LGBTQ news and entertainment
By a vote of 285 to 272, British MPs have voted against possible military action against Syria to deter the use of chemical weapons.
David Cameron said it was clear the British Parliament does not want action and “I will act accordingly”.
The Obama administration is said to be weighing military options against Syria in response to reports Syria used chemical weapons against civilians.
(source)
At a San Antonio City Council meeting this week, anti-LGBT protestors booed U.S. Marine Corps veteran and openly gay man Eric Alva while he testified in support of extending the city’s nondiscrimination law to include sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, and veteran status.
The Dallas Voice reports:
At a prayer vigil outside City Hall before the meeting, about 300 people protested the proposed addition to San Antonio’s nondiscrimination law that would add protections for sexual orientation, gender identity and veteran status.
“Let them vote ‘no’ to this ordinance, and ‘yes’ to the reign of the kingdom of God,” Pastor Charles Flowers said at the rally.
About 200 people signed up to speak at the City Council meeting for and against the ordinance.
Alva, a Marine staff sergeant who became the first U.S. soldier injured in Iraq when he stepped on a landmine, was booed by the crowd when he spoke in favor of the ordinance. Alva lives in San Antonio.
“To all you people that preach the word of God, shame on you because God loves me, like the day I laid bleeding on the sands of Iraq and that’s why he saved me,” Alva said before he left the podium.
More at the Dallas Voice
I wrote about this last week, and now we get official word from the Pentagon:
The Pentagon plans to extend to legally married same-sex couples the same privileges and programs that are provided to legally married heterosexual couples, including benefits tied to health care and housing, the official said.
In addition, the official said that service members who are stationed in one of the 37 states where same-sex marriage is illegal will be offered up to 10 days of leave so they can travel to one of the 13 states, plus the District of Columbia, that grant same-sex marriage licenses. The Defense Department had earlier planned to permit same-sex spouses of military members to sign a declaration form in order to receive limited benefits, such as access to military stores and certain welfare programs, according to The Associated Press.
Implementation of the new policies could begin as early as next month.
(h/t JMG)
According to the Associated Press, the Pentagon is weighing the idea granting up to ten days leave to gay soldiers who need to travel to other states in order to legally marry:
According to a U.S. official, the memo is under legal review by the Justice Department, and the Pentagon will not be able to take any action until that review is finished. “Although we have bases and installations in all 50 states, not all state laws are equal when it comes to same-sex marriage,” a defense official said. “That is why we are looking at providing extra leave for same-sex couples who want to get married to travel to a state where same-sex marriages are legal.” The officials were not authorized to discuss the memo publicly, so spoke on condition of anonymity.
According to the AP, on-base housing and health care benefits may be offered to the legal spouses of gay soldiers by the end of August.
Air Force Major General Patricia Rose is now the highest ranking openly gay officer in the military after she was promoted May 31.
From OutServe-SLDN:
Rose’s promotion ceremony was held on May 31, led by her direct supervisor, General Janet Wolfenbarger, the first female four-star general in the United States Air Force. With a small crowd in attendance, Rose’s wife pinned her second star.
Rose is the Mobilization Assistant to the Commander, Air Force Materiel Command, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. A logistician, she’s served assignments in both aircraft maintenance and transportation in seven different commands. Her reserve assignments include command of the 36th Aerial Port Squadron at McChord AFB, Washington, where her squadron won the dual distinction of being selected for an Air Force Outstanding Unit Award and Air Mobility Command’s Total Force Air Reserve Component Aerial Port Unit of the Year.
Rose and Roth were legally married in their home state of Washington after marriage equality became legal in the state last year. When Rose earned her first star, she asked her friend and neighbor, Colonel Grethe Cammermeyer, to pin it in a private promotion ceremony. Cammermeyer, a fellow Washingtonian, was ejected from the Washington National Guard for admitting she was gay and became a prominent advocate for the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” Her story was told in the film “Serving in Silence.”
In her civilian capacity, Rose is the public relations and marketing director for a local hospital.
(source)
Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta on Monday announced he will extend to nearly the full extent permitted under current law the benefits available to gay and lesbian service members and their families.
OutServe-SLDN, the association of actively serving LGBT military personnel, has called on the Department of Defense to issue these benefits for more than two years.
“Secretary Panetta’s decision today answers the call President Obama issued in his inaugural address to complete our nation’s journey toward equality, acknowledging the equal service and equal sacrifice of our gay and lesbian service members and their families. We thank him for getting us a few steps closer to full equality – steps that will substantively improve the quality of life of gay and lesbian military families,” said Army Veteran and OutServe-SLDN Executive Director Allyson Robinson.
The package of recognition, support, and benefits – which includes the issuance of military identification cards, access to family support initiatives, and joint duty assignments – does not address the larger issues of health care, housing, and survivors’ benefits restricted by DOMA and other federal statutes. The Supreme Court is set to consider DOMA next month, and is expected to issue a ruling later this year.
From HRC: “Today, the Pentagon took a historic step forward toward righting the wrong of inequality in our armed forces, but there is still more work to be done. Gay and lesbian service members and their families make sacrifices every day, and this country owes them every measure of support we can provide. Since the repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ the Obama administration has shown true leadership on this issue. But even today, the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act makes inequality for gay and lesbian military families a legal requirement. It’s time to right this wrong. When the Supreme Court considers the constitutionality of DOMA in the coming weeks, they should take note of the real harm this law inflicts every day.”
Additional benefits for same-sex domestic partners include:
– Dependent ID cards, which will be renewed in accordance with existing policies
– Commissary privilges
– Morale, welfare, and recreation programs
– Surveys of military families
– Quadrennial quality of life review
– Emergency leave
– Emergency leave of absence
– Youth sponsorship program
– Youth programs
– Family center programs
– Sexual assault counseling program
– Joint duty assignments
– Exemption from hostile-fire areas
– Transportation to and from certain places of employment and on military installations
– Transportation to and from primary and secondary school for minor dependents
– Authority of service secretary to transport remains of a dependent
– Disability and death compensation: dependents of members held as captives
– Payments to missing persons
– Space-available travel on DoD aircraft
– Child care
– Legal assistance
(via press release)
Via press release: Outgoing Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta is expected this week to announce the long-delayed extension of support and benefits for gay and lesbian military families, according to reports.
Army Veteran and OutServe-SLDN Executive Director Allyson Robinson said today that the organization hopes Panetta will take full advantage of this final opportunity to act before leaving office.
“Secretary Panetta established a strong civil rights record long before taking office at the Pentagon, so his unwillingness to extend support and recognition to gay and lesbian service members and their families where it is clearly within his authority to do so has baffled many of us. We are hopeful that he will not take half-measures here; for him to grant anything less than the full extent of benefits available under current law would be an anticlimactic end to an otherwise exemplary record on civil rights,” said Robinson.
Read more here.
Two GOP U.S. Senators on Tuesday introduced legislation that would prohibit same-sex unions from being held on military bases.
Here’s the long and short of it:
Specifically, the bill would prohibit marriage or marriage-like ceremonies at military facilities that are not a union between one man and one woman.
“The Defense of Marriage Act remains law, and as policy changes are implemented by the Department of Defense, the statute must be followed,” Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss) said. “This legislation also protects the freedom of conscience of chaplains who are serving our nation in the Armed Forces.” The bill was also co-sponsored by Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.)
Last year, the Department of Defense authorized military chaplains to perform same-sex marriages in accordance with state law.
The authorization allows military chaplains to participate in ceremonies on or off military bases in states that recognize same-sex marriage.
The Department of Justice stopped defending DOMA in federal court actions after both President Obama and U. S. Attorney General Eric Holder last spring found the law to be unconstitutional.