Log Cabin Republicans of Minnesota

Minnesota wants to thank everyone for their hard work on bringing DADT to the closest point of repeal to date. Last night the Senate reached a cloture vote 63-33 (more than the required) to bring the measure to its final vote.

The Senate Bill 4023- “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Repeal Act of 2010 – Provides for repeal of the current Department of Defense (DOD) policy concerning homosexuality in the Armed Forces, to be effective 60 days after the Secretary of Defense has received DOD’s comprehensive review on the implementation of such repeal, and the President, Secretary, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) certify to the congressional defense committees that they have considered the report and proposed plan of action, that DOD has prepared the necessary policies and regulations to exercise the discretion provided by such repeal, and that implementation of such policies and regulations is consistent with the standards of military readiness and effectiveness, unit cohesion, and military recruiting and retention. Provides that, until such time as the above conditions are met, the current policy shall remain in effect”

With the support of Susan Collins (R-ME), relatively newly elect Scott Brown (R-MA), and other bi-partisan members of the senate, we can now set our sights on the final hurdle of the repeal. The final vote must reach 51 votes to pass (House of Representatives passed it with a vote of 250-175) and will swiftly pass to the desk of President Obama who has vowed to sign it as soon as he gets it.

Log Cabin Republicans have taken a very aggressive approach to accomplish what we have thus far including:

* Bringing the main Federal Lawsuit Log Cabin Republicans vs. The United States to trial and getting it heard by the Supreme Court.
* Pressuring the Executive branch and the President to agree to help in the repeal process
* and lobbying Republicans in the House and Senate to sponsor and/or vote for a repeal measure.

After the bill passes and is signed by the President, our fine GLBT men and women, who have been unjustly, discharged will celebrate this victory with the right to change their discharge status and seek the benefits righfully owed to them for the service they so courageously provided to their country!

For additional information on DADT and real-time press releases, please visit LogCabin.org

As Log Cabin Republicans gear up for appeals, Federal judge Virginia Phillips, who on Sept 9 had declared the 17 yr old DADT policy of the armed forces unconstitutional, had all but forced the hand of the US Department of Justice today. Judge Phillips withheld a final decision on an injunction with her ruling Sept 9, giving both sides a chance to review the unconstituionality ruling and provide additional information before imposing an injunction. Today, Oct 12 2010, Judge Phillips issued her worldwide injunction effectively telling the armed forces they can no longer enforce DADT on openly gay personnel. The DOJ has 60 days to review the injunction and file for appeal. 

Read more here

This month, MN LCR is planning our October Membership Meeting. Please come visit with us at Tom Pham’s Wonderous Azian Kitchen. Social Hour 7-8p and Meeting 8-9p. We plan to discuss our endorsed candidate list, discuss the current state of DADT, MN LCR activity within MN, and more.

Hope to see you there! Check out our event at the link above or send a request to info@mnlogcabin.org. Please enter “October Meeting Info” in the subject line so we can respond back with the proper details!

On Saturday, October 2, 2010, 8p.m. MN Log Cabin Republicans will participate for the first time in an original production by The Flower Shop Project. The Flower Shop Project is a local independent theatre company. Since its formation in 2004, it has been determined to create and produce new works of theatre that are “ballsy, smart and fundamentally entertaining”.

This Fall, the FSP is collaborating with Project 515 to produce “515“. This play will work to entertain and educate the audience on the 515 rights automatically assumed under heterosexual marriages, and for which same sex couples can only hope to some day celebrate.

MN Log Cabin will participate in an informative panel question and answer session immediately following the play. We will discuss issues that were brought up in the play and other issues facing Minnesotan families affected by those 515 discriminating inequities every day.  Audience questions and comments are welcome and expected, so please don’t be shy!

Currently scheduled to represent the panel for this session will be MN Senator Scott Dibble, a 515 Representative to be determined, and MN Log Cabin president Mark Knief. We hope to provide viewpoints from all sides and expect this will be a great experience for everyone.

We would be honored to see you there. Feel free to meet up with us after the panel discussion to find out more about MN Log Cabin and how you can help us to reshape Minnesota.

When Do You Come?   Saturday Oct 2, 8 p.m.
The Venue:  Patrick’s Cabaret - 3010 Minnehaha Avenue, Minneapolis, MN 55406-1987
How to make a splashing appearance:  Tickets are $12 and can be purchased on their website or by clicking this link => Buy Now! 

Don’t Ask Don’t Tell passes hurdle in the first round of rulings. U.S. District Court Judge Virginia A. Phillips declared the military’s policy unconstitutional. The hard work and tireless efforts of Log Cabin Republicans is taking shape in some impressive strides.

“As an American, a veteran and an Army reserve officer, I am proud the court ruled that the arcane ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ statute violates the Constitution,” said R.Clarke Cooper, executive director of the Log Cabin Republicans & Liberty Education Fund. “Today, the ruling is not just a win for Log Cabin Republican service members, but all American service members.”

The case was filed by the Log Cabin Republicans, the largest political organization for gays in the GOP, in 2004.
Read More here

(Washington, DC) – Earlier this week, the White House and legislative leadership agreed on a plan for repealing the failed ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy, which would allow for a path for repeal while guaranteeing the ability of the Pentagon to complete its study on how such repeal will affect the Armed Forces and a regime for implementation.

R. Clarke Cooper, Executive Director of Log Cabin Republicans commented that “It is high time that the White House put some political muscle behind the effort to repeal ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.’ All parties agree that there is a need for a thorough process to properly implement the repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ and this compromise will allow the Pentagon study to continue, which is an important component to securing the votes needed for repealing this arcane law.”

While the top leadership at the Pentagon has indicated that it favors a repeal of the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy, it is clear that legislators are hinging their decision upon the military’s own analysis of the impact of the repeal, necessitating that the Pentagon study be completed.

Senator Susan Collins (R-ME), a member of on the Senate Armed Services Committee who is the first Republican Senator to publicly favor repeal of the policy, supports the compromise, commenting that: “Society has changed a great deal since President Clinton signed the current law, ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ back in 1993.   I agree with Admiral Michael Mullen, our nation’s highest ranking military official, that this law should be changed, but we should do so with care, taking into account the demands on our military forces, the challenges of instituting major policy changes during wartime, and the input provided by military leaders and personnel.  The compromise proposal announced this week is contingent upon the results of a thorough review currently being conducted by the Pentagon, and would not go into effect until the Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Secretary of Defense, and the President certify that the new policy would not have an adverse effect on military readiness, recruitment, and retention.  This is a reasonable compromise, and I will support it when it is considered by the Senate Armed Services Committee this week.”

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Log Cabin Republicans promotes legislation to provide basic fairness for gay and lesbian Americans and works to build a more inclusive GOP. The 30-year old organization has state and local chapters nationwide, a full-time office in Washington, DC, a federal political action committee and state political action committees.

Speaking before the libertarian Cato Institute, British Conservative Party Leader Nick Herbert laid out a case for the role that gay men and lesbians have in the conservative movement:

So can promoting equality for gay people be compatible with conservatism?

In discussing this I’m going to take three things as given.  And if they’re contentious, they shouldn’t be.

First, since – on the most conservative estimates – around 5 per cent of the population are attracted to the same sex, there are more than 3 million gay people in the UK and 15 million in the United States.

People often speak of gays as though we are a society apart from the rest, living in our own quarter.

And a few choose to be apart. But most of us don’t. We live in every city and town. We are businessmen and women. We run shops and stack shelves. We labour on farms and in factories. We are fire fighters and police officers. We save lives in hospitals. We fight for our countries and sometimes we die for our countries. Some of us are extraordinary, but mostly we are quietly ordinary. We are not different.  And we don’t want to be different. We’re not asking for special treatment. We are United States or British citizens. Proud of our countries. Wanting to play our part in society. And across the world there are millions of us. Millions of ordinary people. Millions of voters.

Second, we can’t be uninvented.  Being gay is not a lifestyle choice.  Our sexuality is a fact.  It may be repressed, but it cannot be changed.

Doctors don’t try to change a person’s colour. And healers or politicians shouldn’t try to change anyone’s sexuality. Whether it is given by god, or set by nature, homosexuality isn’t nurtured by doting mothers or weak fathers.

It isn’t a condition to be cured and it can’t be willed away through prayer.

Third, democracies should subscribe to a fundamental principle: that ‘all men are created equal’.

Some claim that the promotion of gay equality has no place in conservatism.  In fact, many deny that conservatives should be interested in the equality agenda at all.

It is argued that equality is incompatible with liberty … that if men are free, they are bound to become unequal.

But conservatives who want people to become better through their own efforts can never stand by while others are denied that chance.

Conservatives should always believe that everyone should have an equal chance in life, regardless of any other factors, and that they should not be discriminated against.

Herbert, who serves as the Shadow Minister for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, went on to talk about how the Conservative Party under the leadership of David Cameron has reshaped the party and made support for gay men and lesbians a part of its success.

At the last election, of our 193 MPs elected, just 17 were women, only two black or minority ethnic and two were openly gay.

If we were truly representative of the country we would have 99 women, 16 black or minority ethnic and 10 gay MPs.

So our party leadership recognised the need to change.

Change because we are a national party which needs to be able to speak to, and speak up for, all sections of society in all parts of the country.

As David Cameron said on Monday, “Unless you can represent everyone in our country you cannot be a one nation party.”

Change because we need to reconnect politics with a public who are increasingly disillusioned with a political class.

And change because it was the right thing to do – to promote an environment where people can succeed and live without fear, regardless of their gender, colour or sexuality.

We now have more female candidates, more black and minority ethnic candidates and more gay candidates.

In fact, if we secure a majority in the House of Commons of just one seat, we are likely to have more openly gay MPs on our benches than the Labour Party.

The panel also held a heated debate between prominent blogger and columnist Andrew Sullivan and Maggie Gallagher of the National Organization for Marriage.

Appearing on ABC’s This Week, former Vice President Dick Cheney backed repeal of the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy which prohibits gay men and lesbians from serving openly in the military. Cheney, who served as Secretary of Defense under President George H.W. Bush, has been a consitent critic of the policy terming the ban as ‘a bit of an old chestnut.’

Cheney said that the support of military leaders had convinced him that it was time for a change.

“Twenty years ago the military were strong advocates of ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell.’ I think things have change significantly since then,” Cheney said on ABC’s “This Week.”

“I think that society has moved on. It’s partly a generational question,” he continued. “When the [Joint] Chiefs come forward and say ‘we think we can do it,’ is strikes me that it’s time to reconsider the policy.”

Cheney was referring to the testimony of Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Mullen told the Senate Armed Services Committee earlier this month that it was “personal view” that repealing the law would be “the right thing to do.”

…

Two notable architects of the original DADT policy–retired Gens. Colin Powell and John Shalikashvili–also now support a repeal.

“In the almost 17 years since the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ legislation was passed, attitudes and circumstances have changed,” Powell said in a statement following Mullen’s testimony. “I fully support the new approach presented to the Senate Armed Services Committee this week by Secretary of Defense Gates and Admiral Mullen.”

Shaliksashvili penned an op-ed for the NY Times announcing his shift in position.

“I now believe that if gay men and lesbians served openly in the United States military, they would not undermine the efficacy of the armed forces,” he wrote. “Our military has been stretched thin by our deployments in the Middle East, and we must welcome the service of any American who is willing and able to do the job.

Read more about Cheney’s call for the repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ in The Hill.

from blogcabin.net

A Washington Post-ABC News poll shows that seventy-five percent of Americans back repeal of the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy which provents gay men and lesbians from serving openly in the military. This echoes a 2009 poll released by the Washington Post and one released by Gallup, which showed sixty-nine percent of Americans supported repeal.

The support comes as the Pentagon, led by Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mike Mullen, both of whom were orginally appointed by President George W. Bush, have been advocating for study and repeal of the policy.  At a hearing before the United States Senate Committee on Armed Services Committee, Gates announced that he was appointing General Carter Ham, comander of Army forces in Europe, and  Jeh Johnson, the Pentagon’s general counsel, to study a possible repeal and logistics for implementation. Johnson and Ham have indicated that they would deliver its first recommendations by mid-March.

The percentage of Americans who say they support gays openly serving is the same as a Post-ABC News poll found in July 2008; both are far above the 44 percent who said so in May 1993. In the new poll, majorities across party lines favor such a policy, with support among Democrats (82 percent) and independents (77 percent) higher than among Republicans (64 percent).

The poll also reveals several sharp demographic divides. Men (65 percent) and seniors (69 percent) are far less likely than are women (84 percent) and young adults (81 percent under age 30) to say that gays should be allowed to serve if they have disclosed their sexual orientation. Knowing a gay person makes a big difference: Among those who say they have a gay friend or family member, 81 percent support allowing gay people to serve openly, compared with 66 percent who say they do not know someone who is gay.

With significant support among Republicans and self-identified conservatives, opportunities to repeal the legislation before the end of the calendar year remain strong.

from blogcabin.net