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Today’s Top Headlines

Pentagon Report Says Gays Could Serve In Military With No Harm
Gay Rights Group Donates Legal Documents to Yale
Miami Beach Accused of Illegally Arresting Gay Man
Official Says Lesbians Can Be ‘Converted’ By Male Soldiers

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Joe Rehyansky, a former official at the Chattanooga, Tennessee, District Attorney’s office, recently penned an op-ed opposed to allowing gays in the military, in which he argued that lesbians should be allowed to serve in the armed forces, in part because it would give straight male soldiers a chance to “convert” them. The statement, which initially appeared at the Daily Caller but has since been removed, served as the apogee to an entirely controversial piece of writing, most of which still remains in the post.

Read the full story from the Huffington Post.

The American Civil Liberties Union claims in a new lawsuit that Miami Beach police illegally arrested a gay man and violated his civil rights. The lawsuit filed Monday in federal court seeks unspecified damages on behalf of Harold Strickland. Strickland was arrested in March 2009 after calling 911 to report that two officers were beating a handcuffed man near a local park. The ACLU contends Strickland was arrested in retaliation for making that call. The lawsuit also contends officers lied about how and why Strickland was arrested. The charges were later dropped by prosecutors.

Read the full story from the Associated Press.

A Boston-based group is donating 30 years’ worth of documents to Yale University that chart the legal campaign for gay rights in New England. Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders has pursued gay civil rights throughout the region since the group was founded in 1978. Its precedent-setting legal victories include bringing marriage equality to Massachusetts in 2004 and Connecticut in 2008. The group said Monday the donated materials include correspondence, legal documents and photographs from events spanning the HIV epidemic to the legalization of gay marriage in some states.

Read the full story from the Associated Press.

The Pentagon study that argues that gay troops could serve openly without hurting the military’s ability to fight is expected to re-ignite debate this month on Capitol Hill over repealing the 17-year-old “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. Officials familiar with the 10-month study’s results have said a clear majority of respondents don’t care if gays serve openly, with 70 percent predicting that lifting the ban would have positive, mixed or no results. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the findings hadn’t been released. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen, who have both said they support repealing the law, were scheduled to discuss the findings with Congress Tuesday morning and with reporters Tuesday afternoon.

Read the full story from the Huffington Post.

 

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Today’s Top Headlines

Poll Shows Most Americans Support Repeal of DADT
Leading Republican Doesn’t Think DADT Repeal Likely
Hundreds March in Delhi’s Gay Parade
Kenya’s Prime Minister Threatens Gay Arrests

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A day head of the Pentagon’s release of its internal study of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that bans gays from serving openly in the military, a new poll suggests that most Americans support repeal on the policy. Of those surveyed earlier this month by the Pew Research Center, 58 percent said they favored the military shifting its policy to allow gays to serve openly – about the same percentage who have supported a policy change in polls over the last five years. Twenty-seven percent said they opposed such a policy change.

Read the full story from Politico.

A gay rights activist has criticised Kenya’s prime minister for threatening a crackdown on homosexual people. David Kuria from the Gay and Lesbian Coalition of Kenya told the BBC that Raila Odinga’s comments would encourage people to extort money from gay and lesbian people. On Sunday, Mr Odinga warned that men or women found engaging in homosexual acts would be arrested. He later said he was only saying the constitution bans same-sex weddings. Mr Odinga was heavily involved in campaigning for the new constitution which was passed in a referendum in August.

Read the full story from the BBC.

Hundreds of people danced, sang and marched their way through central Delhi on Sunday as part of the third Gay Pride parade to take place in the city. People belonging to the gay, lesbian, transgender and bisexual communities wore masks and colourful scarves and carried flags and signs demanding improved rights for their communities. “It’s a celebration of the fact that the community is here, and it’s not a kind of complaining parade. I guess underneath it there is a kind of quiet demand for rights in various areas but today is really just about a celebration. We have survived, we are here and there’s work to be done, we recognise that, but we should also be able to party,” said Sunil Gupta, Photographer.

Read the full story from the Associated Press.

A leading Republican senator is playing down the chances that a repeal of the ban on gays serving openly in the military will pass during the lame-duck session of Congress. The Pentagon plans to release a survey on Tuesday that’s expected to show that a majority of troops don’t care if gays are allowed to serve openly in the armed services. The study is expected to set the stage for a Senate showdown between advocates of repealing the 17-year-old “don’t ask, don’t tell” law and a small but powerful group of foes. The House has passed repeal legislation.

Read the full story from Salon.

Today’s Top Headlines

Marine Pushback to Permitting Openly Gay Military
Close Ohio Gay-Rights Vote Mirrors National Debate
U.S. Appeals Ruling on Gay Air Force Major

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As expected, the Obama administration this week appealed a decision by a federal judge who ordered the reinstatement of an Air Force officer dismissed under the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy banning openly gay service members. But in a surprise move, government attorneys did not ask that the judge’s decision be stayed, which clears the way for Maj. Margaret Witt to rejoin the military while the case makes its way through the courts. The decision was greeted with joy by Witt and her attorneys at the American Civil Liberties Union, which interpreted the news to mean that she can rejoin the military even as the ban on openly gay service members remains.

Read the full story from the Washington Post.

Thirty years ago, a vote like the one just decided in this university town wouldn’t have happened; gay-rights activism hadn’t taken root across most of America. Thirty years hence, such votes may seem a historical curiosity in a time of equality for gays. Right now, though, the gay rights movement is at a tipping point, as epitomized by Bowling Green’s divisive referendum on extending anti-discrimination protections to gays. The vote was so close that it took three extra weeks to determine whether the two measures passed.

Read the full story from the Washington Post.

They are the few, the proud and perhaps the military’s biggest opponents of lifting the ban on openly gay troops. Most of those serving in America’s armed forces have no strong objections to repealing the “don’t ask, don’t tell” law, according to a Pentagon survey of 400,000 active duty and reservists that is scheduled for release Tuesday. But the survey found resistance to repealing the ban strongest among the Marines, according to the Washington Post. It’s an attitude apparently shared by their top leader, Commandant Gen. James Amos, who has said that the government should not lift the ban in wartime.

Read the full story the Associated Press.

 

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Today’s Top Headlines

Fox News Refuses to Air Anti-DADT Ad
New Organizations Added to Anti-Gay ‘Hate Groups’ List
Advocates Look for Partner Benefits in Orange County

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