ACTION ALERT: It’s Time To End DADT
16 February 2010 8:34 am by Taylor Marsh
“I’m reluctant to second-guess the military in this regard. When the chiefs come forward and say, ‘We think we can do it,’ then it strikes me that it’s — it’s time to reconsider the policy.” – Dick Cheney, former vice president
Candidate Obama pledged to do it. Pres. Obama promised to do it, renewing his promise at the State of the Union. Enough talk, it’s time for action. But it’s obvious good people won’t do the right thing unless pushed; that is pushed even harder, as people have been clamoring that Obama act for over a year now.
The picture here is the F-15E Strike Eagle, what Lt. Col. Fehrenbach has been flying since 1998, an American hero facing a military discharge and loss of his pension for being gay. My uncle Dick, a WWII pilot, would not be pleased.
John Aravosis and Joe Subday are leading a blog swarm today, with a message to the Human Right’s Campaign. TM.com is joining in.
As long-timers around here know, I very seldom ask for you to make calls or send emails. This is one instance where I’m asking every single person to reach out to the HRC. We all need to bring all pressure to bear on Pres. Obama.
It’s time for Barack Obama to put action where his words have been for over a year, with never ending promises, but no concrete action from him.
From John Aravosis and my friend Joe Subday:
OUR MESSAGE TO HRC IS SIMPLE:
Publicly demand that President Obama take the lead in getting DADT repealed this year.
1) That means the President needs to state publicly that he wants Congress to repeal DADT this year; and
2) The President needs to take the lead in working with Congress to make sure the repeal happens.
HRC Front Desk: (202) 628-4160
TTY: (202) 216-1572
Toll-Free: (800) 777-4723
HRC Web site and comment page.
General membership email at hrc: membership@hrc.org
Other new media organizations and individuals joining in the DADT blog swarm include Joe Sudbay and John Aravosis, AMERICAblog; Pam Spaulding, Pam’s House Blend; Michelangelo Signorile, Sirius OutQ & the Gist; Markos Moulitsas, DailyKos; Andy Towle, TowleRoad; Joe Jervis, Joe My God; BIll Browning, Bilerico; and Dan Savage, Slog.
This is for Lieutenant Colonel Victor J. Fehrenbach, a 25 million-dollar hero.
Lieutenant Colonel Victor J. Fehrenbach a fighter weapons systems officer, has been flying the F-15E Strike Eagle (pictured above) since 1998. He has flown numerous missions against Taliban and al-Qaida targets, including the longest combat mission in his squadron’s history. On that infamous September 11, 2001, Lt. Col. Fehrenbach was handpicked to fly sorties above the nation’s capital. Later he flew combat missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. He has received at least 30 awards and decorations including nine air medals, one of them for heroism, as well as campaign medals for Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Iraq. He is now a flight instructor in Idaho, where he has passed on his skills to more than 300 future Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force weapons systems officers. Aubrey Sarvis, Executive Director of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network
Fehrenback represents to me all the other gay men and women who serve our country, including in support positions, all of whom deserve to walk proudly for who they are without being asked to hide in shame.
If a person can put their life on the line for our country, they deserve to serve openly.
Call, email and contact HRC today. Then tell two friends to do the same. Tweet this post, whatever you can to join in.
Do it for our military, who deserves to have the best of the best standing on the line for this country.
Thanks so much for posting this, Taylor. DADT (and the usually unmentioned, Don’t Pursue) has been a key focus for me, and for many others, for years. Pressuring Obama the “fierce advocate” is extremely important. I think Servicemembers Legal Defense Network is an excellent resource. But the push on HRC is very important, since that organization has the biggest “insider” status, and like many insiders, frequently needs a shove to worry less about access and more about advocacy.
You bet, Joyce, proud to join in.
EVERYONE contact HRC. It’s an easy email. Please do it today.
Taylor, I have been calling HRC since 2008. They are bought and paid for by the administration. They are no longer an advocacy for LGBT. They are an advocacy for the administration directed at LGBT.
Same thing for the Advocate. I have had many of my comments deleted there when they were critical of Dems or Obama, and yet nasty bigotted comments get left up. LGBT no longer has any real organizations left, and I think I could say the same for the left. All have been co-opted by Obama for America.
Just wish we didn’t still have to be fighting about DADT. It’s just common sense that qualified, dedicated people should be able to serve openly.
Joanne Bamberger aka PunditMom
http://www.punditmom.com
Heya Mawm. That’s the problem w/ many groups & think tanks that depend on Dems for their very air. At least will make their priorities clearer.
Heya punditmom, nice to hear from you. Any time you want feel free to post one of your pieces In the News. It’s easy and open to anyone:
http://www.taylormarsh.com/in-the-news/
Mawm says:
16 February 2010 at 10:18 am
Taylor, I have been calling HRC since 2008. They are bought and paid for by the administration.
Unfortunately I think this is accurate. I’ve been calling HRC for more years than I can remember, and the shift to “insider,” DNC “affiliate” has become more and more evident. It’s one reason I mention Servicemembers Legal Defense Network as another option. But HRC is still the organization with the biggest numbers, and if enough people will contact them with the DADT message in Taylor’s post, they might actually have to respond.
More of this silly idea that phone calls and emails make a difference – they don’t.
I’m curious, what “pressure” can HRC apply on politicians? What will they do tell the President they’re upset or unhappy? The President doesn’t already know this?
For politicians, LGBT-issues are not negotiable. They are based on the beliefs of their constituents. The 111th Congress never had enough pro-LGBT members to pass anything. Phone calls, emails, marches and now HRC wagging their well-funded finger at them will accomplish NOTHING.
The lesson from this “Blog Swarm” will be the realization that HRC has NO influence on LGBT-related legislation and neither do we.
There is no political solution to LGBT issues. The sooner we learn that, the sooner we focus on the real work of creating equality.
Obama knows the repeal of DADT is not possible with the Congress and all he promised was to “work with the Congress.” Dick Cheney didn’t say he supported the repeal of DADT, either. He said he was listening to the military and that the policy should be “reviewed.” Welcome to many years of review, not repeal.
The votes are not there for the repeal of DADT or DOMA or ENDA. They never were there. You can lobby, shame and harass all you want – it doesn’t work.
The lesson from this “Blog Swarm” will be the realization that HRC has NO influence on LGBT-related legislation…
If that is learned it will be worth the effort, which, let me add would not surprise me in the least.
The reason I joined in, which I rarely if ever do on action items, is first because of the issue. Secondly, John Aravosis and I were involved in a little event back in the mid-1990s, though we didn’t meet or know it at the time. I was living in LA when John was part of the Get Dr. Laura Off TV campaign, when I was writing for the LA Weekly. John, along with many others, put enough pressure to get her TV show canned.
Since that time Aravosis has led other “silly idea” campaigns THAT HAVE WORKED. He’s got a track record, is tenacious, and he and Joe Subday are movement activists I willingly follow on this one.
As for Obama, I’ve never had any doubt that his “support” for gays and lesbians was lip service. I knew it before most.
Well, I guess it never hurts to try BUT I seriously doubt that the repeal of DADT will happen under Obama. As I understand it, he could repeal it with an executive order and has failed to do so. There is oe group that Obama will NEVER upset and it’s the evangelicals if you have noticed. Everbody is still waiting for Obama to repeal that conscience clause and he still hasn’t done it. What does that tell you? The conscience clause is way less controversial and easier to undo than DADT.
I’ve been involved in LGBT advocacy campaigns, organizations (local, state, national), etc., for over 30 years. Steps forward, usually very small, come after years of work by many people. It took, for example, more than ten years to get “sexual orientation and gender identity” added to the Nashville non-discrimination code, and the beginning of that period was based on 20+ years of previous incremental steps.
I did not believe campaigner Obama regarding his promises to the LGBT communities. The hate crimes legislation that has become law wasn’t because he or his administration did anything remotely “fierce,” but because for many years many individuals, often but not always through organizations, simply kept pushing. That’s the only way — people who keep pushing — that changes will come in DADT, ENDA, DOMA.
So like many others, I keep pushing HRC; I keep pushing elected elites at every level. I’ve heard from politicians / elected at every level, who reached out to LGBT communities during campaigns, the same, tired, “This just isn’t a good time. Of course we’d like to help you out, but you understand, politically, I have to wait until after this next election; until my next term. By the way, please contribute to my campaign in the meantime.”
I expect very little from Obama, and not much more from HRC. But that doesn’t mean I’ll quit pushing. And I’m always looking for other ideas, so please, if anyone has suggestions, let us hear them.