Rod 2.0:Beta

DADT Amendment Gaining Traction in Senate, Reid Wants Full Repeal

Growing movement in the Senate on securing passage of the Hate Crimes Act—which passed the House on April 29 by 249-175—and an amendment that puts a moratorium "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" investigations and discharges.

Senate Judiciary Chair Patrick Leahy (D-VT) will add hate crimes legislation as an amendment to the Department of Defense re-authorization bill. AMERICAblog's Joe Sudbay has video with Judy Shepard discussing the Matthew Shepard Act.

Majority Leader Harry Reid (NV), seen here with Judy Shepard, mother of Matthew Shepard, was asked about the DoD re-authorization this afternoon. Chris Johnson at the Washington Blade asked the Leader if he supports Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand's (NY) introduction of an amendment that would put an 18-month moratorium on the discharge of gays serving in the military. Reid would take it a step further and tells the Blade: "I would support that. My only difference I would have is I would make it permanent."

I feel on this issue that we’re having trouble, we’re having trouble getting people into the military and I think that we shouldn’t turn down anybody that’s willing to fight for our country—certainly based on sexual orientation. I feel strongly that—I support the president. I support the members of the Joint Chiefs who have not spoken out publicly. If Kirsten offers this amendment I will support it.

A major departure by Reid, who only one month ago said the Senate would take action if the House and/or White House did something.

Kerry Eleveld at The Advocate: "A spokesman for Gillibrand said the New York Democrat 'wholeheartedly supports' full repeal of the military’s gay ban. 'This is one avenue she would consider pursuing if there is sufficient support, said Matt Canter. Which is still a big “if” at the moment since Gillibrand would have to find 60 votes over a two-week span in which the Senate is consumed with climate change legislation, health reform, and the confirmation hearings of U.S. Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor. But LGBT organizations generally favor the strategy."

What strategy, asks John Aravosis at AMERICAblog. "We'll need the whip list to know who is with us and who isn't. If there isn't even a whip list, then this isn't really a well thought out legislative strategy (although it may be a good political strategy for Gillibrand.) Also, a key question for those pushing the 18-month moratorium is whether it actually gets us additional votes. If it doesn't, then we're just compromising with ourselves."

AFTER THE JUMP, via the new AMERICAblog Gay, watch Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid discuss Gillibrand's amendment. Finally soem "leadership" from the Majority Leader on this issue.

New Surgeon General's Only Brother Died of HIV-Related Illness

When President Barack Obama nominated Dr. Regina Benjamin for the post of Surgeon General, there was considerable reason to be impressed with the credentials. The rural Alabama doctor won a MacArthur Foundation "genius grant" last year, became the first black woman to be president of a state medical society and the first black woman and the youngest doctor elected to the American Medical Association's board, etc. etc.. But this little-reported biographical data point from Dr. Benjamin's remarks at the White House were most impressive:

Public health issues are very personal to me. My father died with diabetes and hypertension. My older brother, and only sibling, died at age 44 of HIV-related illness. My mother died of lung cancer, because as a young girl, she wanted to smoke just like her twin brother could. My Uncle Buddy, my mother's twin, who's one of the few surviving black World War II prisoners of war, is at home right now, on oxygen, struggling for each breath because of the years of smoking.

Very promising that the next Surgeon General has a personal and immediate understanding of HIV. HIV/AIDS has dramatically increased in the inner cities and the South. Black gay men are the most likely to become infected with the virus. Those numbers are unfortinately increasing.

Dr. Regina Benjamin's nomination for surgeon general requires Senate confirmation. She is almost certainly to be confirmed.

26 AIDS Activists Arrested in Capitol Hill Needle Exchange Protest

UPDATE: John Aravosis at AMERICAblog reports the "White House website pledge to support repeal of the federal ban on needle exchange appears to be gone."

Can't say you didn't see this coming. Capitol Hill Police arrest 26 HIV/AIDS who shut down the Capitol Rotunda to protest the Obama Administration's reversal on campaign promises to overturn the ban on funding needle exchange programs.

[Police] said the group entered the rotunda, located beneath the Capitol dome, and linked themselves together with a white chain at about 10 a.m. The area is usually crowded with tourists, but police restricted the traffic while they made arrests. The activists carried signs in support of funding for needle exchange, HIV/AIDS housing and programs aimed at fighting AIDS. They chanted, "Fight global AIDS now," and, "Clean needles save lives." They marched in a circle before lying down on the floor.

Omolola Adele-Oso of DC Fights Back questioned why lawmakers were bailing out financial institutions instead of devoting more dollars to AIDS programs. "HIV is not in a recession," Adele-Oso said in a written statement from the coalition about the demonstration.

As soon as two weeks after the election of President Barack Obama, Rod 2.0 reported the new Administration was backing away from campaign promises to overturn the ban. In May, the Administration reversed itself and banned federal funding for needle exchange programs in the FY 2010 budget this year.

Far from a recession, HIV/AIDS has dramatically increased in the inner cities and the South. Black gay men are the most likely to become infected with the virus. Perhaps the White House and Congress are just waiting for a "better time" and are "too busy" to fund needle exchange programs "now"?

Russian Gay Activists Cancel Obama Moscow Protest

The protest scheduled today by Russian gay activists supporting gay rights and same-sex marriage—in the United States and Russia—in front of the United States Embassy has been canceled due to safety concerns, Reuters reports.

City authorities said last week they had refused a request by gay activists to protest because they said another group had already booked the area in front of the U.S. embassy and that most Muscovites were against the demonstration. [...]

Activists, though, said they would protest anyway, running the risk of clashes with police. But Monday Nikolai Alexeyev, one of their leaders, said they had canceled the protest. "In the context of another unlawful ban by the authorities on a public event as well as the special measures taken in the Russian capital during the visit by U.S. President Barack Obama, we have decided to cancel the event due to concerns over the safety of our members," he said in a statement.

President Barack Obama arrived in Moscow on Monday. There is very high security throughout the Russian capital.

Russia has been criticized by the State Department for its widespread human rights violations. This includes repressive anti-gay measures that are often state-sponsored, such as the Moscow's riot police violent dispersal of a gay rights protest in June.

Some Background...
Russian Gay Activists to Protest Obama in Moscow [R20]
Riot Police Violently Break Up Moscow Gay Pride Rally [R20]
State Department Criticizes Jamaica and Nigeria for "Widespread" Human Rights Violations of Gays [R20]

WaPo's Kurtz: "Can Black Women Objectively Cover Michelle Obama?"

Washington Post columnist and media "reporter" Howard Kurtz continues to shock and awe with a lack of self-awareness in his latest column.

Kurtz reports on the number of black female reporters following First Lady Michelle Obama and admits that "no one raises questions when an Irish American male reporter covers a pol named Murph"  but yet still writes a two-page column asking, "Obama is a black woman from the South Side of Chicago [and] are the beat reporters inadvertently invested in her success?"

Rachel Swarns of the New York Times and The Washington Post's Robin Givhan were among those herded behind the rope Monday. They and the other main beat reporters -- Newsweek's Allison Samuels, Darlene Superville of the Associated Press and Politico's Nia-Malika Henderson -- have something in common: They are all African American women.

Perhaps this gives them a richer cultural understanding of Obama as a trailblazer. Indeed, most write with enthusiasm, in some cases even admiration, about the first lady as a long-awaited role model for black women. [...] Whether racial and gender identification produces a gauzier, more favorable portrayal of Obama is perhaps too early to judge.

Washington Post reporter Robin Givhan won the Pulitzer Prize in 2006, becoming the first fashion critic to do so. Kurtz, who has no Pulitzer, neglected to mention this data point.

Adam Serwer at Tapped: "You would never ever see a media critic like Kurtz questioning the ability of white men to cover other white men objectively, or for that matter the ability of white men to cover women or people of color, despite the fact that if newsroom coverage were to be affected, it would be by the prevailing cultural biases of the better represented population in the newsroom."

You will also never see media critic Howard Kurtz report on the scandal at his own newspaper after the publisher offered to sell "off-the-record" chats with reporters and Administration officials. Can rich, white, male corporate "reporters" "objectively" cover the nation's health and economic woes, Howie?

Report: HHS Revises Caseload Data Due to HIV Travel Ban Rule

Politico publishes an interesting, behind-the-scenes report on the Obama Administration's decision to change HIV-related travel and immigration policy. The "Under the Radar" blog reports the Department of Health and Human Services "put forward and then retracted some scary-looking estimates of new HIV infections."

The new version of the proposal goes online today and Politico compares the two proposal. The revised data estimates the number of immigrants living in the U.S. with HIV after five years as 676. The original estimates the number after 20 years—a whopping 37,780 new HIV cases. "Calculating 20 years out obviously had made the cost higher, too ... over $952 million, or what critics could easily call 'nearly $1 billion.' "

Good thinking on the Administration's part, especially with the "health care" reform on the menu. Last thing we need are conservatives attempting to derail repealing the HIV travel ban because it would be "too expensive."

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Log Cabin Republicans "Blast" Obama for "Throwing a Pride Party"

After ignoring and defending the anti-legacy of the Bush-Cheney Administration for eight years, the capitals gains tax cut-obsessed queens at the Log Cabin Republicans continue their march toward irrelevance and "blast" the Obama Administration for "throwing a Pride Party.' Priceless.

"President Obama's comments smack of a lack of authenticity and true understanding of the issues that face our community,” states Terry Hamilton, Chairman of the Board of Log Cabin Republicans.

"While the President draws attention to advances resulting from the Stonewall Riots 40 years ago, LGBT Americans are still being denied the most basic protections on his watch today. Under the direct order of his appointees, mission-critical gays and lesbians are still being kicked out of the military, families are being torn apart due to unjust immigration laws and life-long partners are still not being recognized in family planning matters."

Log Cabin Republicans spokesperson, Charles T. Moran makes the following statement: "It is pretty entertaining to watch the President throw himself a "Pride Party" after taking a pass on acting upon several issues that would have fulfilled his promises to our Community. He seems to be proud of advances made by the LGBT Community that he had nothing to do with.”

Funny. Don't recall any angry emails from the gay Republicans "blasting" the Bush Administration for gay-bashing their way to the midterm elections by proposing a marriage amendment.  There were quite a few "entertaining" press releases defending John McCain and Sarah Palin after they supported Proposition 8, objected to the right of gay couples to adopt children, and spoke out against the gay "lifestyle", among other things.

Lt. Dan Choi Recommended For Discharge, Vows to Keep Fighting

Lt. Dan Choi, the Army National Guardsman and Arabic translator who openly challenged the military's failed "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy after coming out on MSNBC's Rachel Maddow, has been recommended for discharge.

The Federal Recognition Board's findings were despite the fact "every witness on both sides" testified the West Point graduate and decorated Iraqi combat officer was an asset to his unit. Choi vows to take his fight all the way to the Secretary of Defense and the the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary.

Choi's dismissal comes on the same day Defense Secretary Robert Gates claims the Pentagon hopes to make DADT investigations more "humane." WHEN YOU JUMP, watch MSNBC's report on Choi's dismissal. Also watch the Rachel Maddow segment where this West Point graduate came out and risked his military career. Lt, Dan Choi, another highly decorated and "humane" casualty of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"

Gates: Pentagon "Looking for Flexibility" in "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"

Apparently the pressure on the White House is working. Less than 24 hours after Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said there would be no change in the implementation of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and President Obama said the only solution was a legislative solution, Defense Secretary Robert Gates now signals the Pentagon is "looking for flexibility" to apply the law.

The Pentagon boss said he discussed the issue last week with US President Barack Obama and that there also has been discussion among senior military and legal counsel about possible changes in how they apply the law, which he described as "very restrictive." Gates added: "What I discovered when I got into it was it's a very restrictive law. It doesn't leave much to the imagination, or a lot of flexibility."

The defense secretary said one possible modification might be consider the circumstances under which a service member is "outed" in determining whether or not he or she must leave the military. Gates offered as an example "when we're given information from someone with vengeance in mind or blackmail, somebody who has been jilted. "If somebody is outed by a third party, does that force us to take action?" he said. "That's the kind of thing we're looking at -- seeing if there's a more humane way to apply the law until it gets changed."

Gates' surprising new announcement contradicts White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, who said yesterday on MSNBC the President "hasn't, himself, been involved in meetings with the Pentagon."

The welcome policy shift signaled by Gates could potentially save many careers. Some experts on "Don't Ask, Don't Tell", the failed policy that prevents gays from serving openly, have estimated a majority of servicemembers' "outings" are brought by jilted lovers.

Last week, some seventy-seven congressmen sent a letter to the President urging him "to take immediate action" and stop DADT investigations. Also last week, the Center for American Progress produced a set of recommendations for the White House to begin ending DADT. The Administration rebuffed both of these.

Thanks RAVENBACK!

Solis Criticizes Defacing of Gay Pride Posters at Labor Dept.

Last week, Labor Secretary Hilda Solis issued a stern departmental warning letter after office posters celebrating LGBT Pride Month "hanging in 35 department elevators since June 22 [were] either defaced or removed," the New York Times reports. Solis, who helped found the House’s LGBT Caucus, writes she was "particularly pleased to have the opportunity to be the first Secretary in the department’s history to publicly recognize Pride Month."

"It appears, however, that some members of the Labor Department team have a different view, as it has come to my attention that most of the posters have been continually defaced or removed. On several occasions, even the poster frames have been torn completely off the elevator walls. [...] I do not believe these actions represent the majority of our employees, so I refuse to let this situation define us. But I do want to make myself absolutely clear: Respect for others is non-negotiable at the U.S. Department of Labor."

The Secretary adds the gay Pride posters will be "immediately" replaced if they are damaged or removed.

While in Congress representing California's 32nd District (East Los Angeles), Hilda Solis had 100% rating by the Human Rights Campaign on LGBT issues.

(via Think Progress)

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