good move? bad move?

or a possible tactical error?

the Washington Post put up an article not that long ago that SCOTUS refused to here a case on DADT - Supreme Court Turns Down 'Don't Ask' Challenge.

It is not a ruling on the merits of DADT; it's just a refusal to hear this particular case. Since the Supreme Court does not have to explain its actions, there could be any number of reasons.

Some are saying that SCOTUS may have decided that this case is not the right one to hear. Others may believe that another case is more to the point. Still others think its a betrayal of the Obama administration because it's reported they asked the Court not to hear it.

The last possibility may prove to be the one that sticks with all sorts of counterfeit reasonings attached to it. It may be the tactical error.

Given the recent history of accusations that the Human Rights Campaign and the Obama administration have a deal to put this on the back burner for next year, it it going to be harder to swallow for a lot of people.

The case - Pietrangelo v. Gates - originally had 12 plaintiffs. Eleven of them agreed to drop out of the case.

Pietrangelo appealed to the Supreme Court on his own, while most of the other plaintiffs asked the court to not to review the case, preferring to allow the administration to deal with the issue.

Their position was supported by the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN), a nonprofit group that helps military personnel affected by "don't ask, don't tell." It said another case that reached the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in San Francisco was a better vehicle to bring the issue before the Supreme Court.

So what is going to happen is that this is going to fan the flames of an already bad situation that Mr. Obama has actually put himself into and could have avoided.

Though he is not solely to blame. Part of the the problem, imho, is the lack of real leadership in the LGBTQ community along with many splinter groups.

Obama has a very easy way out, as i see it. Simply giving an order that no further discharges will happen until the matter is settled will give not only give breathing room but time for the services to get themselves out of the situation that, from what i've been reading, the majority of officers in actual field operations are turning their heads from unless forced by other service members who push personal agendas.

doing this will also help protect our country. so many important service members, linguists being the most notable, will continue to insure safety.

i feel less safe...

after seeing this...






no other comment.

DADT: justice and equality..

Andy Towle at Towleroad has a post up today entitled OBAMA: MORE ANALYSIS NEEDED BEFORE 'DON'T ASK, DON'T TELL' REPEAL

While Obama's press secretary Robert Gibbs said in a Change.gov video that "Yes," the President would lift the ban on gays in the military, Obama is signaling that it will be months if not years before enough canvassing of military officials and congressional leadership can be done for him to be comfortable in moving forward....

it basically discusses how much research and looking into do we have to have.

there is a discussion after the post in the comments that seems to have a slant of hopelessness. i had to add to the discussion, and below is the comment i left:

i met two guys last week who are in the service and are together. talking with them was fascinating. they were really great guys. despite the fact that they are ingrained with the military command structure as part of their lives (they had the aura of military personnel) they were open about their history and relationship because where we were was a totally accepting and open environment at the time and they had nothing to fear. everyone else was lgbtq or friends there. [i realize i'm being a little evasive here, but i don't want to take any chance of compromising their jobs in any way.]

i was very proud to meet these two men. they are doing something they truly believe in by being in the military, yet the sense of how careful they knew they had to be and hiding who they really are has to be so much hard work, and they talked about the impact it has on their lives, both together and individually.

i felt a sense of sadness, and i told them this, because no matter what we've all gone through, they have to deal with something that has to be so constraining it has to be stifling at times.

i also feel safer because of them; they are helping to protect me and the country. their sense of dedication and duty was so obvious. they wouldn't want to be doing anything else. i applaud them wholeheartedly.

i don't see an end to DADT in the near future; i see Obama doing exactly what he did when he was here in Illinois as a state senator - placating everyone. i see him working for one thing and one thing only - reelection in four years!

anyone who was hoping he would make the changes he talked about is a dreamer. take for example his repeated statements during the campaigh that he was "not in favor of" same-sex marriage. for those of you who may not have heard, Chicago's "Windy City Times" has a taped interview with him when he was running for state office when he "explicitly" stated that he supports total marriage equality.

what do you think changed his mind...?

i also feel a sense of helplessness for the two guys i mention above. i don't know what i can do. i support Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) monetarily and spreading the word on doing away with DADT, but i don't feel it to be enough.

no one should be forced to live in fear of being who they are. if you're older, as i am, i have to tell you that we have only felt a tiny amount of the fear of being outed compared to them. if you are younger, i want to tell you how lucky you are because it has been so much easier for you. i also thank the gods, fate or whatever you believe or don't believe in that it is going to become easier - just not as fast as we want or it should.

i'm a dreamer. i live in a world inside my head that wants everyone to be treated equally.

i want the adage focused in Leviticus, by JC, and with the "Golden Rule" to be a reality.

i'm a child of the 60's, the Age of Aquarius.

i have a strong sense in the Hopi Native-American principle of When hope is gone life is over.

i refuse to give up that hope, but it gets harder every day when i see and hear the new ways man extends his inhumanity to others...

60 Minutes DADT segment...

If you missed the CBS 60 Minutes segment on Don't Ask Don't Tell you can view it here: Military Soft On Don't Ask, Don't Tell?.

It's an interesting segment and comes across as pro-repeal of the innocuous policy. We need to commend the women and men who speak out and stand up for what they believe. We also have to applaud the Will & Grace Generation, as the servicemen interviewed refer to them, for their sane attitude that older blighties don't have. [You have to see the video to understand the blighty part.]

We also need to support the effort of repealing DADT.

The Servicemembers Legal Defense Network is an organization that not only provides legal defense services to its members but is leading the fight against DADT. They have begun a new campaign called 60 in 6 to raise $600,000 in six days to help defend servicemembers who are discriminated by DADT.

Interestingly, Army Sergeant Darren Manzella who was the main interview on the segment and who has been open and accepted by men and women with whom he serves, now believes that as a result of this interview he will be dismissed when previously his commanding officers told him to "go back to work."

Click here to donate - 60 in 6


[i found it interesting that every person that Leslie Stahl interviewed who was against repealing DADT had a southern accent. nah..., maybe i was just imagining it...]