Don't Ask Don't Tell

West Point chapel hosts first same-sex marriage

Submitted by ONE Community on December 3, 2012 - 11:20am

The U.S. Military Academy's Cadet Chapel at West Point hosted its first same-sex marriage Saturday.

Penelope Gnesin and Brenda Sue Fulton, a West Point graduate, exchanged vows in the regal church in a ceremony conducted by a senior Army chaplain.

The ceremony comes a little more than a year after President Obama ended the military policy banning openly gay people from serving.

The two have been together for 17 years. They had a civil commitment ceremony that didn't carry any legal force in 1999 but had longed to formally tie the knot.

The couple live in New Jersey and would have preferred to have the wedding there, but the state doesn't allow gay marriage.

"We just couldn't wait any longer," Fulton said. Read more »

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Senator Arlen Specter, Political Evolver, Single Bullet Theory Co-Creator, Dies At 82

Submitted by ONE Community on October 15, 2012 - 10:18am
Senator Arlen Specter, Political Evolver, Single Bullet Theory Co-Creator, Dies At 82

U.S. Senator Arlen Specter, the Democrat turned Republican turned Democrat, whose political career spanned five decades, and who was the architect of the single-bullet theory adopted as the U.S. government’s official explanation of the President John F. Kennedy assassination, died today at the age of 82. Senator Spector, whose political evolutions included rallying for a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, only to call for the repeal of DOMA, the Defense of Marriage Act of 1996 that bans the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages, 13 years later. Senator Specter died of complications of non-Hodgkins lymphoma, according to his son Shanin Specter. Read more »

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HRC: Paul Ryan voted against hate-crimes law, end of military ban, letting gay couples marry & adopt

Submitted by ONE Community on August 12, 2012 - 6:08pm
HRC: Paul Ryan voted against hate-crimes law, end of military ban, letting gay couples marry & adopt

Romney-Ryan Ticket Out of Touch with Americans on LGBT Equality

Paul Ryan does not support LGBT families; hate crime protections; marriage equality; open military service

Washington – The Human Rights Campaign – the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization – is responding today to Mitt Romney’s selection of Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) as his running mate. Ryan’s voting record in Congress – and his public remarks – make it clear that he does not support the dignity of LGBT Americans; a matter on which he is out-of-touch with the majority of Americans – even those within the Republican Party. Read more »

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As gays serve openly, few problems for chaplains

Submitted by ONE Community on July 6, 2012 - 10:47pm

WRIGHTSTOWN, N.J. — Colonel Timothy Wagoner has been an Air Force chaplain for 20 years, serving a denomination — the Southern Baptists — that rejects same-sex relationships.

Yet here he was at the chapel he oversees, watching supportively as an airman and his male partner celebrated a civil union ceremony.

‘‘I wouldn’t miss it,’’ Wagoner said at the McGuire Air Force Base chapel, days later. ‘‘I don’t feel I’m compromising my beliefs ... I’m supporting the community.’’

Wagoner did not officiate at the ceremony — he couldn’t go quite that far. Read more »

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Reaction mixed to Pentagon status report; 9th Circuit case to proceed

Submitted by ONE Community on January 31, 2011 - 8:14am

Keen News Service

By Lisa Keen on January 30, 2011

Reaction has been mixed to the Pentagon’s status report Friday, January 28, saying training to prepare for implementation of the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell could begin as early as next month.

And a 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Friday rejected a motion from the U. S. Department of Justice to halt proceedings on a legal challenge to the ban on gay servicemembers pending in that court.

It has been just over a month since President Obama signed the bill to repeal of the military’s ban on openly gay servicemembers. Read more »

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GAO: Gays descarga Pentágono Costo $ 200 millones

Submitted by ONE Community on January 21, 2011 - 1:47pm
Por The Associated Press Publicado: 20 de enero 2011

WASHINGTON (AP) - Un análisis del gobierno dice que el desempeño de los miembros del servicio gay costo del Pentágono casi $ 200 millones desde 2004 hasta 2009. El dinero se destinaron principalmente a reclutar y entrenar a los reemplazos.

La Oficina de Responsabilidad Gubernamental informe dice que cuestan un promedio de 52.800 dólares por cada descarga. Los totales son estimaciones debido a las diferencias en la forma de los servicios militares de recopilar y presentar los datos del presupuesto. Read more »

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GAO: Discharging Gays Cost Pentagon $200 Million

Submitted by ONE Community on January 21, 2011 - 1:47pm
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Published: January 20, 2011

WASHINGTON (AP) — A government analysis says that discharging gay service members cost the Pentagon nearly $200 million from 2004 to 2009. The money went mainly to recruit and train replacements.

The Government Accountability Office report says it cost an average of $52,800 per discharge. The totals are estimates because of differences in how the military services compile and report budget data.

Congressional investigators say that of the 3,664 service members dismissed for being gay, more than 1,400 held critical jobs or spoke an important foreign language. Read more »

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The military's next step after 'don't ask, don't tell': Equal rights for gay service members

Submitted by ONE Community on December 30, 2010 - 7:33pm

The Washington Post

With a swoop of his pen last week, President Obama wiped away more than a century of discrimination that had culminated in a 17-year struggle for the rights of gay men and lesbians serving in the U.S. armed forces. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates will now try to fashion a policy that will filter down to all of us in the services. That policy needs to set a standard for the ethical and equitable treatment of all service members, regardless of their sexuality. Read more »

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Harry Reid sets up Saturday 'don't ask' vote

Submitted by ONE Community on December 17, 2010 - 12:00pm

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid moved late Thursday to set up a climactic vote this weekend on a bill to repeal the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy.

The procedural vote is set for Saturday, along with one on a bill to legalize some children of illegal immigrants who enlist in the military or in college, known as the DREAM Act.

Democrats appear short of the 60 votes needed to break a GOP-led filibuster on the immigration measure. Read more »

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