Gen. David Petraeus says he is not sure that troops in the field care about the sexual orientation of fellow service members.
Military chiefs testify on ‘don’t ask’
Lawmakers planned to press the military’s top uniformed officers for the first time on whether they think repealing the ban on gays serving openly in the armed forces makes sense or would be too disruptive.
The testimony from each of the service chiefs on Capitol Hill during the week of Feb. 22 was to be crucial to the debate in Congress on whether to repeal the 17-year-old “don’t ask, don’t tell’’ law.
President Barack Obama says the policy unfairly punishes patriots who want to serve their country. Defense Secretary Robert Gates agrees and has begun a yearlong study on how to mitigate the impact of lifting the ban.
Providing much-needed political cover is the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, who has said he thinks the law unfairly forces gay troops to compromise their integrity by lying about who they are.
But lawmakers, who are divided on whether to end the ban, say they want to hear from the service chiefs. They are the ones who would be in charge of putting any changes in place and responding to any fallout.
Read more...R.I. House elects openly gay speaker
The Rhode Island House of Representatives elected its speaker Feb. 11 - openly gay state Rep. Gordon Fox, an attorney and former House majority leader.
Fox faced opposition from Rep. Robert Watson, the Republican minority leader, in the bid to succeed William Murphy.
Fox, first elected to the House in 1992, told the press that lawmakers must focus on creating jobs.
ACLU challenges California teacher
The American Civil Liberties Union is questioning the appropriateness of a Fresno, Calif., community college instructor who, citing the Bible, is teaching students that human life begins at conception, homosexuality is a mental illness and climate change was prophesized.
Bradley Lopez, the instructor at Fresno City College, teaches health science.
The ACLU maintains that if student reports on Lopez are accurate, he’s violated state laws banning bias based on sexual orientation and prohibiting religious indoctrination in public schools.
California teacher...S.D. lawmakers kill anti-bias bill
The vote on Feb. 16 was 8-4 and effectively killed the bill for 2010, according to leaders of Equality South Dakota, a statewide LGBT group.
Equality SD has nicknamed the lawmakers who voted against the bill the “Outrageous 8” and is encouraging its members to help defeat them in the upcoming election. Those who voted for the measure are nicknamed the “Courageous 4,” and Equality SD is working to return them to office.
N.M. senate committee tables partnership bill
The New Mexico Senate Finance Committee in mid-February tabled a domestic partnership bill.
While activists with Equality New Mexico expressed frustration with the vote, they welcomed an earlier vote in the New Mexico Senate Rules Committee. That vote rejected proposed legislation for a constitutional amendment against legalizing marriage for same-sex couples.
Opinion
Stay Connected
