Pres. Obama, Don't Fire Dan (or anyone else)

The Courage Campaign, more famous for its work in California especially after the passage of Proposition 8, has begun an online petition to Obama asking him to stop the firing of LGBT soldiers, a cause that has recently been made famous thanks to Lt. Dan Choi's personal outing on the Rachel Maddow Show:

Lt. Dan Choi, from Orange County, California, is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and an Iraq War veteran. Last March he went on Rachel Maddow's show and spoke three truthful words: "I am gay."

As a result Lt. Choi received a letter from the Army on April 23 discharging him for violating the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy. He told Rachel Maddow the letter was "a slap in the face" to himself and the soldiers he as commanded and served with over the past decade.

Lt. Choi is fighting to stay in the military and ensure that no other soldier is ever again discharged as a result of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." The Courage Campaign and CREDO Mobile are joining his effort to secure equality in our armed forces.

President Obama did not create this policy. But he now has the opportunity to keep his promise and allow gay and lesbian soldiers to serve openly in the military. It's the right thing to do -- for justice and for national security.

There has been some speculation that the President, unable to end the policy due to a need for Congressional action, may be able to suspend the discharges pending administrative review... an action he as yet refuses to take. So far, over 130,000 individuals have signed the petition -- including yours truly.

I think, probably per his plan, Lt. Choi has become the lightning rod necessary to draw national attention and activism to this outdated policy and Obama's ongoing silence on the issue. And to those saying there is a process that has to happen ... at some point, the process has to go away in favor of the rights and livelihoods of the individuals that process is supposed to protect.

In other DADT news, an 18 year veteran of the Air Force (Lt. Col. Victor Fehrenbach) is also being discharged for his sexual orientation, while another Air Force major's lawsuit is moving forward against the military's policy -- which may force the US Government to lay out the reasons why it finds LGBT soldiers so harmful to service.

I think that's a court case I would like to see.

Call for California Vote Growing for 2010

The call to take Proposition 8 back to the voters in California in 2010 -- not 2012 -- is getting louder. A lot has been made of Gavin Newsom's decision to run for Governor of the state, but you can't beat him when it comes to simplicity of the message:

"The right time is now," San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom told ABC News. "And if that means going back in 2010, I couldn't be more supportive."

"Wait almost always means never," he added, invoking Martin Luther King Jr.

Fabulous. As to the mistakes that were made last time around, new leaders have emerged that are already planning changes (from the same story):

"People are not going to let the people who ran the last campaign run this campaign," Rick Jacobs [of the Courage Campaign] said.

To address voter concerns about the impact that state-sanctioned gay marriage could have on religious institutions, the Courage Campaign is considering possible ballot language that would guarantee the right of any two unrelated consenting adults to marry, while simultaneously stating that churches have a right to decide for themselves whom to marry...

To make its campaign more personal and accessible, the Courage Campaign has convened workshops around the state to teach activists to "tell their story" about why same-sex marriage is important to them...

In addition to wanting to improve outreach to African-Americans, Jacobs is convinced that the "No on Prop. 8" campaign erred by not showing gays or lesbians in any of its ads.

"There were no pictures of gay people. The ads were all about fairness," Jacobs said. "This time, we're going to make it clear you're talking about real people."

Not bad -- exciting to hear, although I can't help but feel a wee bit of disappointment that Ohio won't be the first state to, per the voters, overturn a Defense of Marriage Act in 2012...

...which, increasingly, is a goal I'm thinking we should take on.

All three of the people running for the Democratic nod in the 2010 gubernatorial -- Newsom, CA AG Jerry Brown, and LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa -- are supporters of same-sex marriage.

Courage Campaign -- Please Don't Divorce Us

I'm doing this partly to annoy JereKeys, but partly because I finally watched it. 

I give you, the Courage Campaign's "Please Don't Divorce Us" video.


"Fidelity": Don't Divorce... from Courage Campaign on Vimeo.

It's beautiful, it's sappy, it's touching, it's moving, it's everything that the anti-Prop 8 should have been, but no one was paying attention on that one.

You know, I've been making a lot of digs at the Prop8 stuff -- you'd think I was really pissed still. Mostly at myself, though, you know. Because we all lost that fight. None of us did enough. God knows I barely covered it. After all, I thought it would pass, too.