Ordering the drafting of an implementation plan would be a tangible step forward in the right direction -- the President could make such an order today.
Nathaniel Frank | Posted 12.02.2009 | Politics
Without explicit protection, gay troops could be fired for sharing their views and experiences with senators and representatives, since current law calls for discharging anyone who says they are gay.
Aubrey Sarvis | Posted 12.01.2009 | Politics
In the United States we need to distinguish ourselves from countries, like our NATO ally Turkey, who continue officially to regard homosexuality as shameful.
AP | LINDSEY TANNER | Posted 11.10.2009 | Politics
CHICAGO — The American Medical Association on Tuesday voted to oppose the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy, and declared that gay marri...
Aaron Belkin | Posted 11.04.2009 | Politics
What can we expect from a President who presides over a relatively conservative public, whose party is fractured by a fundamental contradiction, and whose legislative agenda is held hostage by Ben Nelson?
Aaron Belkin | Posted 11.02.2009 | Politics
Commandant General James Conway's opposition to the president on "don't ask, don't tell" could have many underlying implications. Some would say he should be taken out to the woodshed.
The Washington Times | Rowan Scarborough | Posted 11.02.2009 | Politics
Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James T. Conway has emerged in internal Pentagon deliberations as the most outspoken opponent of permitting gay men and w...
Bil Browning | Posted 10.28.2009 | Living
The music teacher found out that I played piano and asked me to play in front of the class. In a panic, I chose the most masculine piece I could think of -- the Marine's Hymn. Apparently, it wasn't butch enough.
Michael B. Laskoff | Posted 10.30.2009 | Politics
Phase III: Obama Strikes Back. The Republicans are still leaderless and teabaggers have hung up their Lipton for the winter. Meanwhile, two-thirds of Americans still want health care reform.
Nathaniel Frank | Posted 10.20.2009 | Politics
Defenses of the military's gay ban have long been rooted in the moral belief that homosexuality is wrong, but its champions cast their defense of the policy in terms of the famous "unit cohesion" rationale.
Posted 10.09.2009 | Denver
A professor at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Edie Disler, alleges that she has been disciplined for inviting gay Academy graduates to spe...
Nathaniel Frank | Posted 10.09.2009 | Politics
Show the world, Mr. President, how we are just like you, and perhaps more important, how you are just like us: In what ways are we pretty normal, and in what ways are you kinda Queer?
Emma Ruby-Sachs | Posted 10.08.2009 | Politics
I'm sure his speechwriters have cooked up something special for Saturday, but I've got a few ideas of my own. I've written a speech for the beloved President -- the kind of speech we wish the man would give, just once.
Geoffrey R. Stone | Posted 10.08.2009 | Politics
Here's the speech I would like to hear Obama make on Saturday when he addresses the national meeting of the Human Rights Campaign, the largest lesbian and gay civil rights organization in the nation.
Posted 10.07.2009 | Politics
CNN's Anderson Cooper hosted a debate between First Lieutenant Dan Choi, a West Point graduate and Arabic linguist who is facing a discharge for annou...
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand | Posted 10.05.2009 | New York
I've secured the commitment from Sen. Carl Levin, chair of the Armed Services Committee, to hold the first hearing on Don't Ask Don't Tell since it began 16 years ago.
Aubrey Sarvis | Posted 12.01.2009 | Politics
An Air Force colonel's new article is the closest we've ever come to recognition by an official Pentagon publication that "don't ask, don't tell" has got to go, and go soon.
HuffingtonPost.com | Jason Linkins | Posted 11.30.2009 | Media
For a long while now, I've been of the mind that the current "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy that the Armed Forces enforces on its soldiers is pointles...
Youth Radio | Rachel Krantz | Posted 11.23.2009 | Home
After Youth Radio exposed a culture of hazing, including psychological and physical abuse, at a U.S. Navy canine unit in Bahrain, the nation's top Nav...
Nathaniel Frank | Posted 11.22.2009 | Politics
Petty Officer Third Class Joseph Rocha was brutalized for more than two years at his base in Bahrain after his refusal to hire a prostitute raised suspicions that he was gay. This is not an academic debate.
Bruce Feiler | Posted 11.15.2009 | Politics
The Ten Commandments do not mention homosexuality. But the Five Books of Moses do, in ways that have plagued homosexuals for centuries.
Karen Ocamb | Posted 11.09.2009 | Politics
Policy makers must understand that if their job is to ultimately protect the citizenry, they are complicit in torture if they continue to dismiss abuse of power as "boys will be boys" or bullying or "hazing" as if everyone is just having some good clean fun.
Peggy Drexler | Posted 11.09.2009 | Politics
During the campaign, there was a belief that, in the same way African Americans saw Bill Clinton as the first black president, Obama would be the first gay president. That hasn't happened.
Nathaniel Frank | Posted 09.10.2009 | Politics
Sometimes moral and political leadership really are one and the same. Ending the needless firing of gay troops is one of those times.
Aubrey Sarvis | Posted 09.06.2009 | Politics
The nation's armed forces are stretched thin, very thin. Repeal of DADT is a national security issue, first and last.
Ryan McDermott | Posted 12.03.2009 | Politics