Senate Hearings on 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Postponed Indefinitely

U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee hearings on "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" have been postponed:

"A planned November hearing by the US Senate Armed Services Committee to consider ending a ban on gays serving openly in the US military will be postponed, a spokeswoman indicated Friday. 'We do not have a date' for the hearing, said the aide, Tara Andringa. Committee staff have been working on Afghanistan issues ahead of President Barack Obama's decision on whether to send more troops, and more recently on the aftermath of the shock rampage at the sprawling Fort Hood military base. The panel's chairman, Democratic Senator Carl Levin, had said in late October that it would hold a hearing in November and that he hoped to 'to find a way to repeal 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell,'' as the policy is widely known."

Lez Get Real talked to Levin's office: 

"'Yes, we don’t know when that is going to happen,' said an aide from Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Carl Levin’s office. In October Levin had said that his committee would begin holding hearing in November and that he hoped to “to find a way to repeal the military’s ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’” policy. But, Levin said in an interview on C-SPAN’s Newsmakers program, scheduled to air Sunday, the hearings on any possible repeal of 'DADT' will likely happen next year...According to the staffer, Levin also stressed in his Newsmakers interview, that the delay necessitated by current events should not be interpreted 'as any effort to avoid the hearing' on the subject however. While giving no timetable for the hearings, Levin did say that the 2011 National Defense Authorization Act could be one of the vehicles to carry repeal legislation. Both the White House and Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) are also backing the strategy of using next years defense authorization bill to change the policy on LGBT’s serving in the military according to Capitol Hill insiders."

Photographer Seeks Closeted Military Personnel

Photographer Jeff Sheng is seeking as many participants as possible for a new photo project:

“Jess,  Bend, Oregon,  2009” is part of my newest photography project, “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” a series of photographs of closeted men and women in the United States military. For each image, I have asked the individual to wear their uniform, while staging the photoshoot in the bedroom or local hotel room where that person is currently stationed.  The reason for this is that I am most interested in the intersections between public and private space, and the government’s policing of our private spaces – the bedroom being the most representative space of this.  I have purposely shot each image in a way that obscures to some degree the identity of the individuals, and the final image that is released to the public is first approved by the subject, and is in many ways, their expression of their closeted-ness and lack of identity.  The name and location is also fictional: I have asked the subject to give me a first name and a location that is significant to them, but does not actually refer to the true name and location of who is in the photograph. My aim in this project is to use photography to create a visual record of the numerous individuals currently serving our country that are unjustly forced to hide an integral part of who they are."

You can contact Sheng via his website.

Clifford Stanley and Chai Feldblum Senate Hearings: Recaps

As I mentioned yesterday, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission nominee Chai Feldblum had her hearing at the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, and Clifford Stanley had a confirmation hearing at the Senate Armed Services Committee.

First Clifford Stanley's hearing. Stanley has been nominated to serve as Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness in the Department of Defense and oversee "Don't Ask, Don't Tell", among other things.

HRC Backstory reports on the questions regarding the military gay ban, following John McCain's assertion that the ban was "Working successfully":

"Senator Levin followed McCain’s pro-DADT position by asking simply if Dr. Stanley would provide his best objective opinion over the repeal of DADT, to which Dr. Stanley responded with a simple yes.  An opportunity to elaborate was provided with Senator Udall (D-CO), who asked – while noting gays and lesbians already serve in the armed services, and that thousands of gays and lesbians are civilian employees working with military personnel – if Dr. Stanley was prepared to support a push by the White House to include repeal of DADT in policy recommendations in the defense budget next year. Dr. Stanley didn’t quite answer the question, recognizing this is a sensitive issue and that he would be seeking input from all sources, particularly the service chiefs and military personnel “from deck plate to squad level,” and provide a recommendation to Secretary Gates.  Dr. Stanley admitted he did not know what that recommendation would be, and will bear no preconceived notions as to the direction he will go in recommending action on DADT. Senator Burris (D-IL) asked what Dr. Stanley would do about pending discharge cases immediately upon confirmation.  Dr. Stanley – correctly – responded that the pending cases would fall under existing statute, and that he was unaware that he would have any role in these pending discharge cases (he wouldn’t)."

The Servicemember's Legal Defense Network (SLDN) expressed disappointment that Stanley "punted". Said Aubrey Sarvis: "When given the opportunity by Senator Mark Udall (D-Colo.) to support his commander in chief’s position to overturn the ban, Dr. Stanley did not do so. However, as is the case with most nominees, Dr. Stanley did not delve into any of the policy issues in his portfolio. We look forward to Dr. Stanley becoming fully aligned with President Obama on repeal."

A question about polygamy was the highlight of Feldblum's testimony, according to Law Dork, with regard to a petition the nominee had signed called “Beyond Same-Sex Marriage: A New Strategic Vision for All Our Families & Relationships” which mentioned polygamous families as an "alternative" relationship:

Feldblum began, initially, by stating unambiguously, “I do not support polygamy.”  She went on to say that it was a “mistake” to sign the petition and told the Committee that it was for that reason that she asked for her name to be removed from it.  Ben Smith at Politico reported on Wednesday that Feldblum had sent a letter to the petition organizers asking that her name be removed.

Harkin pushed further, asking her to explain why she had signed on to the statement in the first place.  Feldblum stated that she had been asked to sign on to the petition by “another academic from Columbia.”  She said, “I agreed with the general thrust of the statement,” and that her work at the time was very focused on efforts to “support the range of caregiving relationships.”  It was for that reason, she said, that she signed on in support of the petition.

She concluded, though, “However, the statement goes beyond what I would have said.  That’s why it was a mistake to sign it and why I asked for my name to be removed.”

More at HRC Backstory and Law Dork.

News: Nate Berkus, ENDA, Ken Keechl, Argentina, Beenie Man

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Joe Jackson's last money grab before MJ's fillings?

Retired military chaplains come out in support of repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell".

ENDA mark-up postponed.

Philippines elections board (COMELEC) says gays "overly represented" in Congress: "Comelec second division chairman Nicodemus Ferrer was defending the poll body’s rejection of the application of gay-rights group Ang Ladlad for party-list representation. 'I have been telling them, you are not under-represented… actually you are over-represented in the Lower House and Upper House,' Ferrer told reporters in an interview. But Ferrer declined to name names."

While Levi does Playgirl, Neil Patrick Harris does Playboy.

Ken Keechl takes over as first openly gay mayor of Broward County, Florida.

Petition Obama to support federal court challenge to Prop 8.

The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual Community Center of Central Florida in Orlando and nearby gay-owned business hit by anti-gay graffiti: "...a swastika and the words 'Gay Pawer,' 'Die Fags,' 'Go To Hell' and other homophobic slurs. Damage to the two buildings is estimated to be over $1,000.The Center is currently working to cover the messages on the building to deter additional damage."

Horrific undercover investigation of treatment of pigs on factory farms.

Anti-gay Jamaican singer Beenie Man's appearance at Australia's Big Day Out has been canceled: "A statement from the Big Day Out's producers today says that while the concert organisers believe the controversial musician has now renounced homophobia, the storm of protest this week after the announcement that he was in the line-up means his continued involvement would prove too divisive."

Anderson Cooper helms Elton John AIDS Foundation event in NYC.

Chris Pine suits up for GQ's 'Man of the Year'.

Oprah interior designer Nate Berkus to get his own syndicated daytime show.

Max Blumenthal on Palin's ghostwriter Lynn Vincent: "Vincent may have been an effective literary collaborator, but like Palin herself, she entered the project with considerable political baggage. Vincent’s commentaries for World are punctuated by inflammatory characterizations of gays, minorities and liberals that have already provided fodder for Palin’s critics. Among Vincent’s most strident statements were her description of homosexuality as a 'deviant' mental disorder and labeling of President Barack Obama as the 'face of the minority survivor' of abortion, which she dubbed the 'Black Genocide.'"

Tim Gunn on the one item of clothing he can't stand: "I cannot wrap my brain around the ubiquity of Crocs. Kelly Ripa [on "Live with Regis and Kelly"] said, 'I insist that you put them on because they're so comfortable.' And I put them on. I am looking down at my feet, and I feel like I have hooves! They're horrible. If we all succumbed to the comfort trap, to dress as if we never got out of bed -- then we should never get out of bed."

Trans/Queer Anarchist Group Bash Back Takes Credit for Vandalism of Gay Soldier Billboard in Memphis

The radical trans/queer anarchist group Bash Back, which was profiled in September's Details magazine, has taken credit for vandalizing the Memphis Gay and Lesbian Community Center's "Coming Out Day" billboard, which featured a gay soldier.

After mocking the rallies held by the gay and lesbian community in Memphis in response, a Bash Back blogger writes:

"I’m here to dispute the claim that this action was an anti-gay act. First, sending gays to be military fodder is NOT pro-gay or conclusive whatsoever to gay liberation. State militarism only reinforces the dominant structures, and the racism/heterosexism they perpetuate, as well as reducing the number of gay people in the world (both those in Amerikkka and the countries Amerikkka is colonizing/conquering). Second, we accuse the MGLCC of being flat out racist/anti-queer/anti-trans; and we furiously question how that the Memphis Gay and Lesbian Community Center can squander $3500 on military billboards, when Memphis has the highest trans-murder rate (11 trans women of color, 1 white transwoman and 1 transman of color), as well as one of the highest queer youth homeless rates in the nation, and how they can justify putting a pro-military billboard in the overwhelmingly POC neighborhood of Morris Park, when the poor Black community in Morris Park is disporportionately preyed upon by the military (through the court system’s 'prison or military service' rule for minor felonies as well as recruiters’ false promises of otherwise impossible economic/education opportunities)?"

'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Repeal to Be on Fiscal 2011 Defense Bill?

So says Barney Frank, reports the Washington Blade:

"Frank said in an interview with the Blade that repealing the 1993 law barring gays from serving openly in the military would happen as part of the fiscal year 2011 defense authorization bill. 'The House will take up and the Senate will take up ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ repeal,' he said. 'That will again, like hate crimes, even more so, will have to be done, I believe, in the context of the defense authorization. You can’t do the standalone bill. It belongs in the defense authorization.' Frank said lawmakers would seek to amend the defense measure to include a provision repealing 'Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.' Such a move would mimic the way Congress recently enacted the hate crimes measure."

Frank also criticized Dick Durbin, who recently suggested that Congress was too busy to take up DADT in 2010: "Frank said it was a 'terrible mistake' for Durbin to suggest that overturning 'Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell' wouldn’t happen next year. Frank is among the supporters who have asserted Congress would take up repeal in 2010. 'I think that’s a terrible mistake for him to say that and I believe that it will be a great injustice to wait any longer,' Frank said. 'I don’t think he has that option.'"

In related news, the American Medical Association has voted to oppose "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and also said that bans on same-sex marriage "contribute to health disparities," the AP reports:

"The nation's largest doctors' group stopped short of saying it would seek to overturn marriage bans, but its new stance angered conservative activists and provides a fresh boost to lobbying efforts by gay-rights advocates."