It was suspected and blindly reported earlier in the day, but Senator Harry Reid has just come out saying that he will likely bring up a vote on the Defense Authorization Act (which includes DADT repeal language) TONIGHT in the Senate! Stay tuned for more details.
Sorry to mess up your Monday with bad news, but most analysts are officially calling Don't Ask, Don't Tell repeal DEAD. Barring any Christmas miracle, discrimination will continue to reign in the military.
How'd this happen?
Early Monday morning, Senate majority leader Harry Reid outlined his chamber of Congress's end-of-year calendar. Despite the high-priced, comprehensive and much-lauded Pentagon report (and the resulting hearings) last week, the Senate calendar DOES NOT include the Defense Authorization Bill, or DADT repeal.
When asked where it was in the calender, Sen. Reid responded, "Oh yeah. That."
Because of this gross oversight and actually-shocking negligence by Congress, chance for DADT repeal anytime after the ...
If it wasn't bad enough that all 42 GOP Senators have pledged to hold end-of-they-year Democrat hopes hostage -- including DADT repeal -- unless the richest Americans are allowed to get richer, then add in the fact that the not-so-gay-friendly "LGBT group" GOProud agrees with 'em, and you've got a potion that'll boil your blood.
The pledge, in the form of a letter to Senator Harry Reid, shows that every single Republican Senator is threatening to not proceed with any legislative matter until the Bush tax cuts for the nation's richest are extended.
Even if it means continuing military discrimination against LGBT soliders, despite the Pentagon review, despite the opinion of the majority of Americans and so forth. And GOProud is...
Out Maryland State Senator Richard Madaleno believes so.
Speaking with GayPolitics.com, Sen. Madaleno says that he is "guardedly optimistic" that Maryland can achieve marriage equality by spring 2011, putting chances of passing such legislation in the "six, seven, eight range" on a scale of one to ten.
The midterms brought the number of out legislators in the state to seven (up from four), lending to the Senator's optimism.
”Just by having out people there to participate in the conversation fundamentally alters the discussion. The tenor of the conversation changes. It humanizes it,” he tells Gay Politics. “In the Senate, I’m confident we are where we have to be to end debate and pass a bill."
The Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) has informed us that Lt. Col. Victor Fehrenbach and Former Sgt. First Class Stacy Vasquez visited the Senate Galley on Wednesday to push for repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell during the upcoming lame duck Congress.
“The stakes for repeal happening this year couldn't be higher. A clear majority of service members are okay serving side by side with their gay comrades. Sen. JohnMcCain wants repeal language stripped out of the defense bill so he is not forced to take an on-the-record vote against funding the troops, and he wants the Democrats to give in to his outrageous demands,” said Aubrey Sarvis, Army veteran and executive director for Servicemembers Legal Defense Network. “Repeal...FULL STORY
It still supports a Defense Authorization Bill regardless of DADT-repeal language, but one of the two GLBT military groups involved in today's biggest headline, OutServe, has issued a statement to clarify its intent.
"Let us be clear on where we stand as we begin this lame duck session. Nowhere do we call for repeal to be stripped from the NDAA. No matter what, we will be soldiers in this fight and the real issue is this: while people like Senator McCain continue to demonize us as unpatriotic and disloyal soldiers, we will stand strong with our fellow military members. Unlike Senator McCain, we refuse to abandon our comrades at a time when this country is dealing with multiple military co...FULL STORY
One bright spot in the dark GOP cloud that has lodged itself over the country in the wake of the 2010 elections is Illinois Governor Pat Quinn, whose pro-equality campaign might land civil unions legislation in the hands of state lawmakers as early as next week. However, those supporting the bill are making it clear that it's "not gay marriage."
Gov. Pat Quinn said Wednesday it would be good for Illinois' economy if lawmakers, when they return to work next week in Springfield, passed legislation allowing gay couples to form civil unions.
"One piece of legislation Quinn hopes lawmakers will tackle during the upcoming session is Democratic state Rep. Greg Harris' bill allowing civil unions.
Yesterday we learned that Sens. John McCain and Carl Levin hope to strip the Defense Authorization Bill of its DADT repeal language; today, a coalition of equality-minded Senators, including Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and Mark Udall (D-CO) issued a press release urging that the language remains in the bill.
"We must act to put an end to the 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy that not only discriminates against but also dishonors the service of gay and lesbian serice members."
The coalition goes on to say that Congress must pass DADT repeal through the Defense Authorization Bill or it risks "disrupting" the military.
Debbie Downer Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) made a bleak prediction in an interview with The Washington Blade after assessing the GOP takeover of the House as a major roadblock in the struggle for equality.
The National Organization for Marriage – the nation’s biggest purveyor of lies and unchristian intolerance – spent roughly $2.7 million to push its anti-equality agenda on top in the 2010 midterms. Fortunately, thanks to HRC and Courage Campaign’s NOMExposed.org, it didn’t exactly pay off.
In a report card released today the collaboration reveals that while NOM endorsed 29 anti-gay candidates, 19 of them lost, 8 won and 2 are undecided.
According to Nom Exposed, “with the exception of a judicial election they hijacked in Iowa, NOM lost its most expensive and high-profile gambits in California and New Hampshire and all of its races in Maine and the District of Columbia. And it fought campaign finance laws all along the way.
The tangible disenfranchisement the community felt in the months leading up to the midterms reveal themselves in numbers out today showing that Republicans garnered 31% of the gay vote this year, compared to only 19% in 2008.
The change from the last midterm elections in 2006 was not quite as large but an increase nevertheless. In 2006, 24 percent supported Republicans. Democrats' share of the gay vote rose from 75 percent in 2006 to 80 percent in 2008 and then dropped to 68 percent in 2010. Each year, approximately 3 percent of voters identified as gay, lesbian or bisexual.
While Dems gain more of the gay vote for presidential elections, the sharp increase this year could spell trouble for 2012. Looks like it’s...
