Tom Goss - Lover

”“Lover” tells a story very rarely told: of the loss endured by partners of gay servicemembers who are killed in battle.

The video features Goss as the bereaved partner of an army soldier (DC actor Ben Horen) killed while on duty in Afghanistan. Among those playing medics who come to the aid of the wounded soldier are several former servicemembers who were discharged under the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy: Mike Almy, David Hall, and Danny Hernandez, all of whom are active members of SLDN. Keith Bryant stars as a fellow soldier.”

A waiter in Santa Maria, California, is recovering in hospital after he was stabbed for being gay.

According to Associated Press, police said the unnamed waiter was at work in a Denny’s restaurant in the early hours of Thursday morning when 24-year-old Curtis Martin tapped on the window and asked to use the toilet.

Mr Martin was let inside and allegedly asked the waiter if he was gay.

When he said he was, police say Mr Martin stabbed him in the neck and throat with a knife.

The waiter is expected to survive his injuries.

Mr Martin has been charged with attempted murder and committing a hate crime.

Over the past two days, we have been treated to new evidence about the ever-mounting costs of “don’t ask, don’t tell.” Yesterday, as reported in the Washington Post, the Palm Center released new Pentagon data which demonstrated the heavy burden that “don’t ask, don’t tell” places on women. What does this mean? It means a failed policy continues to fail us.

Although women comprise only 14% of the Army, the new data show that lesbians received 48% of the Army’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” discharges last year. In the Marines, women comprise just 6% of the force, but received 23% of discharges under the policy. In the Air Force, women comprise 20% of the service but received 51% of “don’t ask, don’t tell” discharges last year. Women comprise 14% of the Navy but received 27% of the discharges.

The new data also show that the military continued to fire mission-critical specialists for being gay last year, including 8 linguists, 20 infantrymen, 16 medical aides, 7 combat engineers, 6 missile artillery operating crew members, and one member of the Special Forces, among others. This pattern is consistent with a long-term trend of firing badly-needed talent. A 2005 GAO Reportfound that the military fired 757 mission-critical specialists, including 322 linguists, in the first decade of “don’t ask, don’t tell.”

The American Bar Association on Tuesday unequivocally backed civil marriage rights for gay and lesbian couples.

In a resolution adopted less than one week after a federal judge in San Francisco struck down California’s Proposition 8 as unconstitutional, the group acknowledges that same-sex couples “are only seeking to participate in an equal basis in a foundational institution of our civil life,” former ABA president Tommy Wells told the organization’s house of delegates. “They simply want to share in the legal blessings that we give to married couples. It can only strengthen marriage.”

Text of the ABA resolution is as follows:

“RESOLVED, That the American Bar Association urges state, territorial, and tribal governments to eliminate all of their legal barriers to civil marriage between two persons of the same sex who are otherwise eligible to marry.”

- A service member can still be fired if outed by his or her parents;
- A service member can still be fired for revealing his or her sexual orientation while making a statement to the police that would prevent or help solve a crime; 
- A service member’s middle school teacher can still out the service member 10 years after he came out to her in social studies class;
 - A service member can still be discharged if he reports that someone has threatened to kill him for being gay; 
- A service member can still be fired for hugging someone of the same sex; 
- A service member can still be fired for getting married; and 
- A service member can still be fired for saying she would like to return from Iraq to care for her dying girlfriend.

Read the whole article and get active or DADT WILL stay for the forseeable future.

michaeldube:

http://twitter.com/tristanpr

I bet it was the “christian thing to do”.