Asterisk

Many people thought that GetEqual would let the dust settle after Monday night’s Don’t Ask Don’t Tell protest in California. Many people were wrong. Oh, how they were wrong.

Tuesday afternoon, Lt. Dan Choi and Cpt. Jim Pietrangelo, who cuffed themselves to the White House fence in protest of DADT, were joined on the fence by four other veterans.

From left to right, the six servicemembers were Petty Officer Autumn Sandeen (Trans advocate and Pam’s House Blend barista), Lt. Choi, Cpl. Evelyn Thomas, Cpt. Pietrangelo, Cadet Mara Boyd, and Petty Officer Larry Whitt. These six servicemembers represent all branches of military service. (GetEqual grand poo-bah Robin McGehee is below on the right.)

This was a peaceful and relatively small protest, but the DC Park Police went absolutely nuts, closed the park, pushing the crowd of mostly tourists and the media back several blocks, much further than is customary. It was really nervous-making for a bit there; historically, bad things happen when governments prevent reporters from covering anti-government protests. Fortunately, John Aravosis of Americablog.com was present to film the pushback.

While the crowd and the press were being pushed back, officers began arresting the protesters. Three were gone before the media were let back in, with Lt. Choi and the other two arrested shortly thereafter.

Park Police spokesman Sergeant David Schlosser later fell on his sword for the action, blaming rookies in the force for making the decision. I have to say, it’s surprising to hear that rookies are guarding the White House and making major decisions like this in such a sensitive area. And I don’t see anybody who looks rookie-age in the video above.

Huh.

At any rate, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs addressed the police issue on Wednesday. (I’ll get to the rest of his comments in another post.)

Okay, so back to the protesters. Like last time, they were held overnight. (Does anybody know if that’s customary in DC? I have a hard time believing that it is.) They were arraigned Wednesday, with Sandeen, Thomas, Boyd, and Whitt being released and their cases closed under a “post and forfeit” agreement.

Choi and Pietrangelo were arraigned separately because of last month’s offense, and after sorting out a stay-away order, the judge set their trial on both offenses for July 16, 2010.

Metro Weekly‘s Chris Geidner posted these brief comments from several of the servicemembers outside the courtroom.

So was the protest successful? I think so. The issue is being talked about, and it’s definitely on the President’s radar now. People are asking why the President is absent on DADT repeal this year when he was so adamant about it in January.

Between the pressure of the California protest directly to President Obama and the DC protest at the White House, the President’s script is being questioned and it has become less politically savvy to ignore LGBT rights. I don’t think we’re there yet, not by a long shot, but we’re quite a bit closer than we were Monday morning.

As for Lt. Choi, he’s back in New York for Army training this weekend.

Released from DC Jail, judge orders stay away from WH. Going to Army training wknd tomorrow.

— Dan Choi (@ltdanchoi) April 22, 2010

On Tuesday, I posted video of a Don’t Ask Don’t Tell protest (planned by GetEqual) with an open letter to President Obama. I encourage you to read the letter, but today I’ll be sharing some details from two of the protesters.

As a refresher, here’s video of what happened on April 19, 2010:

Ever since I saw that video, I’ve wondered what happened to the protester that President Obama invited to the stage. Surely she wouldn’t refuse the invitation, right? Right!

Turns out that the protester in question was Zoe Nicholson. Here’s part of what she said on her blog after the event.

Zoe Nicholson before the protest

The boom of my voice was enormous. The whole room stopped, including the President. I had never heard myself be so loud. Clearly it would not be drown out by the people in my vicinity who started telling me to shut up. I just kept going. After several repetitions, the President look straight back to me and said, if you have so much to say, then come up here and say it. I said out loud yes, lifted my right hand as if to part the crowd and make my way.

Funny thing, I actually would have been more comfortable on the stage than in the crowd. I was relieved and all my facts were streaming through my mind about what I wanted to tell him. As I made a ten foot advance I felt two men in black suits take my elbows in tow. It wasn’t mean, it wasn’t aggressive just certain, with purpose and they knew that I was not going to resist their about face.

Another of the protesters, Laura Kanter, had this to say on her blog.

Laura Kanter before the protest

I could care less about getting attention; I wish someone else would have stepped up and done this – believe me. It was a very very difficult decision and I was well aware of the consequences. And there are and will be many.

I respect President Obama and I hope he will be re-elected, because he, through his courage, and by standing up, has inspired me to do the same. But he is about to leave the language to repeal DADT out of the defense bill – and then how much longer will our LGBT brothers and sisters have to serve in secrecy or simply be denied the right to serve?

Obama can handle our heckling, but the LGBT youth and others coming to terms with their sexuality are still suffering the slings and arrows of discriminatory policies like DADT that reinforce the idea that being anything other than straight is wrong, bad, evil, less than.

Thanks to all of Monday’s protestors (Laura, Zoe, David John Fleck, Dan Fotou, and Michelle Wright) for speaking out and getting the President’s attention!

(Photos via GetEqual on flickr.)

President Obama:

We waited with hope when you campaigned on the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.

We waited with confusion when your administration defended Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.

We waited with skepticism when in your State of the Union you called Congress to repeal Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.

We waited with frustration after your Justice Department directly contradicted you on Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.

And now, as anonymous White House staffers and members of Congress tell us that Don’t Ask Don’t Tell repeal will have to wait another year or two or three, we have one thing to say.

We aren’t waiting anymore.

You’re used to the Human Rights Campaign doing what you say, I know. To be honest, I don’t blame you for that, Mr. President. Someone once told me that we teach people how to treat us, and HRC has taught you that we’re willing to be led down the primrose path.

But yesterday you were faced with the truth: We want the civil rights guaranteed to all Americans, and we’re done waiting. As citizens we expect you to lead on this issue.

That’s why we’re “hollering” at you, by the way. As you know from the health care debate, this difficult vote won’t happen without your leadership.

Mr. President, my earnest and heartfelt hope is that you begin to understand that neither your script nor your political time line are important to us. Our concerns are greater than your politics. We want you to do the right thing because it’s the right thing.

Not when it’s safe; it’ll never be safe. Not when it’s easy; it’ll never be easy.

NOW.

Only when you’ve done that can we accept you as the trustworthy ally you’ve claimed to be. We don’t want to be your enemy, Mr. President, and we are eager for the day when we can stand with you again.

Yours in esteem and expectation,

Matthew D. Algren
Just some fag who wants you to care.

Thanks to Lt. Dan Choi and the good folks at GetEqual for kicking us back into gear. We owe you one.

Thanks to RealClearPolitics for the video. Make it embeddable next time and I won’t have to rip it.

Uh-oh. Looks like a reporter pissed off Old Man McCain again. I suppose we should be glad he didn’t call anybody a cunt this time.

Senator McCain’s latest tantrum came during an interview with the Arizona Star. While discussing Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, he acknowledges that “There are no nuances in [his] opinion” and says that can’t figure out why he would talk to gay servicemembers about the impact of the prejudicial law on military service.

I’m not kidding. He actually says those things.

But let’s get to the tantrum first.

McCain blew a gasket when the Arizona Star editor tried to make sense of McCain’s previously stated “personal opinion” business with Joint Chiefs Chairman Mike Mullen:

McCAIN: He said it was his personal opinion.

STAR: Well, he did. But he also appeared in uniform. And it’s a little hard to parse when the joint chiefs appear in front of the United States Senate committee and says “It’s my personal opinion that.”

McCAIN: What about when the commandant of the Marine Corps said he is opposed to it? What about when the chief of staff of the Army said we’ve got to go slow on this? What about when the chief of staff of the Air Force said I’m very worried about an abrupt change in policy and that we have to have a thorough review? What about all of those people?

STAR: Well maybe that was just their personal opinion.

McCAIN: No, no. It wasn’t their personal opinion. It was their professional opinion. It was Admiral Mullen’s personal opinion. All these other guys I just mentioned, that was their professional opinion.

STAR: I’m just saying when he appears in his uniform to speak, I don’t think most Americans get invited to give their personal opinions before the Armed Services Committee wearing their uniform and appearing as the head of the joint chiefs.

McCAIN: I guess all I can do is repeat myself. He said and emphasized that it was his personal opinion. Every other one of the service chiefs have said we need a thorough and complete review before we change the policy. And polls have shown that members of the military don’t want to change a policy because they think it’s working.

STAR: There’s also been a generational shift, I think, too, in terms of what younger members say and what …

McCAIN: There may have been, there may not have been. But we need a thorough and complete review. I mean, how many times do I have to give you my opinion?

If you want to have a debate about this issue, I’ll be glad to have a debate with you. I thought I came here to tell you my positions on the issues. I’m serious here. I would be glad to have an open and public debate with you on this issue. But I thought that I came here in order to tell you my positions on issues so that you can judge whether I should be re-elected or not or whatever opinions you may form.

And it went on from there.

You aren't fooling anybody with that comb over.

But that wasn’t McCain’s only moment of embarrassing absurdity in the interview. Here are some snippets with my witty commentary throughout. (More at the link.)

STAR: …I’m wondering if you’ve been approached by gay service members because you said that it’s been working effectively, it’s been working well. So I’m curious how do you come to that conclusion? Have you sought out gay service members, have you been approached by gay service members? How do you make that determination?

McCAIN: I make that determination by retention and recruitment is at an all-time high, the highest in the history of the all-volunteer force. I get that opinion because I visit with the troops all the time. I go to Iraq, I go to Afghanistan, I run into them everywhere. And of course I don’t seek out someone who is gay. Why should I? These are all men and women who are serving. Why should I, that would be nuts. I go up to men and women and I say thanks for serving. I say thank you for serving, you are great Americans, God bless you.

Yes, Senator, it would be nuts to talk to the people DADT has affected the most. What a ridiculous idea!

Quick note on military recruitment and retention: McCain is right that they’re pretty high right now. Two problems with his point, though: 1) Retention and recruitment are always higher during an economic recession, and we’re in a pretty big one, and 2) according to a study released January 2010 by the US Army War College, retention is still a problem even with cash incentives because the Armed Forces are targeting quantity of officers over quality of officers.

So really, recent success is in spite of DADT rather than because of it. Doing away with DADT could help retain a higher quality of officer (see: Maj. Margaret Witt, Lt. Col. Victor Fehrenbach) instead of just filling slots like they are now.

But why let facts get in the way of the party line? Okay, back to it:

McCAIN: … by any objective view, our military is the most professional, best equipped, best trained, most highest (sic) quality that it’s ever been.

Let’s assume McCain’s statement is true. Wouldn’t the most professional military ever be able to handle honest lesbians and gay men in their ranks? I mean, seriously, I’d expect the most highest quality military to understand that who you’re attracted to has nothing to do with proficiency on the field of combat.

STAR: If those things are going well, could they be better if the policy was changed?

McCAIN: That’s why we need to review the policy and find out what the effect is on the military and their battle effectiveness. That’s why we need an extensive review and listen to the commandant of the Marine Corps who says it should not be repealed. Listen to the men and women in the field, listen to the families of those who are serving rather than fulfill a campaign promise.

Now the reason why the president declared this is because it was a campaign promise, not because our military is hurting, not because we’re having difficulties in the military.

Ooh, somebody’s still smarting from the whooping he got in 2008.

But hang on a second, I just noticed something. Back up at the first quote I pulled, McCain said that no way should he listen to people in the military. Now he says it’s essential to hear from…

Oh, wait a minute. I get it. McCain wants to listen to the straight soldiers but not the gay ones.

Nice.

He didn’t. Quite the opposite, actually.

In sworn testimony a few weeks ago, Marine Corps General John J. Sheehan (ret.) told Congress that the gays serving openly in the Dutch Army led to the Srebrenica Genocide in 1995.

Over the next few days, just about every Dutch official justifiably raised hell over Gen. Sheehan’s charge. And now, General Sheehan is apologizing. At least he says he is.

Here’s the letter he sent to Dutch General Henk van der Breeman (ret.), who Sheehan gave as the source for his allegations.

Using the word 'sorry' doesn't make it an apology.

So to make this perfectly clear, when Gen. Sheehan said that the allowing gays to serve in the Dutch military caused the largest massacre in Europe since World War II, what he really meant was that allowing gays to serve in the Dutch military caused all the good soldiers to quit the military, which caused the largest massacre in Europe since World War II.

See the difference? No?

Gen. Sheehan is still blaming gays for genocide. His only apology is for not making it clearer that he also thinks the Dutch government is to blame. His message to Congress is that if they let gays serve openly, any soldier being killed in combat in the future will be their fault, because clearly you can trace the death back to the repeal of DADT. And you know what we do when someone kills a US soldier…

Come to think of it, Gen. Sheehan’s comments are more of a threat than a message, don’t you think?