Last night, I watched Lt. Dan Choi and Gen. Wesley Clark face off against Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council and Lt. Col. Robert Maginnis on Larry King Live.
The topic was "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT), but the subject at hand was how America deals with minorities. Just as I saw during the Prop. 8 trial, Mr. Perkins raised the shibboleths of fear and division in an America that he apparently no longer loves.
What has DADT to do with same-sex marriage? In effect, everything. For nearly a year, Lt. Choi has been the picture of the American patriot, a West Point graduate who is fluent in Arabic and who served our nation in Iraq. Dan is not a political animal; he is passionate, determined and simply desires to honor the nation that gave his parents and him the opportunity to live freely. When Dan "came out" on the Rachel Maddow show last March, the military machinery slowly, inexorably came after him, determined to remove this highly trained, valued soldier from their midst for being himself.
Last June, 162,741 Courage Campaign members signed letters of support that Dan presented at his Army discharge hearing and that are now part of Dan's official record. Fortunately, Dan has not yet been dismissed, though his discharge is under review. (We currently have nearly 500,000 letters of support for Dan to Speaker Pelosi, President and Obama and the US Army.)
While yesterday's congressional hearing was remarkable and welcome in many ways, we do not need to wait to save his job. Will Dan still be fired? How many other Dans will be fired while the military studies this issue again?
We saw Tony Perkins taking talking points from the Prop. 8 campaign that were revealed at the trial. Mr. Perkins threatened on the Larry King show that "we might have to return to the draft" if we allow gays and lesbians to serve openly because so many soldiers would either quit the military or not enlist. Mr. Perkins went further, saying that President Obama is putting the country at risk because the Joint Chiefs have been asked to review the DADT policy in a time of war. Finally, Mr. Perkins recalled having showered together with 80 men while he was in the military and said he'd feel threatened by a gay man showering there with him.
Okay, got that? If we let those 66,000 or so gays and lesbians who now serve in the armed forces (according to UCLA's Williams Institute) stop lying and be open, we'll have to reinstate the draft, we'll lose wars and Mr. Perkins' own heterosexual identity -- which is apparently quite weak -- will be threatened. In other words, the gays will eat you and destroy our country.
Mr. Perkins played a key role in the Prop. 8 trial. He used many of these same words when he said on a video that was used to scare the religious right into supporting Prop. 8. At that time, he said that if gays and lesbians marry, we will have more incest, pedophilia and eventually polygamy. He said that. And his other allies in the fight to separate Americans from each other joined right in.
That was the basis of their defense in the Prop. 8 trial: If gays and lesbians are allowed to marry, America will collapse. And now they are extending that argument about marriage to the military.
Mr. Perkins admitted on Larry King Live last night that "times have changed." What he did not admit is that he hates these times and really hates America. He craves a return to a mythical time in this country when white men ruled, when wives did as they were told and when his country club only had people in it who looked like him.
We saw at the Prop. 8 trial that people like Tony Perkins and Ron Prentice have used fear and stereotype for decades to prevent gays and lesbians from being equal citizens, blocking them from the institutions of marriage and the military.
We will not allow these libels to continue to fly across the airwaves unchecked. That's precisely why President Obama was right to demand that DADT be overturned, though he waited longer than many would like. Meanwhile, our national security suffers as Arabic linguists like Dan Choi lose their jobs or don't even join up. That's why Courage Campaign http://www.couragecampaign.org/page/s/DontWait" target="_hplink">is asking Senator Levin to add the DADT repeal now to the defense budget bill.
The time has come for the courts to rule that discrimination is un-American. As lives continue to be ruined across our country, that decision to make full equality the law of our land can't come a moment too soon. And the time has long past for us to realize that Tony Perkins and his shrinking band of hysteria is as fantastical as the Mad Hatter's swirling tea cups at Disneyland.
P.S. This in from Dan: "We are conducting infantry training to include rifle marksmanship, combat assault drills and combat life saver qualifications. It is absolutely mission critical to train on these and I could not think of a better way to contribute to mission readiness than to attend this training, especially after the commitments and words we heard in the senate yesterday." I suppose Tony Perkins thinks Dan's service will lead to a draft or to the End of America.
Follow Rick Jacobs on Twitter: www.twitter.com/rickjacobs
Sen. Mark Udall: The Right Thing to Do
Coloradans embody the Western libertarian philosophy of "live and let live." And most Americans favor a repeal of DADT. For the sake of our national security, it's time for this discriminatory policy to end.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand: Telling the Stories of Those Impacted by "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"
The Don't Ask Don't Tell Story Project will introduce Americans to some of the brave men and women who have been harmed by this unjust policy.
Joe Solmonese: Seeing the Light at the End of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Tunnel
Secretary Gates and Admiral Mullen made clear today that this military review is about how, not if Don't Ask Don't Tell will be repealed.
Yes it is. It is the same Tony Perkins. Bigot to the core.
Consider how many people in esteemed positions aren't really experts or particularly qualified to be doing what they're doing, but they get this social/political capital to spend for having served in the military. Former generals with no background in law get elected to legislative positions because their communities *respect* the fact that they served in uniform. Perhaps that's the real objective in keeping gay from openly serving-- to keep them from earning the kind of respect that could parlay into gay-friendly political or social influence later.
My father had it
my grand father had it
my great grand father had it
The first generation of my family was drafted and given a gun and sent to the virginia as soon has he got off the boat.
A draft with out exceptions would stop wars of choice, and make all people realize we can't just send young men to die and get injured in some place with not clear goals.
It would hold our elected officials to realize that people not profits matter more.
Let gays in the service, if they want to fight let them. Just don't ask them to lie, in order to serve.
I have a friend who I have known since we were 7 years old and we always knew he was gay from that early age. He did not actually admit to being gay until he was 19, but I told him that I always knew and it did not matter to me.
As a scientist I firmly believe that it is genetic, but that has not been confirmed yet.
Did you choose your sexuality? If not, why would anyone assume that someone else had chosen his or her sexuality?
I'm straight. I didn't choose to be, I just am.
A framework of rules and infrastructure MUST be put in place before a change this big is enacted.
The rules an "infrastructure" is already there. It's called common freaking sense.
I'm just so baffled at this continuing fear of another way to love.
When young men and women join the military, why not take the opportunity to throw a little education their way? Police officers are required to attend classes dealing with racial sensitivity etc., we could certainly benefit as a nation by pursuing a more enlightened agenda with our soldiers.
I also believe that if you are discharged from the military for ANY kind of prejudice, hate crime etc., you should be sentenced with a life-long ban from joining any paramilitary organizations like Blackwater (or whatever new moniker they are hiding behind this week). We don't need people like that armed.
In short, instead of putting the onus of "fitting in" on gay people (which they have been saddled with for far too long already) , let's realize that the problem to be addressed is the military's. I do not, for a moment, subscribe to arguments like "well, some of our under-educated, narrow-minded, concrete-skulled, homphobic soldiers won't like it".
Who cares?
Integration? - some of the racist soldiers didn't like it.
Women in the service? - some of the sexist soldiers didn't like it.
The military has been a (slowly) evolving world. Re-define the parameters of service in the military to include all willing Americans who are capable of service.
If you don't like the terms, don't sign up.
;-)
I don't know everyone here - obviously, but I get so tired of all the hate - I missed your intention. Dumb me!
I'm fanning you so that won't happen again.
Someone needs to tell Mr. Perkins that he's been showering with gay men since junior high school showers. Surprise!
I mean my GOD, if propositioned by someone they find unattractive for any reason, all they have to say is "No".
Or better yet, " No thanks".
After all, we women have been doing it for EONS.
Hell people like that should instead feel eternally grateful anyone---any living creature for that matter---found them attractive enough to proposition.
Why is having to turn down someone who invites you to enjoy intimacy with them SOOO.....scary?
What a bunch of wimps.
And this is who we choose/ allow/ employ to defend us? Lawrence of Arabia they are NOT.
This picture needs to change, and change fast. The U.S. military is certainly no place for such quaking, weak-personalitied scaredy-cats.
Now, that's a well-adjusted heterosexual male.
FANNED
Now, that's a well-adjusted heterosexual male.
-That's true but not everybody is and when gays take the "bully pulpet" it puts off those who are not secure.
PS: I share the above sentiment it's good to know I can still turn a head...Or two.. But you CAN'T out of hand dismiss as b1goted the feelings of others..
I'd add to that statement "... who carry guns and are prompted by their religious leaders to carry out the good crusade against the non Christians."
USN(ret)
89-09
That my friend is NOT realistic.
It is the same as telling the 17-21 yr old young ladies that they will now be showering with the men but don't worry eveybody will be professional.