Gay In America

Gay America has apparently reached a crossroads due to a pair of unrelated events. The suicide of Tyler Clementi, the Rutgers University student shown kissing with a fellow male student on a video secretly made and then distributed by Clementi's roommate Dharun Ravi, has forced many people to stop turning their backs on the persecution many gays, as well as anyone subject to bullying, and understand the severity of the bigtory and homophobia that gays in this country have had to endure. New Jersey governor Chris Christie has made it clear that this kind of bullying, which led Clementi kill himself, is intolerable and should not be allowed. The two students Ravi and fellow Rutgers student Molly Wei, who conspired with Ravi, face two counts of invasion of privacy, although they should certainly be subjected to greater charges than that. But the people of New Jersey and the United States have clearly been shown that the bullying of homosexuals can't go on.

Meanwhile, the "don't ask, don't tell" policy forcing gays to serve in the military closeted, has been thrown out by Judge Virginia Phillips, technically allowing gays to serve openly now and putting momentum on their side. Although Congress still hasn't been able to reverse the ban, thanks to so many Republicans being against it, it doesn't seem likely that the ban will hold much longer, even if the Republicans do gain control of one or both houses of Congress in three weeks.

As for New York Republican gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino's homophobic comments fed to him by an Hasidic rabbi. . . . Move along, nothing to see here! He's going to lose in November.

Sex and the Capitol

My, Washington, D.C. is quite involved with sexual politics, isn't it?

Yesterday the Senate tried to move on repealing the "don't ask, don't tell" policy in the military that allows gays to serve in the armed forces as long as they stay in the closet. Harry Reid that that this would be a great way to gain some momentum in the midterm congressional elections by firing up the homosexual segment of the Democratic base - especially on an policy that an overwhelming majority of Democrats and an overwhelming majority of Americans support. But no one bothered to count the votes, and the Democrats thought it would be clever to attach the provision as a rider on a defense bill. It was Reid - still facing a serious challenge from Sharron Angle despite her incurable case of foot-in-mouth disease - that got taken for a ride. Not one Republican - even those few Republicans who support repealing "don't ask, don't tell" - would vote to bring it up for consideration on the grounds that the process wasn't proper.

So the bill failed, there are no chances of letting gays and lesbians serve openly in the military any time soon, and the Democrats only managed to further discourage an already discouraged segment of their base. Gays and lesbians aren't even in a mood to give them an E for effort because Reid and his fellow Dems didn't come across as having made much of one. You know you're politically ineffective when Lady Gaga makes the case for open gay service in the military better than you do.

And what the @#** was she doing injecting herself into the issue, anyway?

I kind of like the days when pop musicians like Joan Baez tried to stop soldiers from going off to war rather than fighting for the rights of people to enlist. These times weren't meant for me.

From sexual orientation to sexual disorientation. Noted unindicted sex criminal David Vitter has had a case brought against him by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. The CREW crew charges Louisiana's junior senator with subsidizing the personal expenses of staff member and domestic violence perpetrator Brent Furer after he was charged with abusing and threatening to kill his girlfriend. At issue is the charge the Furer was mostly on paid leave during the three months it took to resolve the case. Vitter's office has brushed it off, mostly by saying that the senator had merely expressed concern over Furer's behavior before he finally resigned, and that the media have misrepresented Furer's case. Furer's lawyer, meanwhile, has insisted that the case is behind him, and that he's putting his life back together.

And Louisiana Republicans have all collectively said, "Good enough for me!"

Four words: Charlie Melancon For Senate.

The details of the case are available here.

Shooting Straight

President Obama spread waves of shock and delight across the nation when he announced on Saturday that he planned to end the "don't ask, don't tell" policy of gays in in the military and allow them to serve openly in the armed services without fear of expulsion. Some military leaders have expressed fears that could have a demoralizing effect on the service. Funny, I thought the outsourcing of all their duties to Blackwater had already taken care of that.

The United States would thus become the last Western country to allow gays to serve openly in the military, though it's better late than never. Many homosexual rights advocates had been disappointed on Obama's record of gay civil rights, but it turns out he was with them all the time; it was just a matter of fitting them into his schedule. Health care, two wars, a rotten job market . . . sooner or later the White House had to pencil them in. Friday? No, they couldn't do that, they already had a moon-bombing mission scheduled. :-D

In addition to a big agenda, President Obama has to deal with another thing blocking repeal of "don't ask, don't tell. . . ." congressional and military opponents. Not to mention talk radio hosts. But the President seems to be slowly learning to go ahead and do the right thing, if only because he'd even getting attacked for what he chooses to eat for breakfast.

As for gays in the military, the late Barry Goldwater said it best when he said that you don't have to be straight to serve in the military. You just have to shoot straight.