Last night, 2009 Instinct Leading Man and coverguy Lt. Col. Victor Fehrenbach reminded us why he was chosen for the honor in an articulate, moving appearance on The Rachel Maddow Show.

As the trial against Lt. Dan Choi and Capt. James Pietrangelo was set to begin today, the government myseteriously stepped in to dismiss the charges (failure to obey a lawful order) brought on the pair after chaining themselves to the White House fence in protest of Don't Ask, Don't Tell. It's not yet clear who or what intervened to drop the charges and dismiss the trial as the Secret Service and the DC Police were in the courtroom and ready to take the stand as the news was revealed, insinuating that at least the lower branches of government were not aware of the dismissal plans.

Thanks to JoeMyGod we can take a look at the survey the Pentagon is asking 400,000 servicemembers (gay and straight, active duty and not) to fill out to help the country's leaders figure out if discrimination is OK. Yesterday we learned that many GLBT orgs including SLDN have warned GLBT soldiers NOT to fill out the survey. As expected, it includes plenty questions about the soldiers "morals," and largely (except for a few questions) refers to GLBT servicemembers as "homosexuals," a choice of semantics that seems to bring out the bigot in most survey takers.

(Follow the jump to read the embedded 32-page survey.)

Roughly 400,000 surveys regarding Don't Ask Don't Tell have been mailed to American servicemembers by the Department of Defense (DADT) in an effort to fully "study" the impact a possible repeal might have on the military. SLDN, a GLBT-servicemember support ogranization, has urged gay soldiers to NOT participate in the survey, citing concern that their identities might not be as secret as the DOD suggests, and since DADT discrimination is still being practiced in Washington, they might be putting themselves at risk.

Says Aubrey Sarvis, SLDN's executive director, "“At this time SLDN cannot recommend that lesbian, gay, or bisexual service members participate in any survey being administered by the Department of Defense, the Pentagon Working...

The Pentagon began sending out a survey seeking opinions from 200,000 active troops and 200,000 reserve troops today as to their opinions on "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." According to CNN, the survey looks to measure attitudes on such topics as how repeal might affect willingness to serve in the military, how they would react if they had to share a room, bathrooms, and open-bay showers in a war zone with other service members believed to be gay or lesbian, and how unit morale or readiness might be affected if a commander is believed to be gay or lesbian.

As to the bathroom question, we'd answer with a resounding "good times," but then again, they didn't ask our opinion.

The 100 questions are meant to measure to impact of ...

They were arrested earlier this year for protesting Don't Ask, Don't Tell, and as their civil disobedience trial nears, Lt. Dan Choi and Captain James Pietrangelo will subpoena President Obama to testify on their behalf.

Their defense? President Obama called on anti-DADT activists to pressure him. They were merely following orders.

According to the soldiers' lawyers:

The subpoena seeks to compel the testimony of President Barack Obama who has, on several occasions as President and Commander in Chief (and previously as a Senator and Presidential Candidate) called on the LGBT community to "pressure" him to change the DADT law and policy, thus allowing gay service members to serve their country openly and honorably.

The subpoena of...

Updated:

Here's video of Kagan declaring her opposition to the discriminatory Don't Ask, Don't Tell. Sen. Jeff Sessions is not thrilled with her statements.

In day two of Elena Kagan’s confirmation hearings before Congress, Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell reared its ugly head. When asked to explain why she blocked the military’s access to Harvard University when she was the dean of its law school, Kagan responded with articulacy and grace.

"All I tried to do was to make sure that Harvard University could also comply with its anti-discrimination policy," Kagan said before calling DADT “unwise and unjust.”

While her response makes complete sense to us, Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL, the leading Republican in the hearings),...

Hearing from the Air Force and Army has become commonplace when it comes to "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," but one branch of the military we don't hear from as much is the men at sea (see, we even avoided the cliche joke), the Navy.

Well, 8-year-vet Christopher Landavazo sat down with HLN over the weekend to talk about his service and how he thinks the move to repeal DADT is going:

If the two radio jocks from AL spewing hate against Pride (see post) wasn't enough to get you fired up on Friday, let General John Sheehan's op-ed for Politico do the trick. The retired four-star general took to the Interwebs today to terrorize with a warning that allowing gays to serve openly in the military will spread AIDS.

Writes Sheehan:

Homosexuality carries with it profound behavioral implications. Sexual attraction among members of the same sex -- living, exercising, fighting and training alongside one another in the closest of quarters -- could devastate morale, foster heightened interpersonal tension and lead to division among those who, more than virtually any other group in society, need to act as one.

In addition, the...

This is exactly why this silly, damaging law needs to be repealed. Immediately.

24-year-old Lieutenant Robin R. Chaurasiya has come clean with her commanders at Scott Air Force Base in Illinois about a civil union she shares with her partner. But instead of discharging her under Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, they force her to continue serving, claiming that she went lesbian just to shirk her duty.

From the LA Times:

Like many cases, Chaurasiya's situation is complicated. She had left active duty in 2007 after serving one year, but was recalled to active duty in 2009. After she was sent to Scott Air Force Base, a male former service member she had once dated forwarded to her commander a group e-mail in which Chaurasiya had written that she was...

Updated, Friday

Army Secretary John McHugh called a press conference to clarify reverse the remarks he made on Wednesday. Just to be sure that we're all clear, McHugh wanted to remind us that he will still discharge soldiers who come out to him under DADT, since it remains the "law of the land." He went even further to distance himself from what had seemed like compassionate, reasoned admission (his Weds remarks that he wouldn't discharge soldiers who come out to him privately) by saying that even if a moratorium on DADT were considered, he would not support it. Nice.

His "clarification":

"Yesterday, in response to a series of questions from reporters regarding "Don't Ask Don't Tell", I made several statements that require further comment...

Pentagon changed the rules it uses to enforce DADT effective yesterday but the fearless Rachel Maddow isn't impressed... she brought Lt. Dan Choi on the show last night to help discuss what Sec. Robert Gates's historic announcement means for GLBT servicemembers.