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Boxer-Clinton: A bad proposal for election reform

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Joined by Senator John Kerry, the Democratic junior Senators of the two largest “blue” states, California’s Barbara Boxer and New York’s Hillary Rodham Clinton proposed “The County Every Vote Act” a bill for electoral reform, which would, among other things, allow felons to vote.
My friend Rick Sincere has just posted an excellent piece on his blog showing why, as he puts it, this bill is so bad in so many ways. Rick is particularly suited to write on this topic. Having run for office on the Libertarian ticket, he has learned the hard way about the problems “third-party” candidates face in our electoral system. And he currently serves as chairman of the Charlottesville, Virginia Electoral Board.
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DADT: “One of the great injustices and follies of our time”

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In my post on the misguided Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell policy, I promised to forward the post to a lawyer friend of mine for comment. Here’s his response:

The Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Don’t Pursue, Don’t Harass policy is an amalgam of statutes, executive orders, and military regulations. A comprehensive guide to it can be found in a very lengthy yet very helpful document available at SLDN. The answers to the specific questions raised by your blog post are (a) the policy applies equally to officers and enlisted personnel, (b) the policy has no wiggle room to distinguish between combat and non-combat roles, and no wiggle room to distinguish between “auxiliary” and non-auxiliary roles.
The basic governing statute is 10 U.S.C. ? 654. [reproduced under “READ MORE”] You will probably find its harshness shocking. Unfortunately, there are other documents (executive orders and regs) one must consult for all of the express language of all of the governing legal rules, but Section 654 should tell you what you want to know for present purposes.
. . . . I do think this is one of the truly great injustices and follies of our time . . . . [Y]ou should tout the great work of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network.

I agree. DADT is one of the truly great injustices and follies of out time.
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Why, knowing what we know about AIDS, do gay men continue to play unsafe?

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Like every gay man I’ve met, I know about the risks of unsafe sex and how to protect myself against contracting HIV. In the 1990s, I assumed that all single gay men practiced safe sex and that those who became infected during that period had just been plain unlucky. Either the condom broke or some other mishap negated its effectiveness. It never occurred to me, knowing what we know about how the virus is spread, that a gay man, particularly an intelligent one, would not take proper precautions. It made sense to assume that all gay men played safe.
But, at the end of the decade, friends starting telling me about times when they played “unsafe.” And in many cases, the indiscretion occurred not with somehow they knew, but with a random hookup. In some cases, the guys had been high on drugs. Others got lost in the moment. But, in some cases, both men were fully conscious of what they were doing. An online “chat buddy” (whom I never met) confided that he contracted the virus when he allowed a guy he met at a bar to penetrate him without protection; the guy had assured him he was negative.
When I moved to LA in 1999, I soon learned that unsafe practices, while not the rule, were certainly not the exception. A friend related how one man pursued him for several months online, but [the pursuer] stopped chatting with him when he [the friend] made clear that he only played safe. I kept hearing stories of unsafe sex that, at one point, it seemed I was the only man in West Hollywood who had never played unsafe. Thankfully, I have learned that I am not alone. Many, if not most, gay men continue to play safe.
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Modify Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell to allow gays to serve as linguists

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In a post today noting that despite “untranslated terrorist intercepts . . . posing a significant security threat to the United States,” Christian Grantham notes that the federal government continues to discharge gay linguists under Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.
Christian is right to ask:

why is the political agenda of discrimination against gay and lesbian Americans taking priority over tracking down these terrorists? Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is a clear danger to the national security interests of the United States of America.

I urge the President to either move for an immediate repeal of this misguided law or, at the very least, ask government lawyers to try to interpret the law to allow openly gay members to serve the military in such “auxiliary” roles as translators. I’m no expert on military law nor am I familiar with the wording of the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell legislation, but perhaps its language offers wiggle room for individuals serving in non-combat roles. (I’ll be forwarding this post to a lawyer friend of mine to solicit his comments.)
If that’s not possible, then we have former President Clinton to blame for this situation. Before he signed Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, the ban on gays in the military was administrative policy not an actual law. The president could have overturned — or modified — the policy with the stroke of a pen. Had Clinton not signed the bill, President Bush could merely have issued an executive order exempting linguists from the gay ban.
Perhaps some Congressman or Senator should introduce a bill which would limit the application of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell to enlisted personnel. Or modify the law so that it does not apply to linguists. Gay activists may complain that such legislation would not go far enough and demand instead an outright repeal of the law. They would be right that this proposal doesn’t go far enough, but in opposing this modification, they would be making the perfect the enemy of the good.
While I daresay this Congress would not repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, it might consider a few minor changes. In pushing for these changes, we need to promote them as part of the War on Terror. To show how allowing gays to serve in the military — even in this limited capacity — would help defend our nation against terrorist attacks and so further our national security.
-Dan (AKA GayPatriotWest): GayPatriotWest@aol.com

GP On Gannongate

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Heh. I wasn’t sure what “category” to even put this in. I’m certainly not creating one for this bizarre story.
I wanted to draw your attention to this Jonah Goldberg posting over at The Corner. I agree with Jonah, this is a well-thought out position from the left that doesn’t involve digging into someone’s personal life and exploiting it.
Now… drum roll please…. while I think the obsession with this story is overblown, especially to the slander committed by Eason Jordan against our troops in a time of war (maybe Jordan wants to run for Prez in 30 years? It worked for Kerry)….
I hereby say that allowing Gannon access to the White House Press Room was stupid, sloppy and dangerous. Who knows who is responsible, or was asleep at the wheel. If all the blame lies with the Secret Service or other fail-safe measures, I’d like to know.
If in fact this was some Republican media plant in the White House, then this is very stupid and reckless and someone in the Bush White House should be held accountable.
There, I’m done for a while until we find out Gannon had connections to an al-Qaeda prostitution ring… then I’ll have a stroke.
-GayPatriot: gaypatriot2004@aol.com

Physicians and Public Favor Mandatory HIV Testing

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A new survey was published yesterday by HCD Research showing that a large majority of physicians and the general public favor MANDATORY HIV testing.

The survey revealed that among the general public:
— 63% of Americans believe that mandatory, federally funded HIV testing would improve the overall health of the U.S. population
— 60% indicated that the associated health care benefits of mandatory, federally funded HIV testing outweigh the social implications
— 40% indicated that the social implications of mandatory, federally funded HIV testing outweigh the associated health care benefits

Hat tip on this one goes to Charging Rhino. And Ted has his own very strong thoughts on the prospects.

First comes the “mandatory testing”.
Next comes the databases.
Followed by armed raids, and “…rounding up the usual suspects”.
From there it’s tattoos and “legal” sanctions.
Then the “camps”.
…From my cold, dead hands.

Well, I’m not so sure. I haven’t had to think about this…. so I’d like to open up to comments and see what y’all think. This is a toughie.
Also, an enterprising reader might want to find out more about HCD Research. Follow the money, as they say…
-GayPatriot: gaypatriot2004@aol.com

Are Democrats Turning on Gay Community?

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I noticed these two items at BoiFromTroy today…
Senator Offers Limited Apology – Hartford Courant

“It’s a sickness, I think,” Colapietro said in a story about same-sex marriage published Saturday by his local newspaper, the Bristol Press. “It’s not a cure for the sickness allowing them to marry.”
Colapietro was quickly criticized on an Internet bulletin board devoted to Bristol-area politics and in person Monday during a conversation with Sen. Andrew McDonald, D-Stamford, who is gay.
“I feel bad they took the word `sick’ as derogatory,” Colapietro said Monday. “It wasn’t meant that way.”

That reminds me of the Jessica Rabbit line…. “I’m not bad, I was just drawn that way.” So I guess I’m gay, but not sick… because he didn’t mean it that way? How else would one take that other than derogatory. I mean clearly his apology didn’t mean he found gay salvation over the weekend. It means he found CYA.
Then there’s this number from Pennsylvania State Representative Thomas Yewcic: Pennsylvania lawmaker wants repeal of pro-gay protections — the Advocate.

A Pennsylvania lawmaker has proposed a bill that would remove a section from Pennsylvania’s hate-crime laws that bans harassment based on sexual orientation. Democratic state representative Thomas Yewcic of Cambria said he filed the bill in response to the arrest of five evangelical Christian protesters at a gay pride festival in Philadelphia. The five were charged with violating Pennsylvania’s Ethnic Intimidation Act when they disrupted the event with a bullhorn preaching that homosexuality is a sin. The Repent America demonstrators resisted a police order to pull back, and police said they were concerned about possible violence.

Now, he is probably right and even some of the pro-gay groups in Pennsylvania question the validity of using this law to squelch free speech. After all, if you applied it to ACT-UP I would imagine throwing batteries and condoms at some one might be a bit worse than telling someone they are a sinner. We are all sinners, after all, no?
But wouldn’t you have expected these comments and initiatives to becoming from conservative Republicans, not Democrats?
Verrrrry interesting. I will keep a watch on this potential trend.
-GayPatriot: gaypatriot2004@aol.com

“Gannongate”–there’s not much there there

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After reading GP’s piece on “Gannogate,” I didn’t think I needed to blog on the topic. I thought he had said all that needed be said on the topic, especially his point (which, I believe, is the only media-worthy issue in this story):

. . . if this guy was in fact a job-drifter and possible male prostitute (!!!) then what on earth was the White House thinking in giving him a press pass and access to the White House in this day and age of terrorism?

But, alas, leftist and gay blogs won’t leave the story alone. Even the WASHINGTON POST‘s media critic Howard Kurtz and the Media Research Center‘s Tim Graham have weighed in.
What has really offended me about this whole situation is the pretension of those on the left, notably Americablog’s John Aravosis who, as I understand, broke the story. Somehow, like Michelangelo Signorile in 2001, he thought it his business to publish salacious details about a gay conservative. Back then, Signorile published details about a contact ad Andrew Sullivan had placed on a gay website.
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Gay activists–hating Republicans more than they support gay marriage?

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If you read the gay press, you’ll find much bellyaching about New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s filing an appeal of a judge’s decision demanding that the city grant marriage licenses to gay couples. N.Y. State Senator Tom Duane, a longtime gay activist, called the mayor a “coward” while most of the Democrats vying to oppose him in the fall election have been tripping over themselves in order to denounce this Repubican.
And these very Democrats and gay activists forget to mention that this good man believes the issue of gay marriage is “better resolved in the Legislature, where he pledged his help in pushing the issue, rather than the courts.” Yep, we’ve got a Republican Mayor willing to promote gay marriage in the state legislature. But, because he doesn’t think courts should decide this issue, a gay activist has called him a “coward.”
And while those on the left can’t cease their bellyaching about this Republican, they don’t have the stomach to take on Democrats who have the same or similar stand on gay marriage. Indeed, they eagerly supported John Kerry’s bid for the White House even as that Democrat claimed to have fundamentally the same position on gay marriage as President Bush. Indeed, these activists have backed many a Democrat who are less open to gay marriage than the Big Apple’s Republican Mayor.
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Why NGLTF doesn’t get people of faith

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In a statement last week, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF) once again showed why gay groups are making little headway in reaching out to “red-state” Americans, particularly people of faith.
Although the statement is titled Articles of Faith: Reframing Issues of Religion, Public Policy, and the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Community, NGTLF’s Religious Leadership Roundtable does not itself reframe such issues, but instead seems to be insisting that its opponents should be the ones reframing the issues:

Faced with the long history of societal, legal, and religious change in favor of greater freedom and equality, the burden of proof rests on those who oppose equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people

It seems far-fetched for the organization promoting change to insist that the burden of proof falls on those defending the status quo. No, it’s up to us to make the case for change. It’s one reason I have been promoting gay monogamy on this site. If we want social (including religious) institutions to recognize our unions, we need to make clear that we are willing to accept the same conditions attached to traditional marriage.
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Join GPW at Log Cabin/LA’s March 28 dinner

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On behalf of the blog, I have reserved a table at the March 28 Dinner of the Log Cabin Republicans of Los Angeles at the Wyndam Bel Age Hotel in West Hollywood. Ben Stein, one of my favorite Hollywood writers, will be speaking.
If you’d like to join me at the this event, please send an e-mail to hold a place: GayPatriotWest@aol.com. Tickets are $50 a piece ($10 less than if you reserved directly through Log Cabin/LA).
-Dan (aka GayPatriotWest): GayPatriotWest@aol.com

LCR fails to tell truth about president’s record on gays

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As the amount of hate mail that GP and I receive has increased of late, I wondered what, if anything, Log Cabin has done to take issue with the mean-spirited anti-Republican comments in the gay media. While so many hate us for supporting President Bush, last night as I worked on my piece, Republican Parents of Lesbians, I realized once again how mixed this Administration’s record on gay is.
And yet while the record is mixed, the impression we get from our gay peers, from the gay media and even from the largest gay Republican group with a full-time office in Washington is that President Bush and his Administration are extremely anti-gay. To be sure, he — and some of his appointees — have done several troubling things. He has backed the Federal Marriage Amendment. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings singled out for criticism one episode (of a PBS television program her department funded) featuring a same-sex couples.
That said, the Clinton Administration also had a mixed record on gays and yet gay activists go ga-ga over the man. Just like his successor, Bill Clinton did some very troubling things. The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) refused to rescind its endorsement of that Democrat in 1996 when, in the dead of the night, he signed the Defense of Marriage Act into law.
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Valentine’s Day Open Thread–How’d you meet your schweetie?

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For those of us lacking a schweetie (my term for significant other) on Valentine’s Day, I ask that those partnered Patriot fans to write in and share stories of how they met their schweetie. Register a comment below or drop me a line here.
I have found that it is difficult to meet other gay men who seek long-term monogamous relationships and want to learn ways to face this challenge. What can those single ones of us do so that we will not be celebrating Valentine’s Day alone again next year?
Thanks and Happy Valentine’s Day!

Republican parents of lesbians

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Once again, I am grateful to Christian Grantham’s blog for alerting me to important happenings in the gay world. Just last week, he posted two items on conflicting attitudes of two different Republican parents of lesbians. Fortunately, the one with the better attitude has an office in the White House, while the other ran well behind the president in his bid for elective office in a “blue state.”
Christian reported that Alan Keyes, a three-time loser in his bid for Senate seats in Maryland and Illinois, kicked his lesbian daughter out of the house. He also noted that America’s Second Lady, the wise and classy Lynne Cheney, opposes an amendment to the constitution banning gay marriage.
While in my previous post, I agreed strongly with one of Christian’s, this time I’m afraid I have to disagree with that hard-working blogger and web guru. He suggests that Dr. Keyes who ran 17 points behind the president in Illinois represents the “compassionate conservatism of Republicans.” While I believe the president is wrong to back a constitutional amendment defining marriage, he better represents the face of the real Republican party than does Alan Keyes.
This president has refused to cave in to the demands of social conservatives that he rescind a Clinton-era Executive Order barring discrimination against gays in the federal workforce. He believes states should be left alone to decide whether or not to recognize same-sex civil unions. His Vice President (and some say, his closest political advisor) has been open about his disagreement with the president on the marriage amendment. And once again, the Vice President’s wife has made public her opposition to the amendment.
Not only that. This president allowed the Vice President’s daughter to bring her same-sex partner on stage with him when he declared victory in the presidential election. That young woman sat in the presidential box at the Republican National Convention. And she sat right behind the Vice President’s daughter, her beloved, at the inauguration last month.
It is reprehensible what Alan Keyes has done. There are few worse things that a parent could do than to reject his own child. His daughter must be one remarkable woman for, despite her father’s inexcusable behavior, the “WASHINGTON POST” reports that she still loves him.
A man who rejects his own children is not the face of the GOP. I condemn Mr. Keyes strongly for this action and encourage him to show true love and to welcome his daughter back into his family even if he opposes what he might call her “lifestyle.” And I note that many Republicans have rejected Dr. Keyes as well. Nearly one million Bush-voters in Illinois refused to cast a ballot for Dr. Keyes last fall in his bid for the U.S. Senate.
No, that three-time loser is not the face of the GOP. The Vice President presents a better image of compassionate conservatism than does that conservative firebrand. We must always remember that our president, the standard-bearer of the Republican party, picked as his second in command and closest advisor a man who cherishes his lesbian daughter and welcomes her partner into his family.
-Dan (aka GayPatriotWest): GayPatriotWest@aol.com

Christian’s “nemesis” & irresponsible behavior

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I don’t always agree with Christian Grantham. Indeed, like many readers of this blog, I often find myself at odds with him. But, in short post on a New York man’s contraction of a “highly drug-resistant” strain of HIV, he’s right not to mince his words:

I’m tired of irresponsible gay lifestyles so obsessed with sex that the value of other people’s lives come second to personal pleasures. The incessant appeals by a handful of community “leaders” for liberal sensitivities on crystal meth abuse and the willful spread of HIV is nothing short of complicit neglect and murder.

Maybe his language is a little strong, but his outrage is that of the Greek goddess Nemesis, righteous indignation. Some readers accuse us of self-hatred, but what do they call the behavior of men who frequently do drugs and repeatedly practice unsafe sex?

Dean’s Democrats–hating Bush more than they love America?

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While I enjoy her singing voice and her performances in many movies, particularly her three greats, “FUNNY GIRL“, “WHAT’S UP DOC?” and “THE WAY WE WERE,” I tend not to agree with Barbra Streisand‘s politics. Both of us, however, admire the late Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir.
That great woman once said that Israel “will have peace with the Arabs when they love their children more than they hate us.” We could paraphrase that to describe the state of civil discourse today in Washington. We will have civil discourse again in Washington when Democrats love their country more than they hate President Bush.
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