaign on Friday against the Palin-endorsed Joe Miller and Democrat Scott McAdams. She has only 6 weeks (and a few more for the recount?) as Alaska’s Republican senator – after that, either she will be our write-in senator or she will be unemployed.

Voting for the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” would be one way for her to declare her independent status in Congress and get back at the GOP leaders who are lining up to support Miller.

The Senate cloture vote on DADT is scheduled for Tuesday. Alaska has an unexpected opportunity to help repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and stop the filibuster. Let’s make the most of it.

Recent LGBT news selected by Sara Boesser in Juneau, Alaska.

1) Let them serve: [Australian] Defence drops ban on transgender soldiers

Australia, Crikey.com, September 15, 2010

2) Gays in Updated Jewish Prayer Book

Advocate, September 17, 2010

3) Census Will Miss Some Gay Couples

Washington, Advocate, September 9, 2010

4) Transgender Religious Leaders Summit 2010, Berkeley, Nov. 5-6, 2010

Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religions and Ministry

5) NV Lawmaker to Revive ‘Gender Identity’ Bill

Carson City, Nevada, KOLO TV, September 21, 2010

6) Lesbian seeks reinstatement to Air Force in trial

Seattle, 365Gay.com, September 13, 2010

7) Trans Actress Best Dressed at Toronto

Toronto, Canada, Advocate, September 15, 2010

8) Lady Gaga Enlists Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid In ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’

Los Angeles, Yahoo News, September 14, 2010

9) New article examines research on children of LGBTQ parents

Medical News, September 14, 2010

10) Court: Jerusalem must fund gay center

Jerusalem, 365Gay.com, September 16, 2010

11) Are gay couples a family? New study tracks shifting US views

365Gay.com, September 15, 2010

12) Being Transgender — What it means, what it feels like

British Columbia, Canada, BC Local News, September 15, 2010

13) Basketball coach fights ‘homosexual lifestyle’

Kentucky, OutSports, September 16, 2010

14) UN chief Ban Ki-moon urges repeal of anti-gay laws

Geneva, Switzerland, Associated Press, September 15, 2010

Lady Gaga released a video message urging fans to contact their U.S. senators before Tuesday’s cloture vote on the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal.

Her message for her two senators:

“I’m a constituent of the senator and my name is… Lady GaGa. I am calling to ask the senator to vote with Senators Harry Reid and Carl Levin to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and oppose John McCain’s shameless filibuster. We need to do this for our gay and lesbian soldiers and finally repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

Lady GaGa’s message:

Rachel Maddow interviewed Vice President Joe Biden about the DADT repeal. The VP supports repeal and believes they will have the votes to overcome a senate filibuster. Then he explains why they have not halted the discharges while the process is underway.

Watch the Biden interview, then pick up the phone and call our senators!